VOA慢速英语2021--塔利班开枪驱散女性抗议者

Taliban Fires Guns to Break Up Women’s Protest in Kabul

VOA spoke¹ to people in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Tuesday who said they saw Taliban security forces fire guns in the air to break up a women's protest.

Afghan women marched through the streets to protest new restrictions² put out by the Taliban on Sunday. The restrictions limit how far women can travel without a close, male, family member.

The new rules said women cannot go more than 72 kilometers from home by themselves. In addition, taxi drivers are not permitted to give rides to women who are not wearing a hijab, or headscarf.

Sadiq Akif Mahajer is the spokesman for the Taliban's Ministry³ for the Promotion⁴ of Virtue⁵ and Prevention of Vice⁶. He said the new rules are within the limits of what is allowed under Sharia, or Islamic, law.

The rules also now prevent taxi drivers from playing music in their cars. It also asks them to grow facial hair and take time out to pray each day.

On Tuesday, women walked together to the ministry, holding signs that read: "we are tired of discrimination" and "we are the voice of hungry people."

Protesters demanded work, food and education and asked: "Why have you closed schools?"

One protester, Hoda Khamush told VOA that the security forces fired shots in the air as the women got closer to the ministry building and some tried to enter.

During the previous Afghan government, the building was the home of the Women's Affairs Ministry.

Khamush said the shots injured some protesters, but VOA could not verify her claim.

Taliban officials did not comment on the incident Tuesday.

Television channels, however, did show video from the protest.

Since the Taliban took back Afghanistan after the United States military announced it would leave the country earlier this year, boys have been permitted to go to school. Girls are still waiting for permission.

Most women are waiting for permission to return to work.

When the Taliban took power in Afghanistan in August, the group said it would not bring back the same restrictions it had imposed during its earlier rule, which lasted from 1996-2001.

The new restrictions came after the Taliban told television broadcasters to stop showing fictional⁷ television programs such as soap operas with women actors. The Taliban also requires female television broadcasters to wear hijabs.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris told the American broadcaster CBS that she is concerned that the Taliban is not treating women and girls well. In a conversation shown Sunday, she called it "a big issue" in any future diplomatic discussions with the group.

The U.S., other western governments, and some banks are holding back billions of dollars in financial aid to Afghanistan. The Taliban says the U.S. should release over $9 billion of its wealth and remove financial restrictions because the new government is representative of the Afghan people.

The country is currently suffering. The United Nations estimates 23 million people do not have enough food due to years of war, bad weather, and poverty.

Words in This Story

virtue – n. morally good behavior or character

vice – n. bad or immoral⁸ behavior or habits

previous – adj. existing or happening before the present time

verify – v. to prove, show, find out, or state that (something) is true or correct

fiction – n. something that is not true

diplomatic – adj. involving the work of maintaining good relations between the governments of different countries : of or relating to diplomats or their work

1 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。

2 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

3 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

4 promotion   

n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传

参考例句：

• The teacher conferred with the principal about Dick's promotion.教师与校长商谈了迪克的升级问题。
• The clerk was given a promotion and an increase in salary.那个职员升了级，加了薪。

5 virtue   

n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力

参考例句：

• He was considered to be a paragon of virtue.他被认为是品德尽善尽美的典范。
• You need to decorate your mind with virtue.你应该用德行美化心灵。

6 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

7 fictional   

adj.小说的，虚构的

参考例句：

• The names of the shops are entirely fictional.那些商店的名字完全是虚构的。
• The two authors represent the opposite poles of fictional genius.这两位作者代表了天才小说家两个极端。

8 immoral   

adj.不道德的，淫荡的，荒淫的，有伤风化的

参考例句：

• She was questioned about his immoral conduct toward her.她被询问过有关他对她的不道德行为的情况。
• It is my belief that nuclear weapons are immoral.我相信使核武器是不邪恶的。