VOA标准英语2009年-Guatemalan Exhumations Bring Hope by U

As the political climate in Guatemala slowly swings towards acceptance of the legacy¹ of a long and violent civil war, exhumations have provided some closure to families of thousands of disappeared persons.

Brent Latham | Guatemala City 17 December 2009

 
Photo: AP
Paulino Reynosa, 78, examines T-shirt on skeleton of man in mass grave as he searches for remains² of his son who disappeared in 1981 in Uspantan, in the Quiche region, Guatemala, Aug 2009

 
About one quarter of the presumed dead are still considered missing persons, never to be heard from again.

On a hillside along a busy road just south of Guatemala's capital, Aura Elena stands in the fading sunlight after another day peaking over the shoulders of a team of forensic³ anthropologists and workmen.  This urban setting has been pointed⁴ out by anonymous⁵ tipsters, who have come forward after 25 years, as the suspected final resting place of at least four people who disappeared during the civil war that raged in Guatemala during the 1980s.

Personal quest

As the chairperson of the victims' rights association Families of the Disappeared of Guatemala, Elena has presided over a number of such investigations⁶.  But this one is special to her.  Among the bodies the team expects to find here is that of Elena's brother, who disappeared on his way to a university in 1984, and was never heard from again.

Elena says exhumations like this one play a crucial role in bringing closure to the families of the disappeared.  Though the dig, along a paved highway that was constructed in recent years - complicating⁷ the work of the anthropologists - had yet to yield any results after four days, Elena and the dozen or so family members of presumed victims thought to be buried here have refused to give up hope.

Sign of progress

Families of those suspected to have been killed in the mid⁸ 1980s by agents of the right-wing military regime of Oscar Mejia Victores, say just being able to search for their loved ones is a signal of progress in this country.  Mario Polanco heads the victims' rights organization Mutual⁹ Support Group.

Polanco says he is amazed at the change in political climate that has allowed exhumations to go forward at an increasingly rapid speed in recent years.  He qualifies exhumations as a humanitarian¹⁰ act that allows families to close what he calls the circle of pain and mourning in which they have been caught for a quarter of a century, and says it was unthinkable as recently as a few years ago that investigations into war crimes would have been allowed in this country.

Polanco and other civil rights advocates say that for years the judicial¹¹ and political systems in Guatemala blocked attempts to reconstruct the country's troubled past.  But recent legal documents have uncovered a slew¹² of new evidence incriminating military officials and politicians, and helping¹³ to clarify the fates of many of the country's thousands of missing persons.

Change of attitude

A pair of recent court decisions went so far as to convict military collaborators for their role in disappearances¹⁴.  Dozens of other cases are pending¹⁵ around the country.  The sea change in the approach towards dealing¹⁶ with the past has also opened the door for the exhumations, says Jose Suasnavar of the Foundation for Forensic Anthropology¹⁷ of Guatemala.

Suasnavar says more than 1,000 exhumations have taken place in the past years, and the remains of more than 5,000 victims have been located.  Though a large percentage of those victims are yet to be identified, DNA¹⁸ testing is making it increasingly possible to determine the identity of remains found in unmarked graves.

Using the new technology, victims' rights organizations in Guatemala hope to now examine entire cemeteries¹⁹ in areas where massacres²⁰ were concentrated, Suasnavar says.

Suasnavar says countless²¹ anonymous victims were buried in mass graves nationwide.  He says the process of sorting through those areas, which include sites around the country, but concentrated in the mountainous northern areas, will be a long and difficult one, though it is work that needs to be done in the name of the victims' families.

Searching for clues

At the scene of the dig south of the capital, Elena and the other family members present were resolute²² in their determination to find clues as to the fate of their family members.

Elena says she hopes the relatives of the disappeared will continue to support the fight to find the remains of their loved ones.  She says the exhumations will continue, since they are the best way to bring closure to families who have been in doubt for decades about the fate of their family members.

The Guatemalan Civil War lasted almost four decades.  A peace treaty between the government and the final groups of rebels was signed in December 1996.  During the course of the conflict, more than 200,000 people were killed.  About one quarter of the presumed dead are still considered missing persons, never to be heard from again. 
 

1 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

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 forensic   

adj.法庭的，雄辩的

参考例句：

• The report included his interpretation of the forensic evidence.该报告包括他对法庭证据的诠释。
• The judge concluded the proceeding on 10:30 Am after one hour of forensic debate.经过近一个小时的法庭辩论后，法官于10时30分宣布休庭。

4 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

5 anonymous   

adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的

参考例句：

• Sending anonymous letters is a cowardly act.寄匿名信是懦夫的行为。
• The author wishes to remain anonymous.作者希望姓名不公开。

6 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

7 complicating   

使复杂化( complicate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• High spiking fever with chills is suggestive of a complicating pylephlebitis. 伴有寒战的高热，暗示合并门静脉炎。
• In America these actions become executive puberty rites, complicating relationships that are already complicated enough. 在美国，这些行动成了行政青春期的惯例，使本来已经够复杂的关系变得更复杂了。

8 mid   

adj.中央的，中间的

参考例句：

• Our mid-term exam is pending.我们就要期中考试了。
• He switched over to teaching in mid-career.他在而立之年转入教学工作。

9 mutual   

adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的

参考例句：

• We must pull together for mutual interest.我们必须为相互的利益而通力合作。
• Mutual interests tied us together.相互的利害关系把我们联系在一起。

10 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。

11 judicial   

adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的

参考例句：

• He is a man with a judicial mind.他是个公正的人。
• Tom takes judicial proceedings against his father.汤姆对他的父亲正式提出诉讼。

12 slew   

v.（使）旋转；n.大量，许多

参考例句：

• He slewed the car against the side of the building.他的车滑到了大楼的一侧，抵住了。
• They dealt with a slew of other issues.他们处理了大量的其他问题。

13 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

14 disappearances   

n.消失( disappearance的名词复数 )；丢失；失踪；失踪案

参考例句：

• Most disappearances are the result of the terrorist activity. 大多数的失踪案都是恐怖分子造成的。 来自辞典例句
• The espionage, the betrayals, the arrests, the tortures, the executions, the disappearances will never cease. 间谍活动、叛党卖国、逮捕拷打、处决灭迹，这种事情永远不会完。 来自英汉文学

15 pending   

prep.直到，等待…期间；adj.待定的；迫近的

参考例句：

• The lawsuit is still pending in the state court.这案子仍在州法庭等待定夺。
• He knew my examination was pending.他知道我就要考试了。

16 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

17 anthropology   

n.人类学

参考例句：

• I believe he has started reading up anthropology.我相信他已开始深入研究人类学。
• Social anthropology is centrally concerned with the diversity of culture.社会人类学主要关于文化多样性。

18 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

19 cemeteries   

n.（非教堂的）墓地，公墓( cemetery的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• It's morbid to dwell on cemeteries and such like. 不厌其烦地谈论墓地以及诸如此类的事是一种病态。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• In other districts the proximity of cemeteries seemed to aggravate the disease. 在其它地区里，邻近墓地的地方，时疫大概都要严重些。 来自辞典例句

20 massacres   

大屠杀( massacre的名词复数 )； 惨败

参考例句：

• The time is past for guns and killings and massacres. 动不动就用枪、动不动就杀、大规模屠杀的时代已经过去了。 来自教父部分
• Numberless recent massacres were still vivid in their recollection. 近来那些不可胜数的屠杀，在他们的头脑中记忆犹新。

21 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

22 resolute   

adj.坚决的，果敢的

参考例句：

• He was resolute in carrying out his plan.他坚决地实行他的计划。
• The Egyptians offered resolute resistance to the aggressors.埃及人对侵略者作出坚决的反抗。