2006年VOA标准英语-Landmines and Unexploded Bombs Threaten Iraqis

By Margaret Besheer
Erbil, Iraq
25 June 2006

Nearly three million Iraqis are at risk each day from landmines² and other unexploded bombs and munitions³ from conflicts past and present. By some estimates, as many as 20 million landmines are buried across the country. An international demining group is helping⁴ Iraqis remove these dangers and improve life in their communities.

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Sary lost his leg and two fingers in a landmine¹ accident
  
Nine years ago, when Sary Abdullah Karim was 16-years-old, he and his friends would dig up landmines to explode in open fields, or to throw in nearby rivers to blow fish out of the water. One day, the boys accidentally set off a landmine.

Sary says, "Several of my friends were killed. It was the third mine we dug out that day. I lost two fingers and my left leg, and, I was also injured in the other leg."

Unfortunately, Sary's story is not unique. The British-based demining organization, Mine Advisory⁵ Group, says, during the past two years, landmines and other unexploded ordnance⁶ in Iraq have killed nearly 350 people and injured at least 565 others.

Like Sary and his friends, the majority of these victims are between five and 29 years of age, and almost 90 percent are male. Many of them are shepherds, farmers or curious children.

Most of these mines were laid by Saddam Hussein's army during the 1980s. Many are concentrated along the border with Iran, and date back to the war between the two neighbors. Others are along the border with Turkey, while many more were laid during Saddam's campaign against the Kurds.

Elsewhere in Iraq, the situation has been compounded by the recent conflict, with large amounts of munitions either being dropped by U.S. forces or abandoned by Saddam's troops, retreating before coalition⁷ forces, after the 2003 invasion.

Mine Advisory Group program manager in Iraq David Horrocks says landmines pose the greatest threat in the northern part of the country, while in the central and southern parts, unexploded munitions from cluster-bombs are the biggest danger. As so many of the victims are male, families tend to suffer economically when someone is killed or injured.

"So, the loss through death of a bread winner is catastrophic," said Horrocks. "But the injury is also probably even worse, because you have more expense, you have to look after the injured person, you have to pay more medical bills, etc."

A member of Mine Advisory Group  at work  
  
The Mine Advisory Group has nearly 600 locally hired employees, which it trains to international demining and clearance⁸ standards.

Saleh Najem Ahmed has been with the organization since it first began operations in Iraq in 1992, and is now a field supervisor⁹. On an intensely hot and sunny day, his team is working to remove hazardous¹⁰ materials from a site in northern Iraq.

He says, "It is necessary for us to remove the dangerous items from this area, because we need the land for agriculture."

 
Teams use metal detectors¹¹ to find hazardous items
  
Horrocks says the Mine Advisory Group has cleared 130 minefields and made safe a total of 37 million square meters of land in northern Iraq since 2003. But he says its mission does not end there.

The organization has also trained 1,500 primary school teachers in northern Iraq to integrate mine awareness¹² into their curriculum.

"I believe that MAG's [Mine Advisory Group] mine education has made a major contribution to ensuring safety of a lot of people in the north," he added.

Neither the Iraqi government nor the Kurdish Regional Government contribute funding to the Mine Advisory Group's work. The United States is a primary supporter of the group's work in Iraq. Britain, the Netherlands and Sweden are also donors¹³.

But as hard as the group's teams work to clear Iraq of mines and other dangerous items, there are always more to be removed, and dangers persist. Sary, the boy who lost his leg and fingers in a land mine accident nine years ago, lost his 19-year old brother in a similar accident last year.

1 landmine   

n.地雷

参考例句：

• A landmine is a kind of weapon used in war.地雷是一种运用于战争的武器。
• The treaty bans the use,production and trade of landmine.那条约禁止使用生产和交易雷。

2 landmines   

潜在的冲突； 地雷，投伞水雷( landmine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The treaty bans the use production and trade of landmines. 该条约规定，禁止使用地雷相关产品及贸易。
• One of the weapon's of special concern was landmines. 在引起人们特别关注的武器中就有地雷。

3 munitions   

n.军火，弹药；v.供应…军需品

参考例句：

• The army used precision-guided munitions to blow up enemy targets.军队用精确瞄准的枪炮炸掉敌方目标。
• He rose [made a career for himself] by dealing in munitions.他是靠贩卖军火发迹的。

4 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。

5 advisory   

adj.劝告的，忠告的，顾问的，提供咨询

参考例句：

• I have worked in an advisory capacity with many hospitals.我曾在多家医院做过顾问工作。
• He was appointed to the advisory committee last month.他上个月获任命为顾问委员会委员。

6 ordnance   

n.大炮，军械

参考例句：

• She worked in an ordnance factory during the war.战争期间她在一家兵工厂工作。
• Shoes and clothing for the army were scarce,ordnance supplies and drugs were scarcer.军队很缺鞋和衣服，武器供应和药品就更少了。

7 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

8 clearance   

n.净空；许可(证)；清算；清除，清理

参考例句：

• There was a clearance of only ten centimetres between the two walls.两堵墙之间只有十厘米的空隙。
• The ship sailed as soon as it got clearance. 那艘船一办好离港手续立刻启航了。

9 supervisor   

n.监督人，管理人，检查员，督学，主管，导师

参考例句：

• Between you and me I think that new supervisor is a twit.我们私下说，我认为新来的主管人是一个傻瓜。
• He said I was too flighty to be a good supervisor.他说我太轻浮不能成为一名好的管理员。

10 hazardous   

adj.(有)危险的，冒险的；碰运气的

参考例句：

• These conditions are very hazardous for shipping.这些情况对航海非常不利。
• Everybody said that it was a hazardous investment.大家都说那是一次危险的投资。

11 detectors   

探测器( detector的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The report advocated that all buildings be fitted with smoke detectors. 报告主张所有的建筑物都应安装烟火探测器。
• This is heady wine for experimenters using these neutrino detectors. 对于使用中微子探测器的实验工作者，这是令人兴奋的美酒。 来自英汉非文学 - 科技

12 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

13 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》