VOA标准英语2009年-Sri Lanka Pledges to Send Home Tamils Disp

By Anjana Pasricha
New Delhi
18 September 2009

 
A boy stands in a Menik Farm displaced persons camp in Vavuniya, Sri Lanka (May 2009 file photo) 
Sri Lanka has pledged to send home nearly 300,000 ethnic¹ Tamils being held in refugee camps. The assurance to send them home by the end of January came as a top United Nations envoy² visited the country to urge the government to hasten the resettlement of people displaced by the fighting with Tamil Tiger rebels. 

The promise to allow the Tamil refugees to return to their villages was made during a meeting Friday in Colombo between Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse and U.N. Under Secretary General for Political Affairs, Lynn Pascoe.

Pascoe, who is visiting Sri Lanka, met the President to press him to speed up the release of more than a quarter million Tamil refugees, who remain confined in camps four months after the military crushed the Tamil Tiger rebels. They had fled their homes to escape the fighting between the two sides.

The government has come under international criticism for the slow pace at which the refugees have been released. So far only 15,000 have been allowed to leave the camps.

Sri Lanka is assuring that will change. A statement from the President's office said that the refugees will be sent back as soon as the areas where they lived are cleared of mines. It said new demining equipment will allow all the Tamil civilians³ to be resettled by end of January.

U.N. spokesman in Colombo, Gordon Weiss, welcomed the pledge, pointing out that the conditions in which the refugees are living "are less than ideal."

"Any such statement by the President accompanied by measurable progress is very welcome," he said. "The return of displaced persons to their homes would be a very visible sign and measurable sign of progress in Sri Lanka."

The government says it has detained the refugees because it needs to demine the villages, and it wants to screen the people and weed out any former Tamil Tiger militants⁴.

After a visit to several refugee camps, Pascoe had said that "noone should be kept in such conditions longer than necessary."

Pascoe also raised the issue of a mechanism⁵ to address the issue of alleged⁶ human rights violations⁷ conducted during the war. So far Sri Lanka has turned down international calls to investigate violations.

Sri Lanka's quarter century long civil war ended this May after the government inflicted⁸ a decisive defeat on the Tamil Tigers, who had fought for a separate homeland for the minority Tamil community.

 

1 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。

2 envoy   

n.使节，使者，代表，公使

参考例句：

• Their envoy showed no sign of responding to our proposals.他们的代表对我方的提议毫无回应的迹象。
• The government has not yet appointed an envoy to the area.政府尚未向这一地区派过外交官。

3 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

4 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

5 mechanism   

n.机械装置；机构，结构

参考例句：

• The bones and muscles are parts of the mechanism of the body.骨骼和肌肉是人体的组成部件。
• The mechanism of the machine is very complicated.这台机器的结构是非常复杂的。

6 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

7 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

8 inflicted   

把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They inflicted a humiliating defeat on the home team. 他们使主队吃了一场很没面子的败仗。
• Zoya heroically bore the torture that the Fascists inflicted upon her. 卓娅英勇地承受法西斯匪徒加在她身上的酷刑。