2007年VOA标准英语-Hijacked Cargo Ships Released in Waters Off Som

By Cathy Majtenyi
Nairobi
07 April 2007

Somalia

In Somalia, two cargo¹ vessels³ that had been hijacked⁴ by pirates have been released. Cathy Majtenyi reports for VOA from Nairobi.

The first of the vessels seized, the MV Rozen, was in pirate hands for more than a month. It had just delivered 1,800 metric tons of relief food from the World Food Program on February 25 when pirates hijacked it.

The ship, leased from the Kenyan-based Motaku Shipping⁵ Company, and her 12-member crew were then held in a small port near the town of Bargal in the semi-autonomous Puntland region of Somalia.

The Motaku Shipping Company's manager Karim Kudrati tells VOA he has been negotiating with the hijackers since the middle of March through his agent in the Puntland town of Bosasso.

Kudrati says he began negotiating only after he lost confidence in the ability of Somalia's transitional government to help him recover his ship and crew.

"We were being told by the authorities concerned that there is something happening, there is something happening and we'll get to you soon, but it was not happening and it dragged on up to 39 days," said Kudrati. "There was no other solution to it, so when I took it upon myself and told my agent to see if he could find a bunch of elders who could go and speak to these guys."

The ship was released late Thursday night.

Kudrati says this is the fourth hijacking⁶ of his company's ships off the coast of Somalia in two years.

He says his company is the only one willing to go to Somali because of the piracy⁷ problem, mostly to deliver humanitarian⁸ food aid.

But, says Kudrati, his company might reconsider delivering shipments to Somalia because ransom⁹ payments have taken a huge chunk¹⁰ out of his business and the crew is less willing to take risks now.

"Now I think their morale¹¹ is very down, and I don't know whether they would agree even to go back. But I also am feeling a very bad pinch," he added. "Nobody is coming and compensating¹² me. I might decide to close down completely."

The other hijacked vessel², the MV Nimatullah, was released Friday after being held by pirates for less than a week. It had just anchored at Mogadishu port on April 1 when hijackers forced the ship and her 14-member crew to sail to waters off northeastern Somalia.

Piracy has been a big problem in Somali waters, with warlords and their militias¹³ using piracy as a source of income.

1 cargo   

n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物

参考例句：

• The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
• A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。

2 vessel   

n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管

参考例句：

• The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
• You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。

3 vessels   

n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人

参考例句：

• The river is navigable by vessels of up to 90 tons. 90 吨以下的船只可以从这条河通过。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• All modern vessels of any size are fitted with radar installations. 所有现代化船只都有雷达装置。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 hijacked   

劫持( hijack的过去式和过去分词 )； 绑架； 拦路抢劫； 操纵（会议等，以推销自己的意图）

参考例句：

• The plane was hijacked by two armed men on a flight from London to Rome. 飞机在从伦敦飞往罗马途中遭到两名持械男子劫持。
• The plane was hijacked soon after it took off. 那架飞机起飞后不久被劫持了。

5 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

6 hijacking   

n. 劫持, 抢劫 动词hijack的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• I have been told about the hijacking . 我已听说了那次劫机事件。 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 口语
• They are taking measures to guarantee against the occurrence of hijacking. 他们正采取措施防止劫机事件的发生。

7 piracy   

n.海盗行为，剽窃，著作权侵害

参考例句：

• The government has already adopted effective measures against piracy.政府已采取有效措施惩治盗版行为。
• They made the place a notorious centre of piracy.他们把这地方变成了臭名昭著的海盗中心。

8 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

9 ransom   

n.赎金，赎身；v.赎回，解救

参考例句：

• We'd better arrange the ransom right away.我们最好马上把索取赎金的事安排好。
• The kidnappers exacted a ransom of 10000 from the family.绑架者向这家人家勒索10000英镑的赎金。

10 chunk   

n.厚片，大块，相当大的部分（数量）

参考例句：

• They had to be careful of floating chunks of ice.他们必须当心大块浮冰。
• The company owns a chunk of farmland near Gatwick Airport.该公司拥有盖特威克机场周边的大片农田。

11 morale   

n.道德准则，士气，斗志

参考例句：

• The morale of the enemy troops is sinking lower every day.敌军的士气日益低落。
• He tried to bolster up their morale.他尽力鼓舞他们的士气。

12 compensating   

补偿，补助，修正

参考例句：

• I am able to set up compensating networks of nerve connections. 我能建立起补偿性的神经联系网。
• It is desirable that compensating cables be run in earthed conduit. 补偿导线最好在地下管道中穿过。

13 militias   

n.民兵组织，民兵( militia的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The troops will not attempt to disarm the warring militias. 部队并不打算解除战斗中的民兵武装。 来自辞典例句
• The neighborhood was a battleground for Shiite and Sunni militias. 那里曾是什叶派和逊尼派武装分子的战场。 来自互联网