2007年VOA标准英语-Thousands Commemorate 12th Anniversary of Srebr

By Stefan Bos
Budapest
11 July 2007

coffin1 with the remains2 of her relative in Potocari, near Srebrenica, during the funeral ceremony of 465 Bosnian Muslims, 11 Jul 2007" hspace="2" src="/upimg/allimg/070713/0836540.jpg" width="210" vspace="2" border="0" />

A Bosnian Muslim woman cries over a coffin with the remains of her relative in Potocari, near Srebrenica, during funeral ceremony of 465 Bosnian Muslims, 11 Jul 2007

An estimated 30,000 people gathered near the Bosnian town of Srebrenica Wednesday to bury 465 newly identified victims and remember Europe's worst massacre³ since World War II. Up to 8,000 Muslims were killed when Serb forces overran the town of Srebrenica in 1995 at the height of the Balkan conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Stefan Bos reports on the ceremony for VOA from Budapest.

As prayers were being said, some of the mourners sat crying in the rain near the rows of coffins⁴ of the newly discovered 465 victims of the Srebrenica massacre. The funeral ceremony was held at the memorial center in Potocari, a suburb of Srebrenica. It is a large graveyard⁵, decorated by huge marble blocks on which the names of victims are engraved⁶.

Bare marble blocks stand next to the engraved ones, waiting for new names of as many as eight-thousand Muslim men and boys who were killed in this area. They were separated from women and girls on July 11, 1995, by Serb forces who overran Srebrenica as outgunned Dutch United Nations peacekeepers looked on.

The massacre focused world attention on the "ethnic⁷ cleansing⁸" that was taking place during the Balkan wars of the 1990s that marked the break-up of Yugoslavia.

Among those participating in Wednesday's ceremony was Hasan Nuhanovic, a Bosnian Muslim who worked as a translator for the Dutch U.N. forces. He said he survived because, as a translator for the Dutch forces, he was protected by the troops. His father could also have stayed, but he decided⁹ to leave with his wife to join another son who had been forced out of the Dutch military base. Hasan learned only last month that his father died in the massacre. He still does not know what happened to his mother, brother and other relatives.

Hasan told Dutch television it was a painful decision to bury his father Wednesday. "Many families have a big dilemma¹⁰ of what to do. Whether they should bury just one part of the (skeletal) remains, or they should wait for more remains to be found, so joined. It's a quite a painful process for all of us. In my father's case they said they found 75 percent of his skeletal remains. So I decided that he should be buried," he said.

And he said there will be more burials he will have to take care of. "Some, you know, of those scientists who are studying this phenomena¹¹ say this is kind of a closure. But I don't see it as a closure. I had to do other things as well. I had to contact this company that deals with burials, to ask them to reserve another three graves next to [my father's] grave, otherwise there will be a problem in the future. It means one grave needs to be reserved for my mother, another one for my brother."

The U.N.'s chief war crimes prosecutor¹², Carla del Ponte, who attended Wednesday's ceremony, has been pressuring Serbian authorities to step up efforts to find those responsible for the killings¹³ in Srebrenica.

Topping her most-wanted list are Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladic and former Bosnian Serb political leader, Radovan Karadzic. Both have been charged with genocide and both remain in hiding.

In a related development, Bosnia's new peace overseer, Miroslav Lajcak, earlier this week fired a senior Bosnian Serb police official and suspended 35 active Serb police officers for their alleged¹⁴ involvement in the Srebrenica massacre.

1 coffin   

n.棺材，灵柩

参考例句：

• When one's coffin is covered,all discussion about him can be settled.盖棺论定。
• The coffin was placed in the grave.那口棺材已安放到坟墓里去了。

2 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

3 massacre   

n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀

参考例句：

• There was a terrible massacre of villagers here during the war.在战争中，这里的村民惨遭屠杀。
• If we forget the massacre,the massacre will happen again!忘记了大屠杀，大屠杀就有可能再次发生！

4 coffins   

n.棺材( coffin的名词复数 )；使某人早亡[死，完蛋，垮台等]之物

参考例句：

• The shop was close and hot, and the atmosphere seemed tainted with the smell of coffins. 店堂里相当闷热，空气仿佛被棺木的味儿污染了。 来自辞典例句
• Donate some coffins to the temple, equal to the number of deaths. 到寺庙里，捐赠棺材盒给这些死者吧。 来自电影对白

5 graveyard   

n.坟场

参考例句：

• All the town was drifting toward the graveyard.全镇的人都象流水似地向那坟场涌过去。
• Living next to a graveyard would give me the creeps.居住在墓地旁边会使我毛骨悚然。

6 engraved   

v.在（硬物）上雕刻（字，画等）( engrave的过去式和过去分词 )；将某事物深深印在（记忆或头脑中）

参考例句：

• The silver cup was engraved with his name. 银杯上刻有他的名字。
• It was prettily engraved with flowers on the back. 此件雕刻精美，背面有花饰图案。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

8 cleansing   

n. 净化(垃圾) adj. 清洁用的 动词cleanse的现在分词

参考例句：

• medicated cleansing pads for sensitive skin 敏感皮肤药物清洗棉
• Soap is not the only cleansing agent. 肥皂并不是唯一的清洁剂。

9 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

10 dilemma   

n.困境，进退两难的局面

参考例句：

• I am on the horns of a dilemma about the matter.这件事使我进退两难。
• He was thrown into a dilemma.他陷入困境。

11 phenomena   

n.现象

参考例句：

• Ade couldn't relate the phenomena with any theory he knew.艾德无法用他所知道的任何理论来解释这种现象。
• The object of these experiments was to find the connection,if any,between the two phenomena.这些实验的目的就是探索这两种现象之间的联系，如果存在着任何联系的话。

12 prosecutor   

n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人

参考例句：

• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。
• The prosecutor would tear your testimony to pieces.检查官会把你的证言驳得体无完肤。

13 killings   

谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发

参考例句：

• His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。

14 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为