VOA慢速英语2021--伊拉克志愿者加入重建摩苏尔图书馆

Iraqi Volunteers Join to Rebuild Mosul Library

The main library at Mosul University in Iraq opened in 1921. After a donation¹ from 60 of the city's libraries in 1967, its collection grew to nearly 1 million books.

The library had books on subjects such as literature, science, philosophy, law, culture and contained old maps, writings and newspapers. Over time, it became the university's research center, and 1,500 students would visit each day.

But that changed when the Islamic State (IS) took over Mosul in June 2014. The militant² group forced its way into the library and started breaking equipment and burning books.

In early 2015, IS loaded about 8,000 books onto trucks, took them outside of the city and set them on fire. The director general of UNESCO, the United Nations' cultural organization, called this a "cleansing," and a "systematic³ destruction⁴ of heritage⁵."

While many books were destroyed, the building itself remained largely⁶ undamaged until a nine-month-long battle started in late 2016. By the time the Iraqi military pushed IS from Mosul, thousands of people had died. Many people fled the fighting and thousands of buildings were destroyed – including the library. It was burned by IS and hit by missiles⁷ aimed at ousting⁸ the group.

Tahany Saleh was an economics⁹ student at the university in 2014. When the fighting started, she stayed home for almost 1,000 days. She is now 28 and working to rebuild the library.

She remembers seeing thick, black smoke coming from the building. She said the fire looked "mad" and she could see the smoke although her home is a long way from the library.

Mohammed Jasim al-Hamdany used to oversee¹⁰ the library. He said he saw pictures of the destroyed building on television. At the time, he left Mosul to get away from the fighting. He said he did not think the library would survive the damage, so he started a new library for students at Kirkuk University.

After the fighting ended, almost 95 percent of Mosul University's library collection was lost. Al-Hamdany said many of the items can never be replaced.

In January 2017, Iraqi forces re-took the part of Mosul that includes the university. Saleh thought she might be able to go back to school. But without the library, she wondered, where would she study?

"My university was destroyed," she said.

While she could not stop the destruction that happened years earlier, she realized she could work to rebuild the library.

She got help from her friend, Omar Mohammed. He ran a blog called Mosul Eye. The two worked to call attention to the destroyed library and used Twitter to ask people to help.

Mohammed tweeted: "Our Central Library is liberated¹², but burned to ashes. Are you willing to donate books to it?"

Some people offered help, but others said there were still books inside the library that had not burned. Could they be saved?

After some time passed, Saleh went to the library with some friends. It was dark, cold and dangerous. They were worried about mines and unexploded devices¹³ that might go off.

Once inside, she and her friends discovered an area that held old newspapers. They had survived.

Mohammed wrote about Saleh's discovery on his blog.

He asked people to come help recover the books and newspapers from the library and bring them to a safe place. About 20 people came and worked in the hot weather for 40 days. Nearby, in western Mosul, they could still hear fighting.

They moved about 32,000 books in that time.

It was hard work – and dangerous. One day the Iraqi military told the volunteers to leave. They thought IS might target them.

Saleh said about 10 minutes after they left the area, three rockets landed nearby. It was loud. People were worried. But they still came back the next day to save the books.

Saleh said the volunteers joked that IS "can't hurt us." She said the work provided¹⁴ a sense of hope.

After some time, all of the people working together became friends. They started socializing and playing soccer against each other – both men and women. In Iraq, men and women do not usually spend much time together having fun.

Videos of their games and the good times they were having spread on social media sites.

More people wanted to help the group save the books and do even more work to help Mosul recover.

Then, the group held a book donation event. About 4,000 people came and brought books for the library. People played music and enjoyed the event. Saleh said it was the first time people had ever played music at the university.

They started some new traditions that day. It was a celebration of life. They said, "We want to live. The war has ended, and we have decided¹⁵ to live."

Over time, more and more people brought books to the library. Now there are about 60,000.

The building itself is still standing¹⁶ but it needs major repair work. The Iraqi government is trying to find money for the repairs, but the project is not currently¹⁷ making progress.

For now, the books are safe. They are on shelves at the university's Education College.

Words in This Story

heritage –n. the traditions, achievements, beliefs, etc., that are part of the history of a group or nation

mad –adj. wild and uncontrolled

blog –n. a Web site on which someone writes about personal opinions, activities, and experiences

liberate¹¹ –v. to free (someone or something) from being controlled by another person, group, etc.

ash –n. the soft gray powder that remains¹⁸ after something (such as a cigarette or wood) has been completely burned and destroyed by fire

shelf (shelves) –n. a flat surface that can hold book or other objects

1 donation   

n.捐赠，捐献，捐助；捐赠物

参考例句：

• She made a personal donation to the fund.她以个人名义向基金会捐款。
• Then next big donation of musical instruments came from Germany.第二笔音乐乐器的大型捐助来自德国。

2 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

3 systematic   

adj.有系统的，有计划的，有方法的

参考例句：

• The way he works isn't very systematic.他的工作不是很有条理。
• The teacher made a systematic work of teaching.这个教师进行系统的教学工作。

4 destruction   

n.破坏，毁灭，消灭

参考例句：

• The enemy bombs caused widespread destruction.敌人的炸弹造成大面积的破坏。
• Overconfidence was his destruction.自负是他垮台的原因。

5 heritage   

n.传统，遗产，继承物

参考例句：

• The ancient buildings are part of the national heritage.这些古建筑是民族遗产的一部分。
• We Chinese have a great cultural heritage.我们中国人有伟大的文化遗产。

6 largely   

adv.大部分，主要地

参考例句：

• It is largely dependent on the weather.这多半取决于天气情况。
• Their conclusions were largely founded on guesswork.他们的结论大部份基于猜测。

7 missiles   

导弹( missile的名词复数 )； 投射物

参考例句：

• More than ten missiles were decoyed away from targets. 十多枚导弹受骗未命中目标。
• The angry crowd at the football match threw bottles and other missiles at the players. 愤怒的观众向足球队员丢瓶子和其他东西。

8 ousting   

驱逐( oust的现在分词 )； 革职； 罢黜； 剥夺

参考例句：

• The resulting financial chaos led to the ousting of Bristol-Myers' s boss. 随后引发的财政混乱导致了百时美施贵宝的总裁下台。
• The ousting of the president has drawn widespread criticism across Latin America and the wider world. 洪都拉斯总统被驱逐时间引起拉丁美洲甚至全世界的广泛批评。

9 economics   

n.经济学，经济情况

参考例句：

• He is studying economics,which subject is very important.他正在学习经济学，该学科是很重要的。
• One can't separate politics from economics.不能把政治与经济割裂开来。

10 oversee   

vt.监督，管理

参考例句：

• Soldiers oversee the food handouts.士兵们看管着救济食品。
• Use a surveyor or architect to oversee and inspect the different stages of the work.请一位房产检视员或建筑师来监督并检查不同阶段的工作。

11 liberate   

v.解放，使获得自由，释出，放出；vt.解放，使获自由

参考例句：

• They did their best to liberate slaves.他们尽最大能力去解放奴隶。
• This will liberate him from economic worry.这将消除他经济上的忧虑。

12 liberated   

a.无拘束的，放纵的

参考例句：

• The city was liberated by the advancing army. 军队向前挺进，解放了那座城市。
• The heat brings about a chemical reaction, and oxygen is liberated. 热量引起化学反应，释放出氧气。

13 devices   

n.设备；装置( device的名词复数 )；花招；（为实现某种目的的）计划；手段

参考例句：

• electrical labour-saving devices around the home 节省劳力的各种家用电器
• modern labour-saving devices such as washing machines and dishwashers 诸如洗衣机和洗碗机之类的现代化省力设备

14 provided   

conj.假如，若是；adj.预备好的，由...供给的

参考例句：

• Provided it's fine we will have a pleasant holiday.如果天气良好，我们的假日将过得非常愉快。
• I will come provided that it's not raining tomorrow.如果明天不下雨，我就来。

15 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。

16 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

17 currently   

adv.通常地，普遍地，当前

参考例句：

• Currently it is not possible to reconcile this conflicting evidence.当前还未有可能去解释这一矛盾的例证。
• Our contracts are currently under review.我们的合同正在复查。

18 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。