2006年VOA标准英语-Schools Reopen in Pakistan's Quake Zone

By Benjamin Sand
Muzaffarabad
11 January 2006

A Kashmiri girl sings to her class in a tent school in a refugee camp in Muzaffarabad, Monday, Dec. 26, 2005   
  
Thousands of students across Pakistan's devastated¹ quake zone are finally heading back to school. Most are making do without textbooks; many are meeting inside small tents or even out doors. But the schools are one of the few bright spots for children still struggling to make sense of last October's deadly earthquake.

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It is back to the basics for the girls at the Read Oriental College here in Muzaffarabad. Picking up where they left off more than three months ago, a dozen young women are reviewing their English lessons in an outdoor classroom.

Their school and most of their homes were completely destroyed by last October's massive earthquake. Many lost their parents. And despite dropping temperatures and the roar overhead of helicopters delivering aid supplies, students here seem completely focused on their lessons.

Sehr Raza Qizilbash with the United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF, says getting kids back into schools like this one is a key component² of their recovery. "Whenever an emergency happens it's the children who are most affected³ and they saw a lot of deaths happening," she said. "They are traumatized and if we do not get them back into a routine they will stay in that state."

The earthquake killed an estimated 80,000 people and left more than three million homeless - most in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir. At least 20,000 children died, many of them killed when their schools collapsed⁴.

Officials say the entire school infrastructure⁵ in the region was almost completely wiped out. Even after aid workers helped set up emergency shelter, thousands of children in the quake zone still had no place to go during the day.

But officials say the worst is now over. Schools are beginning to re-open in towns and cities across the region. Most are just temporary. Some teachers are using tents for classrooms; others are meeting in open fields.

UNICEF's Sehr Raza Qizilbash says the U.N. agency is giving teachers emergency kits⁶ with enough supplies to help get things started. "It has rulers, pencils, slates⁷, black boards for teachers," she said. "An atmosphere is created where they can begin their education."

She says each box has enough materials for three months and 80 children. More than 600 kits have already been handed out. Aid agencies are also distributing new tents for classes and the government is setting aside funds to build new, more permanent schools.

Even the U.S. Navy is helping⁸ out. American sailors rebuilt a girl's high school outside Muzaffarabad and a second boy's school is already under construction.

And everywhere the schools open, teachers say children are lining⁹ up to start classes.

Read Oriental College reopened in December. Today it has more than 380 students, boys and girls, age eight to 18.

17-year-old Asma Nissar enrolled¹⁰ just a few weeks after she buried her younger sister.

"We thought our life would be totally finished when our relatives go from this world," she said. "But when I came to college with my friends then a new hope of life came into my heart and I enjoy….really a beautiful sensation."

Her principal, Sabir Hussein Naqvi, says the new school is also an important symbol, letting the world know Muzaffarabad is slowly but surely, coming around.

"We are playing a vital role in this sense. The moment we reopened this institute the people who had migrated to different cities of Pakistan, now they are coming back to this city," he said. "This is real rehabilitation¹¹."

But officials say a number of significant challenges still remain.

Local teachers say it could take more than 12 months before there are enough classrooms to meet student demand.

Meanwhile, weather forecasters say more snow and freezing temperatures are on their way. In just a few weeks it may be too cold, and too wet, to study outdoors or in non-winterized tents.

1 devastated   

v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的

参考例句：

• The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 这颗炸弹炸毁了旧城的一大片地方。
• His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。

2 component   

n.组成部分，成分，元件；adj.组成的，合成的

参考例句：

• Each component is carefully checked before assembly.每个零件在装配前都经过仔细检查。
• Blade and handle are the component parts of a knife.刀身和刀柄是一把刀的组成部分。

3 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

4 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

5 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

6 kits   

衣物和装备( kit的名词复数 )； 成套用品； 配套元件

参考例句：

• Keep your kits closed and locked when not in use. 不用的话把你的装备都锁好放好。
• Gifts Articles, Toy and Games, Wooden Toys, Puzzles, Craft Kits. 采购产品礼品，玩具和游戏，木制的玩具，智力玩具，手艺装备。

7 slates   

（旧时学生用以写字的）石板( slate的名词复数 )； 板岩； 石板瓦； 石板色

参考例句：

• The contract specifies red tiles, not slates, for the roof. 合同规定屋顶用红瓦，并非石板瓦。
• They roofed the house with slates. 他们用石板瓦做屋顶。

8 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

9 lining   

n.衬里，衬料

参考例句：

• The lining of my coat is torn.我的外套衬里破了。
• Moss makes an attractive lining to wire baskets.用苔藓垫在铁丝篮里很漂亮。

10 enrolled   

adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起

参考例句：

• They have been studying hard from the moment they enrolled. 从入学时起，他们就一直努力学习。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He enrolled with an employment agency for a teaching position. 他在职业介绍所登了记以谋求一个教师的职位。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 rehabilitation   

n.康复，悔过自新，修复，复兴，复职，复位

参考例句：

• He's booked himself into a rehabilitation clinic.他自己联系了一家康复诊所。
• No one can really make me rehabilitation of injuries.已经没有人可以真正令我的伤康复了。