难民抵达希腊的故事

AS IT IS 2015-09-15 A Story of Refugees² Arriving in Greece 难民抵达希腊的故事

The following story is based on a web blog from VOA’s Heather Murdock in Greece.

The first picture message was sent on social media at 3:51 in the morning. It appeared on the messaging software WhatsApp.

The picture showed a group of eight men with wet clothes on a dark beach. The night before, the men had left with backpacks and life jackets on a dangerous trip: They planned to be smuggled⁴ from Turkey to Greece by rubber boat.

The eight men hardly knew each other before deciding to travel together. Omar and Monaf are two college students. They were the youngest in the group. They smiled and stuck out their chests, pleased to be making the trip. 

The International Organization for Migration⁵ says nearly 3,000 people have died while trying to reach Europe this year. Thousands have drowned. Smugglers or others have taken the life’s savings⁷ of migrants, leaving them trapped in war zones with no money. 

The eight men who made the crossing in a small boat were lucky.  The group had survived years of war, escaped from Syria and had spent days planning. The men had slept in the street the night before. They were about to attempt the trip from Greece to Germany, where they hope to find a future.

On arriving, they sent a text message. It said, “We made it.”

All full at the hotel

A commercial ferry ride from Greece to Turkey cost the VOA reporter $20. Each of the men had paid smugglers $1,200 to travel between the two countries. The men walked for two and a half hours from the coast to the town of Mytilene on the Greek island of Lesbos. Mobile phones with global positioning system links are very important for the refugees.

“The city is not safe and the hotels are all full,” said a taxi driver outside the customs office. He motioned with his hands at the refugees, some with plastic tents. “These people,” he said, with exasperation⁸. 

The streets of Mytilene were crowded with refugees. Arabic was the only language heard in the town.

The first hotel was only minutes from the port. Two young men entered wearing backpacks.

“All full?” the men said in English.

“Full,” the hotel employee said.  

When it was her turn to help the next person, our reporter (Heather Murdock) told her: “I know you are full, but ..."

She interrupted. “You need a room? I have a balcony room with a sea view. It is 72 Euros.” The reporter felt uneasy⁹, but took the room.

Trying to move on to the next border 

One of the eight men, Modar, formerly¹⁰ worked as an iPhone repairman. Now, he is a refugee¹. On WhatsApp, he reported that the men were sitting in an outdoor ice cream parlor¹¹.   

The group, now larger, had just finished their coffees and waters. Omar was sleeping in a chair. Other men excitedly told their stories. 

After driving four hours, carefully avoiding the police, they had walked through the woods for an hour in the darkness. Smugglers hurriedly gave directions to the 32 passengers in English. They repeated, “Go, go, go!” at every new phase of the trip.

Modar said that one of the smugglers was a blonde Turkish woman about 30 years old.

When the men arrived on the island, they saw four people sleeping near the water. Even 8-year-old Mohammed knew why they were there. “Their smuggler⁶ had stolen their money from them,” he later said.  

“Go, go, go,” the smugglers repeated, pushing the group into the boat and ignoring the four sleepers¹².

The sea was smooth and the trip short -- only an hour and a half on the water. If the men were frightened, they would not admit it. On the road from Syria to Europe, fear is dismissed as something only for the weak. And after more than four years of living out a humanitarian¹³ disaster, many people say they are too numb¹⁴ to feel much of anything.

Now that they had finally arrived in Greece, they were in a hurry to get to the next border. Everyone knows Hungary is passing new anti-immigration laws and building a wall. They wanted to get in and out of the country while it is still possible. They said they have come so far, the idea of failing in Hungary is unbearable¹⁵.

“Hungary is hard,” said Omar, now awake, placing his forehead into his hands.

Words in This Story

smuggle³ – v. to bring someone or something from one country to another illegally or secretly

smuggler – n. someone who smuggles¹⁶

exasperation – n. the state of being very annoyed or upset

interrupted – v. to speak while another person is speaking; to do or say something that causes someone to stop speaking

phase – n. a part or step in a process; one part in a series of related events or actions

numb – adj. unable to think, feel or react normally because of shock or long-term exposure to something

unbearable – adj. too extreme or bad to be accepted

1 refugee   

n.难民，流亡者

参考例句：

• The refugee was condemned to a life of wandering.这个难民注定要过流浪的生活。
• The refugee is suffering for want of food and medical supplies.难民苦于缺少食物和医药用品。

2 refugees   

n.避难者，难民( refugee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The UN has begun making airdrops of food to refugees. 联合国已开始向难民空投食物。
• They claimed they were political refugees and not economic migrants. 他们宣称自己是政治难民，不是经济移民。

3 smuggle   

vt.私运；vi.走私

参考例句：

• Friends managed to smuggle him secretly out of the country.朋友们想方设法将他秘密送出国了。
• She has managed to smuggle out the antiques without getting caught.她成功将古董走私出境，没有被逮捕。

4 smuggled   

水货

参考例句：

• The customs officer confiscated the smuggled goods. 海关官员没收了走私品。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Those smuggled goods have been detained by the port office. 那些走私货物被港务局扣押了。 来自互联网

5 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。

6 smuggler   

n.走私者

参考例句：

• The smuggler is in prison tonight, awaiting extradition to Britain. 这名走私犯今晚在监狱，等待引渡到英国。
• The smuggler was finally obliged to inform against his boss. 那个走私犯最后不得不告发他的首领。

7 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

8 exasperation   

n.愤慨

参考例句：

• He snorted with exasperation.他愤怒地哼了一声。
• She rolled her eyes in sheer exasperation.她气急败坏地转动着眼珠。

9 uneasy   

adj.心神不安的，担心的，令人不安的

参考例句：

• He feels uneasy today.他今天心里感到不安。
• She had an uneasy feeling that they were still following her.她有一种他们仍在跟踪她的不安感觉。

10 formerly   

adv.从前，以前

参考例句：

• We now enjoy these comforts of which formerly we had only heard.我们现在享受到了过去只是听说过的那些舒适条件。
• This boat was formerly used on the rivers of China.这船从前航行在中国内河里。

11 parlor   

n.店铺，营业室；会客室，客厅

参考例句：

• She was lying on a small settee in the parlor.她躺在客厅的一张小长椅上。
• Is there a pizza parlor in the neighborhood?附近有没有比萨店？

12 sleepers   

n.卧铺（通常以复数形式出现）；卧车( sleeper的名词复数 )；轨枕；睡觉（呈某种状态）的人；小耳环

参考例句：

• He trod quietly so as not to disturb the sleepers. 他轻移脚步，以免吵醒睡着的人。 来自辞典例句
• The nurse was out, and we two sleepers were alone. 保姆出去了，只剩下我们两个瞌睡虫。 来自辞典例句

13 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。

14 numb   

adj.麻木的，失去感觉的；v.使麻木

参考例句：

• His fingers were numb with cold.他的手冻得发麻。
• Numb with cold,we urged the weary horses forward.我们冻得发僵，催着疲惫的马继续往前走。

15 unbearable   

adj.不能容忍的；忍受不住的

参考例句：

• It is unbearable to be always on thorns.老是处于焦虑不安的情况中是受不了的。
• The more he thought of it the more unbearable it became.他越想越觉得无法忍受。

16 smuggles   

v.偷运( smuggle的第三人称单数 )；私运；走私；不按规章地偷带（人或物）

参考例句：