2007年VOA标准英语-Learning Lessons from the Past

By Ann Ward¹
Washington
25 April 2007
 

The atrocities² committed by the Khmer Rouge³ in Cambodia during the late 1970s represent one of the worst human tragedies of the 20th century. Through execution, starvation and forced labor⁴, this genocide left nearly two million Cambodians dead.
Today, the Documentation Center of Cambodia, or DC-Cam, is working to document the many crimes and atrocities committed during the Khmer Rouge's reign⁵. Recently, two young staff members of the Center were in Washington, D.C. for internships at the United States Holocaust⁶ Memorial Museum to learn how to better document Cambodia's tragic⁷ past. For producer Ana Ward, VOA's Jim Bertel has their story.

Ser Sayana and Dy Khamboly are both in their twenties, too young to remember the horrors and suffering under the Khmer Rouge. The two writers work for the Documentation Center of Cambodia, a non-profit organization that collects documents and testimonies⁸ related to Khmer Rouge's atrocities. Dy is the author of a high school textbook on the Khmer Rouge.

"The Documentation Center of Cambodia aims to achieve two objectives: justice and we would like to preserve the memory of the Khmer Rouge (atrocities) for younger generations,” says Dy. “So, this way we preserve the memory of the Khmer Rouge, the history of the Khmer Rouge so that people will learn and remember and not repeat that mistake again in the future."

According to a study done by the Documentation Center, 65 percent of the population that survived that period still has traumatic memories related to the genocide nearly three decades after the fall of the Khmer Rouge.

Dy Khamboly

Dy says his country's road to recovery has been very slow. "After the Khmer Rouge regime, Cambodia almost came down to nothing (as) a country. It was in complete poverty and almost all the infrastructure⁹ was (destroyed) by the regime. So after the first national elections in 1993 up to now, Cambodia (has become) a democratic country, we have more freedom than before. We still have some problems, but I personally think it's getting better now in Cambodia."

During the researchers' time at the Holocaust Museum, they learned about conservation, preserving artifacts and keeping an archive. The two hope this will enable them to start a genocide museum in Cambodia.  Ser believes the museum will help her country recover from its past.

Ser Sayan

"Through my experience at the center I think that a lot of people have not really healed. It may not show on their (faces), but inside there's still a lot more that needs to be healed," she says.

At the Holocaust Museum Ser and Dy studied displays on Nazi-occupied Europe and contemporary genocides, like the crisis in Darfur.

Bridget Zilkicis is a Project Director with the Holocaust Museum and mentored¹⁰ the two young writers. "The Cambodian project is at a different stage of course than the Holocaust Museum. They're just getting started, but a lot of the issues that they have, are similar to the ones we struggle with on a day-to-day basis and how do you tell these horrible stories in a way that engages people rather then turns them away?   In the end we have the same goal essentially¹¹, it is to take a traumatic history and make it part of a process of learning not to do that again."

To that end, Ser and Dy plan to introduce the study of comparative genocide to college students in Cambodia, comparing their country's own horrors with the genocides in Rwanda, Darfur and the Holocaust. They believe this will help young people to learn from the past and see that these atrocities never happen again.

1 ward   

n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开

参考例句：

• The hospital has a medical ward and a surgical ward.这家医院有内科病房和外科病房。
• During the evening picnic,I'll carry a torch to ward off the bugs.傍晚野餐时，我要点根火把，抵挡蚊虫。

2 atrocities   

n.邪恶，暴行( atrocity的名词复数 )；滔天大罪

参考例句：

• They were guilty of the most barbarous and inhuman atrocities. 他们犯有最野蛮、最灭绝人性的残暴罪行。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The enemy's atrocities made one boil with anger. 敌人的暴行令人发指。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 rouge   

n.胭脂，口红唇膏；v.(在…上)擦口红

参考例句：

• Women put rouge on their cheeks to make their faces pretty.女人往面颊上涂胭脂，使脸更漂亮。
• She didn't need any powder or lip rouge to make her pretty.她天生漂亮，不需要任何脂粉唇膏打扮自己。

4 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

5 reign   

n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势

参考例句：

• The reign of Queen Elizabeth lapped over into the seventeenth century.伊丽莎白王朝延至17世纪。
• The reign of Zhu Yuanzhang lasted about 31 years.朱元璋统治了大约三十一年。

6 holocaust   

n.大破坏；大屠杀

参考例句：

• The Auschwitz concentration camp always remind the world of the holocaust.奥辛威茨集中营总是让世人想起大屠杀。
• Ahmadinejad is denying the holocaust because he's as brutal as Hitler was.内贾德否认大屠杀，因为他像希特勒一样残忍。

7 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。

8 testimonies   

（法庭上证人的）证词( testimony的名词复数 )； 证明，证据

参考例句：

• Davie poured forth his eloquence upon the controversies and testimonies of the day. 戴维向他滔滔不绝地谈那些当时有争论的问题和上帝的箴言。
• Remove from me reproach and contempt; for I have kept thy testimonies. 22求你除掉我所受的羞辱和藐视，因我遵守你的法度。

9 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

10 mentored   

v.（无经验之人的）有经验可信赖的顾问( mentor的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They had a fantastic dean who really mentored a lot of people. 那儿的教务长非常出色，的确为许多人提供了指导。 来自互联网
• The famous professor mentored him during his years in graduate school. 那位著名的教授在他读研究生期间指导他。 来自互联网

11 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。