VOA标准英语2013--Cluster Munitions Have Prolonged Impact

Cluster Munitions² Have Prolonged Impact

Mohamed is 13 years old. Two years ago, he played with a shiny metal object he found outside his home in Benghazi, Libya. He didn't know it was a cluster munition¹ until it exploded. 

Cluster munitions release smaller explosives across a wide area.

The bomblets can linger, causing death or injury long after a conflict ends.

"Children are really, really often affected³," said Antony Duttine. He is a rehabilitation⁴ adviser⁵ with Handicap International, an independent organization aiding the disabled in more than 60 countries.

His group helped rally support several years ago for an international treaty banning cluster-type weapons and requiring care for their victims. 

But many of the world's major military powers, including the United States, Russia and China, refuse to recognize the treaty, and Duttine says victim care is often challenging. "You're in areas which are really quite rural and miles and miles from the nearest medical facility. So there's the challenge of the immediate⁶ life-saving interventions," he stated.

Chris Harmer with the Institute for the Study of War says the real danger to civilians⁸ is that these weapons target indiscriminately. "Originally, they were designed to be used by one big army against another big army. Now that they're being used in close proximity⁹ to civilians is when you see the real humanitarian¹⁰ crisis," he added.

Duttine, of Handicap International, says the failure of many bomblets to detonate initially¹¹ can turn a civilian⁷ area into a mine field.

"A victim is not just the person who is directly affected by a mine, it's everybody in that community. They're affected from being [un]able to live their normal lives because areas of land are contaminated," Duttine explained. "And don't allow agricultural work to go on, don't allow access to the nearest health clinic, don't allow access to school."

Today, young Mohamed from Libya attends physical therapy for his hand. He's slowly getting better, but recovery, like cluster munition clean-up, is a long process. 

1 munition   

n.军火；军需品；v.给某部门提供军火

参考例句：

• The rebels bombed the munition factory.叛军轰炸了兵工厂。
• The soldiers had plenty of arms and munition!士兵们有充足的武器和弹药！

2 munitions   

n.军火，弹药；v.供应…军需品

参考例句：

• The army used precision-guided munitions to blow up enemy targets.军队用精确瞄准的枪炮炸掉敌方目标。
• He rose [made a career for himself] by dealing in munitions.他是靠贩卖军火发迹的。

3 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

4 rehabilitation   

n.康复，悔过自新，修复，复兴，复职，复位

参考例句：

• He's booked himself into a rehabilitation clinic.他自己联系了一家康复诊所。
• No one can really make me rehabilitation of injuries.已经没有人可以真正令我的伤康复了。

5 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

6 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

7 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。

8 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。

9 proximity   

n.接近，邻近

参考例句：

• Marriages in proximity of blood are forbidden by the law.法律规定禁止近亲结婚。
• Their house is in close proximity to ours.他们的房子很接近我们的。

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 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。