VOA常速英语2015--利比里亚欲建埃博拉病毒国家纪念碑

Liberia Ponders Site for National Ebola Monument 利比里亚欲建埃博拉病毒国家纪念碑

MARGIBI COUNTY, LIBERIA—

With Liberia being Ebola-free since the beginning of May, the government is discussing plans for erecting¹ a national monument to remember the horrific time during which more than 4,000 Liberians died.

One possible site is a cemetery² outside Monrovia.  It was built to get the crisis under control and symbolically³ stands for the magnitude of the human tragedy of the epidemic⁴.

The cemetery at Disco Hill is an hour's drive from Monrovia. The place got its name from a disco that stood here until it was destroyed during Liberia’s first civil war. The site was opened last December to bury Ebola victims safely and with dignity.  

When the Ebola crisis first broke out, Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf decreed that Ebola victims be cremated⁵ - to get the crisis under control and stop one major cause of infection.

This was a practice unheard of in Liberia. Worst of all - many victims' ashes were mixed together in the chaos⁶ of events - depriving relatives of the chance to say goodbye and commemorate⁷ their loved ones.

At first, people believed the same would happen at Disco Hill.

Crucial work

“People actually followed the drop-off cars to make sure the bodies were not gonna be [going to be] disappeared, they not gonna be burnt," said Matt Ward⁸.

Ward is the safe burial manager with the American NGO Global Communities, which is in charge of the cemetery. He said his 100-plus Liberian co-workers can be very proud of what they achieved.

“Once people started to coming and seeing that their loved ones were actually being buried as close to Liberian tradition and the Muslim traditions as the health circumstances allowed, people became a lot less reticent," said Ward.

The whole objective was to be able to stop the cremations and get people away from clandestine⁹ burials to avoid their loved ones being cremated. So I think we’ve been very successful, and it’s a great feeling," he said.

Intense situation

Many of those who were buried here were unknown. During the chaos, not everyone was properly identified upon admission or discharge from the hospital.  

During an outbreak, every body has to be buried with safety precautions as a possible Ebola victim. Safe burial manager James S. Poindo says they often buried 8 to 9 people a day. This pace, and the stress of laying unknown people to rest, - often babies - then coming home and seeing his own children at play, took a toll¹⁰ on him.

“Even my wife was somehow afraid because Ebola is what we’ve commonly seen deadly. If one gets it, the whole family falls. So she was like somehow afraid. Even once when I started go home she somehow stopped to come around me," said safe burial manager James S. Poindo.

Matt Ward says he feels Disco Hill would be an appropriate site for a national memorial to the crisis.  Not with marble crosses and a perfectly¹¹ manicured lawn - like Arlington National Cemetery outside of Washington -  but like a conventional Liberian cemetery, with cement casings and more wild-growing plants.

1 erecting   

v.使直立，竖起( erect的现在分词 )；建立

参考例句：

• Nations can restrict their foreign trade by erecting barriers to exports as well as imports. 象设置进口壁垒那样，各国可以通过设置出口壁垒来限制对外贸易。 来自辞典例句
• Could you tell me the specific lift-slab procedure for erecting buildings? 能否告之用升板法安装楼房的具体程序？ 来自互联网

2 cemetery   

n.坟墓，墓地，坟场

参考例句：

• He was buried in the cemetery.他被葬在公墓。
• His remains were interred in the cemetery.他的遗体葬在墓地。

3 symbolically   

ad.象征地，象征性地

参考例句：

• By wearing the ring on the third finger of the left hand, a married couple symbolically declares their eternal love for each other. 将婚戒戴在左手的第三只手指上，意味着夫妻双方象征性地宣告他们的爱情天长地久，他们定能白头偕老。
• Symbolically, he coughed to clear his throat. 周经理象征地咳一声无谓的嗽，清清嗓子。

4 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

5 cremated   

v.火葬，火化（尸体）( cremate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He wants to is cremated, not buried. 他要火葬，不要土葬。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The bodies were cremated on the shore. 他们的尸体在海边火化了。 来自辞典例句

6 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

7 commemorate   

vt.纪念，庆祝

参考例句：

• This building was built to commemorate the Fire of London.这栋大楼是为纪念“伦敦大火”而兴建的。
• We commemorate the founding of our nation with a public holiday.我们放假一日以庆祝国庆。

8 ward   

n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开

参考例句：

• The hospital has a medical ward and a surgical ward.这家医院有内科病房和外科病房。
• During the evening picnic,I'll carry a torch to ward off the bugs.傍晚野餐时，我要点根火把，抵挡蚊虫。

9 clandestine   

adj.秘密的，暗中从事的

参考例句：

• She is the director of clandestine operations of the CIA.她是中央情报局秘密行动的负责人。
• The early Christians held clandestine meetings in caves.早期的基督徒在洞穴中秘密聚会。

10 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

11 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。