VOA慢速英语--只有少数基督徒返回伊拉克

 

Hind¹ Jijji recently returned to her hometown of Qaraqosh in northern Iraq after Islamic State, or IS fighters were forced from the town.

She and her family fled the area in 2014 just two hours before IS fighters captured² Qaraqosh. They feared that IS would target them as religious minorities. So they fled to Iraqi Kurdistan without taking any of their belongings³.

Before IS forces attacked Qaraqosh, Hind Jijji was a student at the College of Medicine in Mosul. She planned to become a doctor.

Jijji told VOA she was shocked at how much damage had been done to the town. The home in which she grew up was destroyed.

Jijji told VOA that when IS forces fled, they took everything they could and destroyed what was left.

Jijji said the IS fighters burned hundreds of other homes that belonged to Christians⁵. They also damaged a tall religious center, the church of St. Mary al-Tahira.

St. Mary al-Tahira was once the largest church in Iraq. About 3,000 people went to religious services there every Sunday. The church is an important place for Iraqi Christians. Hundreds of people returned to the town to repair the building in late 2016.

But for many Christians in Iraqi towns, life will never be the way it once was. It will be difficult to re-establish the Christian⁴ community in Qaraqosh and the rest of Iraq because most Christians who fled refuse to return. They have decided⁶ to move overseas.

The fleeing of many Christians has raised questions about the future of Christianity in Iraq. Muslims and Christians have lived as neighbors in the area for centuries.

“I don’t want to live in this place again. I don’t want to ever live next to people who chose to stay under IS rule,” Hind Jijji told VOA.

She and her family are trying to leave the country and join other Iraqis in Europe. For Jijji, moving to the West is not only an attempt to find safety, but a chance to live a better life.

Like Jijji, Maryana Habash also left Qaraqosh with her family when IS fighters attacked.

She and her family were given political asylum⁷ in France in early 2016. She now lives in Reims, France and has begun school.

Like Jijji, Habash says Qaraqosh is part of her past now.

Habash says eight other families from Qaraqosh live in Reims and more are coming.

Mass Christian immigration from Iraq is harming the efforts of those who want to establish a self-governing area for Christians in northern Iraq.

Romeo Hakari leads the Bait-al-Nahrain Assyrian Christian political party. He says “continued mass migration⁸ of our people to the West is the greatest danger to our existence as a religious minority in Iraq.”

The Iraqi government does not know how many Christians live in the country. But it is estimated⁹ that more than 1.5 million Christians lived there before 2003.

The Iraqi Christian Relief Council¹⁰ is a non-profit group that supports Christian minorities in Iraq. It says the violence that followed the American-led invasion¹¹ and the targeting of religious minorities by militants¹² have forced about 80 percent of the Christian population to leave the country.

Hakari partly blames the West for mass Christian immigration from Iraq. He says western officials appealed to Iraqi Christians to live in Europe and other places.

Western countries have agreed to accept Iraqi Christians and Yazidis because of the attacks by IS on these groups. This year, a State Department official told VOA that the U.S government and Canada were working to permanently¹³ resettle hundreds of Yazidis and Christians from Iraq.

Hakari told VOA that Iraqi Christian leaders meet often with the American and European officials in an effort to reduce support for such programs. But for many Christians like Hind Jijji, it is not possible to return.

“With time we have realized that it doesn’t matter where we live and what system is in place. What really matters is the people around us.”

Words in This Story

church - n. a place where Christians meet for religious services or classes

1 hind   

adj.后面的，后部的

参考例句：

• The animal is able to stand up on its hind limbs.这种动物能够用后肢站立。
• Don't hind her in her studies.不要在学业上扯她后腿。

2 captured   

俘获( capture的过去式和过去分词 )； 夺取； 夺得； 引起（注意、想像、兴趣）

参考例句：

• Allied troops captured over 300 enemy soldiers. 盟军俘虏了300多名敌方士兵。
• Most of the rebels were captured and disarmed. 大部分叛乱分子被俘获并解除了武装。

3 belongings   

n.私人物品，私人财物

参考例句：

• I put a few personal belongings in a bag.我把几件私人物品装进包中。
• Your personal belongings are not dutiable.个人物品不用纳税。

4 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。

5 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

6 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

7 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

8 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。

9 estimated   

adj．根据估计的

参考例句：

• She estimated the breadth of the lake to be 500 metres. 她估计湖面大约有500米宽。
• The man estimated for the repair of the car. 那人估算了修理汽车的费用。

10 council   

n.理事会，委员会，议事机构

参考例句：

• The town council passed a law forbidding the distribution of handbills.市议会通过法律，禁止散发传单。
• The city council has declared for improving the public bus system.市议会宣布同意改进公共汽车系统。

11 invasion   

n.入侵，侵略，侵犯

参考例句：

• They are ready against the possible invasion.他们防备可能的入侵。
• It is our duty to shield our country from invasion.保卫祖国不受侵犯是我们的责任。

12 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

13 permanently   

adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地

参考例句：

• The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。