VOA慢速英语2013 AS IT IS - Cambodia, in Southeast Asia

 

AS IT IS - Cambodia, in Southeast Asia

Hi. Welcome to AS IT IS!

I’m Kelly Jean Kelly.

Today Mario Ritter is taking us to Cambodia, in Southeast Asia.

A Cambodian-American filmmaker named Kalyanee Mam spent several years making a movie in Cambodia. The movie is a documentary called “A River Changes Course.” It tells the story of three young people, and how life is changing for them. One of the young people is Sari Math. When the documentary begins, Sari is 14-years- old and fishing with his father.

Kalyanee Mam describes the scene.

“You can see the hands, you can see the nets, and you can feel the waves, you know, crashing against the boat.”

Sari Math and his family live on a floating village in the middle of a river. The river is very unusual. Every year it changes direction. During the rainy season it flows one way. During the dry season it flows the other way.

“I found it’s the perfect metaphor¹ for what is happening in Cambodia right now. You know, all the changes that are happening, and all the development that’s taking place. There’s a bit of uncertainty²—actually not a bit, but a lot of uncertainty for people right now in  Cambodia about what’s going to happen to them and what course their lives will take.”

For Sari Math’s family in Cambodia, development means more people are fishing in the waters near their village. Some use large traps or dynamite³ to catch more fish. As a result, the fish are disappearing — and so is the income for Sari Math’s family.

“They are Cham Muslim, they speak a very distinct language, they have a very distinct culture, and it’s a very distinct religion. And, you know, without their source of livelihood⁴ which is fishing, you know their life could change, you know, dramatically, and it is changing dramatically.”

By the end of the film, Sari Math is 16. He has had to quit school. And he has left his floating village. Even though he is trained as a fisherman, he is looking for a job on a cassava farm.

Kimseng Men is a reporter for VOA’s Khmer service. He says historically in Cambodia, most people lived in villages with their families. They earned money from farming, fishing and the forest. But these days things are different.

“You wake up one day, you see the sound of a bulldozer coming to bulldoze your forest, your plantation⁵.”

He says people in this position often sell their land. In some cases this is because their neighbors have already sold their land to a developer. In other cases people do not even have a choice.

“For example, some people live in the area for ten, twenty years, and then one day the court would say, you’re illegal because you have no paperwork. And the new owner coming in, they have proper legal paper. And they are the rightful owner. So things like this happen.”

Kimseng Men says it is also increasingly common in Cambodia for people to move away from their families. He says some move to cities to find new jobs. Others borrow money to keep their land. Then they have to work in other areas to repay their debt.

But he says some people are doing quite well in Cambodia.

“Those who are in power, the elite⁶ team, those who are very well connected to the leader are the ones who benefit the most.”

These include officials who are in a position to help foreign investors⁷, he says.

“I said, your country, Cambodia, has very good laws. But the problem is, who’s implementing⁹ it. Who’s in charge of it? And if those who implement⁸ the law put it in a way to serve their own group interest, and then you’re not protecting the people anymore.”

Kimseng Men says ordinary people also have a responsibility. They can find out what changes are happening in their area. They can join with their neighbors and tell the government how they want to manage those changes, he says.

“They should let them know in advance. They should not wait until it’s too late. When they already agree to those investments and then come in with their machinery¹⁰, it’s hard to pull them away.”

Filmmaker Kalyanee Mam agrees that development can be positive.

“I think that change is inevitable¹¹. Changes are, you know, to a certain extent, you know, good for you.”

She says changes such as migration¹² away from rural areas are allowing more women to find work and provide for their families. But migration is also taking resources from those rural areas. And developers who harvest large amounts of fish or trees are affecting the country’s natural resources.

“You know the changes are, in a way they’re helping¹³ people because they’re giving them opportunities, but at the same time they’re not cognizant of the impact that it’s having on people’s lives.”

Kalyanee Mam says these impacts are the reason she made her film. She says she wanted to show the beauty of Cambodians’ daily life. That life will be lost, she says, if people are not more aware of the effects of globalization.

Kalyanee Mam’s film, “A River Changes Course,” won the world cinema prize for documentary at the Sundance Film Festival this year. It is also playing at the Environmental Film Festival in Washington, DC this month.

Flo Stone founded the DC Environmental Film Festival in 1993. It lasts 13 days and is showing 190 films from 50 countries this year.

“We have films this year about the Amazon, about the Ganges, the Mississippi in America, the Rhine, a whole series of films on the Rhine winding¹⁴ through Europe, and other rivers in Africa and Asia.”

Ms. Stone says film is a powerful way to get people talking about the importance of rivers and other environmental issues.

In fact, one film, called “Revolution,” is all about activists¹⁵ for the environment. Filmmaker Rob Stewart says a good many of them are under 25.

“We’ve got, you know, we’ve got kids on our side. And they’re the most powerful, most active, most energetic group on the planet, and it’s their future that’s at stake. So I think, for sure, I’m hopeful.”

A few years ago, Mr. Stewart made a movie about saving sharks. But now he says it’s not just sharks we need to save. It’s us.

That’s it for today. Thanks for listening to As It Is.

1 metaphor   

n.隐喻，暗喻

参考例句：

• Using metaphor,we say that computers have senses and a memory.打个比方，我们可以说计算机有感觉和记忆力。
• In poetry the rose is often a metaphor for love.玫瑰在诗中通常作为爱的象征。

2 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

3 dynamite   

n./vt.(用)炸药(爆破)

参考例句：

• The workmen detonated the dynamite.工人们把炸药引爆了。
• The philosopher was still political dynamite.那位哲学家仍旧是政治上的爆炸性人物。

4 livelihood   

n.生计，谋生之道

参考例句：

• Appropriate arrangements will be made for their work and livelihood.他们的工作和生活会得到妥善安排。
• My father gained a bare livelihood of family by his own hands.父亲靠自己的双手勉强维持家计。

5 plantation   

n.种植园，大农场

参考例句：

• His father-in-law is a plantation manager.他岳父是个种植园经营者。
• The plantation owner has possessed himself of a vast piece of land.这个种植园主把大片土地占为己有。

6 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

7 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

8 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

9 implementing   

v.实现( implement的现在分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• -- Implementing a comprehensive drug control strategy. ――实行综合治理的禁毒战略。 来自汉英非文学 - 白皮书
• He was in no hurry about implementing his unshakable principle. 他并不急于实行他那不可动摇的原则。 来自辞典例句

10 machinery   

n.(总称)机械，机器；机构

参考例句：

• Has the machinery been put up ready for the broadcast?广播器材安装完毕了吗？
• Machinery ought to be well maintained all the time.机器应该随时注意维护。

11 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

12 migration   

n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙

参考例句：

• Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
• He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。

13 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。

14 winding   

n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈

参考例句：

• A winding lane led down towards the river.一条弯弯曲曲的小路通向河边。
• The winding trail caused us to lose our orientation.迂回曲折的小道使我们迷失了方向。

15 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》