VOA慢速英语2014 确认墨美边境无名死者的名字

 

AS IT IS 2014-10-15 Naming the Nameless Dead on US-Mexico Border 确认墨美边境无名死者的名字

From January to September of this year an estimated 230 migrants died trying to cross the border from Mexico into the United States. This is according to a new report released by the International Organization for Migration¹. The organization says that number might be higher.

The exact number of victims is not known. Their names are also not known.

But a university professor in Texas is trying to give closure to families who have lost relatives on the border. 

Holding a human rib² bone in her gloved hand, Baylor University Anthropology³ Professor Lori Baker⁴ notes signs of postmortem damage -- damage done after death.

“This would be indicative of vulture damage.”

The bone is part of a skeleton, a set of bones.  It was found in the lower Rio Grande River valley of Texas, close to the Mexican border. People dying in the desert, their remains⁵ being eaten by scavenger⁶ birds such as vultures, are realities of Ms. Baker’s work.  

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security estimates that more than 6,000 immigrants have died crossing into the United States from Mexico in the past 15 years.   

Local officials have found hundreds of unidentified bodies in south Texas alone. They have buried them in mass graves in local cemeteries⁷.

Families have no bodies to bury, no graves to visit. To help them get closure, Professor Baker and her students have been digging up bodies to try to identify them. 

Lori Baker says that in most cases, the people died of the heat.

“There are a few traumatic things we need to look at, but, all in all, most of the individuals that we see die of heat exhaustion⁸.”

She says that smugglers often leave immigrants in unpopulated areas where there is no water or shelter. Ms. Baker says that it is hard to know how many have died.

“So there are probably a lot more individuals who have died and just have not been found.”

Families in Mexico and Central America have spent many years looking for lost loved ones. Often, officials say, immigrants carry no identification. If they die, they are gone without leaving a trace.

Student volunteers help the cause

Ms. Baker understands the problems local officials face in rural U.S. counties. They have little money.  A coalition¹¹ of Texas sheriffs-- law officers --says each dead migrant they find costs a county $5,000 to remove, examine and bury.

A team of student volunteers helps Professor Baker. The volunteers take part in the hard, sad work of digging up bodies for the forensics. But they say they also share Prof. Baker’s sense of mission.

The work can be not only physically¹³ hard.  It can be emotionally hard as well.

Jennifer Husak is a recent Baylor graduate. She spent two summers working with Lori Baker in south Texas. She remembers that the most difficult time in this work came early on, when she examined the bones of a baby.  Ms. Husak says it was hard for her to think about the work. At that moment, the bones had a family story connected to them.

“It was very difficult for me at first to think about a mother not being able to watch her child grow up. It was very difficult.”

Chelsea Art is studying anthropology at Baylor University. She worked with Lori Baker at a cemetery¹⁴ about 100 kilometers north of the border. Hundreds of bodies have been found there over the years. Not many people live in the area. Immigrants are often extremely tired and in great need of water by the time they arrive.

Ms. Art says working in the heat gave her some idea, however small, of how terrible it must be for an immigrant to be out in the open without any support.

Personal mission

It has also become personal for Lori Baker. She says she hopes to give human respect, or dignity, to those who have died trying to cross the border.

“I hope that through the work we do we will be able to restore some human dignity to that person by giving them a name.”

Ms. Baker and her volunteers have worked with more than 170 bodies and have identified three. She has spoken to family members of these people and knows firsthand how much it means to them.

The final goal for Lori Baker is to return identified remains to their families. Then at least they can have a burial place where they can say prayers and leave flowers.

Words in this Story

scavenger n. an organism (as a vulture or hyena) that usually feeds on dead or decaying matter

cemetery n. a place where dead people are buried

closure n. a feeling that a bad experience (such as a divorce or the death of a family member) has ended and that you can start to live again in a calm and normal way

smuggle⁹ v. to move (someone or something) from one country into another illegally and secretly. A smuggler¹⁰ is someone who smuggles¹⁵.

forensic¹² adj. relating to the use of scientific knowledge or methods in solving crimes

dignity n. the quality of being worthy¹⁶ of honor or respect

mission n. a task that you consider to be a very important duty

trace n. a sign or evidence of some past thing

1 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。

2 rib   

n.肋骨，肋状物

参考例句：

• He broke a rib when he fell off his horse.他从马上摔下来折断了一根肋骨。
• He has broken a rib and the doctor has strapped it up.他断了一根肋骨，医生已包扎好了。

3 anthropology   

n.人类学

参考例句：

• I believe he has started reading up anthropology.我相信他已开始深入研究人类学。
• Social anthropology is centrally concerned with the diversity of culture.社会人类学主要关于文化多样性。

4 baker   

n.面包师

参考例句：

• The baker bakes his bread in the bakery.面包师在面包房内烤面包。
• The baker frosted the cake with a mixture of sugar and whites of eggs.面包师在蛋糕上撒了一层白糖和蛋清的混合料。

5 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。

6 scavenger   

n.以腐尸为食的动物，清扫工

参考例句：

• He's just fit for a job as scavenger.他只配当个清道夫。
• He is not a scavenger nor just a moving appetite as some sharks are.它不是食腐动物，也不像有些鲨鱼那样，只知道游来游去满足食欲。

7 cemeteries   

n.（非教堂的）墓地，公墓( cemetery的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• It's morbid to dwell on cemeteries and such like. 不厌其烦地谈论墓地以及诸如此类的事是一种病态。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• In other districts the proximity of cemeteries seemed to aggravate the disease. 在其它地区里，邻近墓地的地方，时疫大概都要严重些。 来自辞典例句

8 exhaustion   

n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述

参考例句：

• She slept the sleep of exhaustion.她因疲劳而酣睡。
• His exhaustion was obvious when he fell asleep standing.他站着睡着了，显然是太累了。

9 smuggle   

vt.私运；vi.走私

参考例句：

• Friends managed to smuggle him secretly out of the country.朋友们想方设法将他秘密送出国了。
• She has managed to smuggle out the antiques without getting caught.她成功将古董走私出境，没有被逮捕。

10 smuggler   

n.走私者

参考例句：

• The smuggler is in prison tonight, awaiting extradition to Britain. 这名走私犯今晚在监狱，等待引渡到英国。
• The smuggler was finally obliged to inform against his boss. 那个走私犯最后不得不告发他的首领。

11 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。

12 forensic   

adj.法庭的，雄辩的

参考例句：

• The report included his interpretation of the forensic evidence.该报告包括他对法庭证据的诠释。
• The judge concluded the proceeding on 10:30 Am after one hour of forensic debate.经过近一个小时的法庭辩论后，法官于10时30分宣布休庭。

13 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

14 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。

15 smuggles   

v.偷运( smuggle的第三人称单数 )；私运；走私；不按规章地偷带（人或物）

参考例句：

16 worthy   

adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。