VOA标准英语2011--SatelliteTechnology Helps Human Rights M

SatelliteTechnology Helps Human Rights Monitors

AU.N. panel of experts is expected to release a report soon citing evidence of war crimes in the final months of Sri Lanka's civil war. Among the evidence the panel reviewed was satellite imagery from the final days of the conflict.
In May of 2009, when the Sri Lankan army had insurgent¹ Tamil Tiger forces flanked in the country's Northeast, analyst² Lars Bromley pored over two sets of satellite imagery for the American Association for the Advancement³ of Science. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International had turned to AAAS because they were concerned about the safety of civilians⁵.
Two sets of images were captured - one at the start of a heavy battle on May 6, and one when fighting abated⁶ on May 10. Bromley says visible shell craters⁷ offered possible evidence Sri Lanka was firing into an area it had designated as a civilian⁴ safety zone.
"We were basically able to basically locate multiple mortar⁸ locations that corresponded with the locations of the craters and the pattern of the ejecta [material ejected] from the craters. They were Sri Lankan Army positions," he said.
Bromley says there was more disturbing visual evidence. "There were definitely significant expansions between May 6 and May 10 that were going on in the number of graves," he recalled.
Makeshift camps of people displaced by the Sri Lankan civil war were also gone from the second image. Bromley said it appeared the camps were being hastily dismantled⁹ by people in fear of their lives. "With all the other information that we were piecing together at the time, that was a pretty good call to make - that they were fleeing, and that it was a chaotic¹⁰ situation going on," Bromley said.
Satellites have increasingly been used to monitor suspected human-rights abuses in recent years, but cost still is an obstacle: a single high-resolution image can cost as much as $10,000.
Bromley says the potency¹¹ of satellite imagery increases when it meshes¹² with other technologies. Mobile phone and web-based "crowdsourcing" platforms like Ushahidi (www.ushahidi.com) make it possible to create a dynamic and interactive¹³ crisis map to help flesh out the information in a satellite snapshot.
"The magic happens when you start pulling all these things together and you use them as an array of tools to understand what's going on. The more you understand what's going on, the more likely you are to influence the policy decisions," Bromley explained.
Still, satellite images seldom convey the legal or moral nuances of a conflict. In the case of Sri Lanka, for example, the U.N. experts' report accuses Tamil Tiger rebels of taking refuge in designated safe zones - effectively using the civilians there as human shields, and shooting them if they attempted to escape.
Bromley says it is also difficult for satellites to capture the moves of a guerrilla force like the Tamil Tigers. "They would just kind of run out with a mortar tube and fire a few shots," he said. "And run back into a shelter. That kind of stuff doesn't appear on a satellite image at all."
As a result, a single image may at times give a misleading view of what has happened on the ground.
"You're not able to equally document the actions of both sides," Bromley stated. "You're able to document the sort of 'Earth-moving' things that one side is doing, but you're not able to document the 'shoot and scoot' sort of stuff the other side is doing."
There are also serious ethical¹⁴ concerns related to making satellite images available to the public.
"If you're releasing that sort of information in real time, in an environment where people are getting killed, you've got to consider how that information is being used," he said. "It's not all being used for altruistic¹⁵ purposes. There are bad people that will have access to that sort of information as well."
Bromley now analyzes¹⁶ satellite images for UNOSAT, a United Nations program that assists humanitarian¹⁷ groups. He says UNOSAT is not publicizing everything it sees in images of Libya, to avoid giving a tactical advantage to either side in that country's civil strife¹⁸.

1 insurgent   

adj.叛乱的，起事的；n.叛乱分子

参考例句：

• Faruk says they are threatened both by insurgent and government forces.法鲁克说，他们受到暴乱分子和政府军队的双重威胁。
• The insurgent mob assembled at the gate of the city park.叛变的暴徒聚在市立公园的门口。

2 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

3 advancement   

n.前进，促进，提升

参考例句：

• His new contribution to the advancement of physiology was well appreciated.他对生理学发展的新贡献获得高度赞赏。
• The aim of a university should be the advancement of learning.大学的目标应是促进学术。

4 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

5 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。

6 abated   

减少( abate的过去式和过去分词 )； 减去； 降价； 撤消（诉讼）

参考例句：

• The worker's concern about cuts in the welfare funding has not abated. 工人们对削减福利基金的关心并没有减少。
• The heat has abated. 温度降低了。

7 craters   

n.火山口( crater的名词复数 )；弹坑等

参考例句：

• Small meteorites have left impact craters all over the planet's surface. 这个行星的表面布满了小块陨石留下的撞击坑。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The battlefield was full of craters made by exploding shells. 战场上布满弹坑。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

8 mortar   

n.灰浆，灰泥；迫击炮；v.把…用灰浆涂接合

参考例句：

• The mason flushed the joint with mortar.泥工用灰浆把接缝处嵌平。
• The sound of mortar fire seemed to be closing in.迫击炮的吼声似乎正在逼近。

9 dismantled   

拆开( dismantle的过去式和过去分词 )； 拆卸； 废除； 取消

参考例句：

• The plant was dismantled of all its equipment and furniture. 这家工厂的设备和家具全被拆除了。
• The Japanese empire was quickly dismantled. 日本帝国很快被打垮了。

10 chaotic   

adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的

参考例句：

• Things have been getting chaotic in the office recently.最近办公室的情况越来越乱了。
• The traffic in the city was chaotic.这城市的交通糟透了。

11 potency   

n. 效力，潜能

参考例句：

• Alcohol increases the drug's potency.酒精能增加这种毒品的效力。
• Sunscreen can lose its potency if left over winter in the bathroom cabinet.如果把防晒霜在盥洗室的壁橱里放一个冬天，就有可能失效。

12 meshes   

网孔( mesh的名词复数 )； 网状物； 陷阱； 困境

参考例句：

• The net of Heaven has large meshes, but it lets nothing through. 天网恢恢，疏而不漏。
• This net has half-inch meshes. 这个网有半英寸见方的网孔。

13 interactive   

adj.相互作用的，互相影响的，（电脑）交互的

参考例句：

• The psychotherapy is carried out in small interactive groups.这种心理治疗是在互动的小组之间进行的。
• This will make videogames more interactive than ever.这将使电子游戏的互动性更胜以往。

14 ethical   

adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的

参考例句：

• It is necessary to get the youth to have a high ethical concept.必须使青年具有高度的道德观念。
• It was a debate which aroused fervent ethical arguments.那是一场引发强烈的伦理道德争论的辩论。

15 altruistic   

adj.无私的，为他人着想的

参考例句：

• It is superficial to be altruistic without feeling compassion.无慈悲之心却说利他，是为表面。
• Altruistic spirit should be cultivated by us vigorously.利他的精神是我们应该努力培养的。

16 analyzes   

v.分析( analyze的第三人称单数 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析

参考例句：

• This approach analyzes management by studying experience usually through cases. 这个学派通常从实例获得经验，用以分析管理。 来自辞典例句
• The econometrician analyzes statistical data. 经济计量学者要分析统计材料。 来自辞典例句

17 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。

18 strife   

n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争

参考例句：

• We do not intend to be drawn into the internal strife.我们不想卷入内乱之中。
• Money is a major cause of strife in many marriages.金钱是造成很多婚姻不和的一个主要原因。