新西兰英语 297 World Refugee Day

　　June 20th is World Refugee¹ Day, a day to remember refugees² world wide who have had to leave their homes and may never return. A refugee is a person who has had to escape from their country because they could be imprisoned³ or killed for their beliefs. Sometimes it is because of their religion, sometimes because of their race or their political beliefs. There are around 40 million refugees in the world who are living in other countries and cannot go home.
New Zealand takes 750 refugees every year, chosen by UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner⁴ for Refugees). Most of these people have been living in refugee camps for many years. They have no idea where New Zealand is but they know it must be better than living in a camp. When they arrive in New Zealand, they spend six weeks in Mangere, Auckland where they have health checks, they learn some English and bi-lingual speakers tell them things they need to know about living in our country. After six weeks, they move to their own home, often in another city, where they are sponsored by a group of New Zealanders who help them to settle.
The first sponsored refugees were 734 Polish orphan⁵ children and their caregivers who came here in 1944. Their parents were killed during the Second World War. Many of these children were adopted by New Zealand families. Since then, more than 20,000 refugees have settled in New Zealand.
In the last 20 years, refugees have come from many countries where there is war. We have many people from Somalia and some other African countries, from Bosnia and Kosovo and from Afghanistan. Most of them want to learn English, get a good education and become a New Zealand citizen in the future.
Question
What are some of the main differences between migrants who choose to settle in New Zealand and refugees who are forced to leave their country? Think about how they leave, what they bring with them, who they leave behind, what they have experienced and what the difficulties are for them settling into a new country.

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 imprisoned   

下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was imprisoned for two concurrent terms of 30 months and 18 months. 他被判处30个月和18个月的监禁，合并执行。
• They were imprisoned for possession of drugs. 他们因拥有毒品而被监禁。

4 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

5 orphan   

n.孤儿；adj.无父母的

参考例句：

• He brought up the orphan and passed onto him his knowledge of medicine.他把一个孤儿养大，并且把自己的医术传给了他。
• The orphan had been reared in a convent by some good sisters.这个孤儿在一所修道院里被几个好心的修女带大。