VOA标准英语2013--Guantanamo Prison Hunger Strike Grows

 

Guantanamo Prison Hunger Strike Grows

It is a daily routine at the detention¹ facility; military staff, including a medical team, check to see who is eating and who is not.  

For the staff at Joint² Task Force Guantanamo - whose mandate³ is to be safe, humane⁴, legal, and transparent⁵ - the decision to force feed by inserting a tube into a detainee's nose and down to his stomach, is a matter of procedure. 

Navy Captain Robert Durand is a spokesman for the Guantanamo facility. 

“When a detainee refuses food, when they miss nine consecutive⁶ meals and declare an intent to be a hunger striker, we label them as a hunger striker and we start monitoring their health.  When they lose enough weight to endanger their health potentially, before they get to that point, usually about 85 percent of their ideal body weight, our joint medical group, the doctors and nurses and corpsmen, will make a recommendation to the joint task force commander that that detainee be enterally fed," he said. 

The hunger strike began in February.  The detainees, held for years, are protesting the U.S. government's failure to try those it suspects of being terrorists, or release the 86 detainees who have been cleared.  

President Obama promised to close the prison when he took office in 2009, but his administration blames his failure to do so on Congressional restrictions⁷ that require security guarantees from the countries that would receive them.  Recently, he restated his desire to see the prison closed.

But words are not enough for advocates pressing Defense⁸ Secretary Chuck Hagel to authorize⁹ the release of those who have been cleared. 

Attorney David Remes represents 17 of the hunger strikers. 

"My message to Hagel is to work with the administration and begin signing the national security waivers that Congress granted the president, which provided him with the authority and flexibility¹⁰ to transfer detainees who are at Guantanamo.  The administration can not keep passing the buck¹¹ to Congress," he said. 

U.S. military officials say their responsibility is limited to providing care for the detainees. 

“Our job here is to make sure that they are held in a safe and humane manner and that when the time comes to transfer them, or release them, we will do that.  But until that time comes, you can be assured that we will do our job to safely and humanely¹² detain them to the best of our ability," said Durand. 

Just a few months ago, the issue of the Guantanamo detainees was largely ignored by the U.S. media.  The hunger strike, and accounts of force-feeding, have put it back on Washington's radar¹³.

1 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

2 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

3 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

4 humane   

adj.人道的，富有同情心的

参考例句：

• Is it humane to kill animals for food?宰杀牲畜来吃合乎人道吗？
• Their aim is for a more just and humane society.他们的目标是建立一个更加公正、博爱的社会。

5 transparent   

adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的

参考例句：

• The water is so transparent that we can see the fishes swimming.水清澈透明，可以看到鱼儿游来游去。
• The window glass is transparent.窗玻璃是透明的。

6 consecutive   

adj.连续的，联贯的，始终一贯的

参考例句：

• It has rained for four consecutive days.已连续下了四天雨。
• The policy of our Party is consecutive.我党的政策始终如一。

7 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

8 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

9 authorize   

v.授权，委任；批准，认可

参考例句：

• He said that he needed to get his supervisor to authorize my refund.他说必须让主管人员批准我的退款。
• Only the President could authorize the use of the atomic bomb.只有总统才能授权使用原子弹。

10 flexibility   

n.柔韧性，弹性，（光的）折射性，灵活性

参考例句：

• Her great strength lies in her flexibility.她的优势在于她灵活变通。
• The flexibility of a man's muscles will lessen as he becomes old.人老了肌肉的柔韧性将降低。

11 buck   

n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃

参考例句：

• The boy bent curiously to the skeleton of the buck.这个男孩好奇地弯下身去看鹿的骸骨。
• The female deer attracts the buck with high-pitched sounds.雌鹿以尖声吸引雄鹿。

12 humanely   

adv.仁慈地；人道地；富人情地；慈悲地

参考例句：

• Is the primary persona being treated humanely by the product? 该产品对待首要人物角色时是否有人情味？ 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• In any event, China's interest in treating criminals more humanely has limits. 无论如何，中国对更人道地对待罪犯的兴趣有限。 来自互联网

13 radar   

n.雷达，无线电探测器

参考例句：

• They are following the flight of an aircraft by radar.他们正在用雷达追踪一架飞机的飞行。
• Enemy ships were detected on the radar.敌舰的影像已显现在雷达上。