VOA慢速英语2015 乌克兰老人受到战争威胁

AS IT IS 2015-03-13 Older Ukrainians Threatened by War with Russia 乌克兰老人受到战争威胁

Old people in eastern Ukraine are suffering from the conflict between government forces and Russian-supported rebels. The United Nations estimates 60 percent of people displaced¹ by the fighting within the country are elderly. It says they often suffer from poor mental and physical health. And it says many of them are living without gas, water and electricity.

VOA spoke² with a 77-year-old Ukrainian woman named Lydia Stepanovna. For 16 years she lived quietly near the city of Debaltseve. But in January, the Ukrainian military and pro-Russian rebels fought a fierce battle in the town. Rockets were fired, and the house next to hers was severely³ damaged.

Ms. Stepanovna says she was in bed, listening to artillery⁴ shells hitting areas far away when suddenly the shells began landing close to her house. She was very scared. She had never heard such a loud sound. She prayed to God to help her. If she could not be saved, she wanted to die quickly. She didn’t want to be disabled.

Ms. Stepanovna says there was bombing every day during the fighting.

She was afraid when she went to the bathroom and when she went out for water. Sometimes when she went out to gather water, bombs would start to fall and she would drop the water and run for safety.

Many elderly people living in areas controlled by rebels have not received their pensions in months. Rebels have distributed aid and recently paid each older person forty dollars.

On the wall of Lydia’s kitchen there is an old picture of a full breakfast meal. But now she has only dried bread, and the onions, apples and walnuts⁵ she gathers from her garden.  

Lydia’s friend Luda is 80 years old and lives across the street. She lived in her basement for a month during the shelling.

She says all of the windows in her house are broken and the roof has many holes. When it rains, the water falls into her home. Her health is suffering because she does not have shelter.

Sadly, this is not Lydia and Luda’s first war. They were children during World War II. They remember when the German army invaded Ukraine in 1941. Lydia’s mother was working in a nearby factory when the Germans attacked.  

She says her family was living near a chemical factory that was often attacked. She remembers the bombers⁶ in the sky.

Today, Lydia’s son is fighting with the rebels. She says she just wants the war to stop.

She says the war is happening for no reason. No one can understand why this war started. Even when the German soldiers were here we didn’t see such things like we see them today. She says her town is in very bad condition now because of the conflict.

Older Ukrainians are once again experiencing the collapse⁷ of part of their country.

Words in This Story

elderly – adj. old or rather old; past middle age

pension – n. an amount of money that a company or the government pays to a person who no longer works or is sick or old

basement – n. the part of a house or building that is entirely or partly below the ground

1 displaced   

移动( displace的过去式和过去分词 )； 替换； 移走； 撤职

参考例句：

• Gradually factory workers have been displaced by machines. 工厂的工人已逐渐被机器取代。
• He was displaced by another young man. 他已被另一个年轻人顶替。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

4 artillery   

n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队)

参考例句：

• This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
• The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。

5 walnuts   

胡桃（树）( walnut的名词复数 )； 胡桃木

参考例句：

• Are there walnuts in this sauce? 这沙司里面有核桃吗？
• We ate eggs and bacon, pickled walnuts and cheese. 我们吃鸡蛋，火腿，腌胡桃仁和干酪。

6 bombers   

n.轰炸机( bomber的名词复数 )；投弹手；安非他明胶囊；大麻叶香烟

参考例句：

• Enemy bombers carried out a blitz on the city. 敌军轰炸机对这座城市进行了突袭。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Royal Airforce sill remained dangerously short of bombers. 英国皇家空军仍未脱离极为缺乏轰炸机的危境。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。