VOA标准英语2014--Rwanda's Youth Looks Forward 20 Years After Genocide

 

Rwanda's Youth Looks Forward 20 Years After Genocide 

KIGALI — Nearly a generation has passed since more than 800,000 people were killed in the Rwandan genocide. Now, after years of healing, young Rwandan remember the past but also hope for a better future.

Members of a student genocide survivors¹ group walk together to memorialize those who were killed 20 years ago.

Still in high school, most here are too young to remember the fighting, though their lives were forever changed. Many lost family members, including their parents.

They come to the Nyanza memorial site to grieve² together and to offer support to each other. It's a kind of community service, born out of the tragedy of the past.

“It is important to come because it is the best way to honor the bodies of our parents, our friends who are buried in these graves," says Fabien Akalikumutima, 20, who leads education programs for the group.

The site memorializes some 2,000 people who were killed in April 1994, while taking shelter at a nearby school.

Students say education is key to preventing a repeat of the past.

“Through telling the truth of what I know and through helping³ the young children who are growing up, I have to explain to them clearly what happened because there are some people who can explain to them in the wrong way,” said Akalikumutima.

Hope for the future

The country still bears the scars⁴ of the genocide.  But development is all around - and opportunity beckons⁵ a younger generation keen to rebuild the country.

Christian⁶ Kwisinga and Marie Josée Uwayezu this year were accepted to Dartmouth College in the United States, after studying with the Bridge2Rwanda program in Kigali.

Both are looking forward to a better future for their country.

“When you are getting an opportunity you think that you have to also give an opportunity to someone else, because you know we are just being one nation, that's the thing,” said Uwayezu.

“You can find that [after] what has been harmed by the genocide, now we are in a time of reconciliation⁷ and peace and I believe that is not something that should affect anyone's thinking about what he wants to do in the future,” said Kwisinga.

 

Through memorial and public service, Rwanda's younger generation keeps one eye on the past and another on the future.

1 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

2 grieve   

vi.（for，over）感到悲痛；vt.(使)伤心

参考例句：

• Be sure and not grieve.一定不要伤心。
• What the eye does not see,the heart does not grieve over.眼不见，心不烦。

3 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。

4 scars   

n.伤痕( scar的名词复数 )；精神上的创伤；有损外观的地方；裸岩

参考例句：

• Slowly the war scars faded. 战争的创伤慢慢地消失了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• I've got scars from head to toe in tribute to my courage. 为了嘉奖我的胆量，我得到浑身的伤疤。 来自辞典例句

5 beckons   

v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• He sent his ships wherever profit beckons. 他将船队派往赢利的那些地方。 来自辞典例句
• I believe history beckons again. 我认为现在历史又在召唤了。 来自辞典例句

6 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

7 reconciliation   

n.和解，和谐，一致

参考例句：

• He was taken up with the reconciliation of husband and wife.他忙于做夫妻间的调解工作。
• Their handshake appeared to be a gesture of reconciliation.他们的握手似乎是和解的表示。