VOA标准英语2008年-Weaving Project Revives Traditions, Empowers Ku

By Suzanne Presto¹
Irbil
17 June 2008

The Kurdish Textile Museum in Irbil has launched a new program aimed at creating job opportunities for women, while reviving traditional Kurdish weaving skills. VOA's Suzanne Presto in Irbil attended the opening ceremony for the program that gives elderly tribal² weavers⁴ the chance to teach their skills to younger women and create textiles to sell.
　

Shiler Hamadamin Aziz weaves at the loom5

Shiler Hamadamin Aziz passes the yarn⁶ between the loom's threads with ease, her feet working the wooden pedals. She is making what appears to be a shawl, and it lengthens⁷ millimeter by millimeter with each pass. The 28-year-old Kurdish woman looks as if she has been doing this for years.

But Aziz has only been at this for two weeks, under the attentive⁸ eye of Zara Qadir Hussein, a Kurdish woman who has been making traditional textiles for more than 30 years.

Aziz is one of 16 young weavers participating in the Women's Income Generation Training Project at the Kurdish Textile Museum in Irbil's Citadel⁹.
　

Kurdish Textile Museum's founder10 and director Lolan Cipan, U.S. Regional Coordinator11 Jess Baily, translator, Governor Nazhad Hadi, and general director of Kurdistan's Ministry12 of Culture Kanan Mufti (from left to right)

The program was conceived by Lolan Cipan, the museum's founder and director. Cipan's passion for Kurdish textiles began when he was child, watching his grandmother as she would weave rugs.

"I have been working to revive Kurdish handicrafts, particularly textiles, for many, many years," said Cipan. "So, I have these nomadic¹³ old women, they have been working for me for many years at their homes. And I thought because they are very old and they get sick very often, so I thought to bring them here to Citadel and to transfer the weaving skills to younger generations."

He says the goal of the project is two-fold, to give women income-generating opportunities while reviving traditional Kurdish weaving. Cipan says the art of textile making is vanishing from Kurdistan, and master weavers are difficult to find.

"Actually, very very few. You can say it has totally died out now," he said.

Cipan's project is being funded by the United States Embassy through the Regional Reconstruction¹⁴ Team in Irbil, which gave almost $80,000 to the program. Cipan says that money will provide salaries for the novices¹⁶ and the experts through the end of this year.

Ultimately, he said, the goal is for program to become self-sustaining with the revenue generated from selling the finished carpets, blankets, and woolen¹⁷ socks and hats in the Textile Museum's gift shop.

The U.S. Regional Coordinator, Jess Baily, says insecurity and Saddam Hussein's ethnic¹⁸ cleansing¹⁹ campaign known as Anfal, played a major role in the demise²⁰ of weaving.

"Sadly, the decades of civil strife²¹ and Anfal in the region have uprooted²² much of this tradition, destroyed the economic basis for it, and left it, if you will, down to a dwindling²³ few who know how to weave and carry on the crafts of their ancestors," said Baily.

Baily added that similar programs that preserve culture and provide income to women from non-urban areas have been successful in neighboring countries.

Irbil's Governor, Nazhad Hadi, said from an economic standpoint this project will not generate a lot of money. But he emphasized that from a cultural standpoint, the project is an excellent step toward reviving Kurdish traditions.
　

Novice15 weavers learn the art of textile making

But in Cipan's efforts to revive traditional weaving, he encountered some cultural traditions that hampered²⁴ his efforts.

"Some of the families, they would not allow their daughters or mothers to go to weave in a public place," he said. "So, now I see them, and they are very happy and they work."

New weaver³ Aziz says she is very happy at work. She says she was drawn²⁵ to weaving at the massive wooden loom only because she liked the brightly colored yarns²⁶ her teacher, Hussein, had skillfully strung out. But now the pretty brunette in her deep-red Kurdish dress says weaving is a skill and tradition she can see herself carrying on for a long time to come.

Aziz says she finds satisfaction in carrying on her history while learning a marketable skill.

Hussein says it is a skill that has been, and must be, passed down through the generations.

And, as an expert who has been weaving alongside her husband for decades, who also passed that skill on to her own two children, Hussein says it is a skill that will always be in demand.

So the two women return to their centuries' old work. Aziz goes back to her loom as Hussein spins and twirls a red spool²⁷ of yarn until it is fine enough to be woven into Aziz's piece.

1 presto   

adv.急速地；n.急板乐段；adj.急板的

参考例句：

• With something so important,you can't just wave a wand and presto!在这么重大的问题上，你想挥动一下指挥棒，转眼就变过来,办不到！
• I just turned the piece of wire in the lock and hey presto,the door opened.我把金属丝伸到锁孔里一拧，嘿，那门就开了。

2 tribal   

adj.部族的，种族的

参考例句：

• He became skilled in several tribal lingoes.他精通几种部族的语言。
• The country was torn apart by fierce tribal hostilities.那个国家被部落间的激烈冲突弄得四分五裂。

3 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

4 weavers   

织工，编织者( weaver的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Navajo are noted as stockbreeders and skilled weavers, potters, and silversmiths. 纳瓦霍人以豢养家禽，技术熟练的纺织者，制陶者和银匠而著名。
• They made out they were weavers. 他们假装是织布工人。

5 loom   

n.织布机，织机；v.隐现，(危险、忧虑等)迫近

参考例句：

• The old woman was weaving on her loom.那位老太太正在织布机上织布。
• The shuttle flies back and forth on the loom.织布机上梭子来回飞动。

6 yarn   

n.纱，纱线，纺线；奇闻漫谈，旅行轶事

参考例句：

• I stopped to have a yarn with him.我停下来跟他聊天。
• The basic structural unit of yarn is the fiber.纤维是纱的基本结构单元。

7 lengthens   

（时间或空间）延长，伸长( lengthen的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• In summer, the daylight hour lengthens. 夏天，白天的时间长。
• Summer lengthens (out) into autumn. 夏去秋来。

8 attentive   

adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的

参考例句：

• She was very attentive to her guests.她对客人招待得十分周到。
• The speaker likes to have an attentive audience.演讲者喜欢注意力集中的听众。

9 citadel   

n.城堡；堡垒；避难所

参考例句：

• The citadel was solid.城堡是坚固的。
• This citadel is built on high ground for protecting the city.这座城堡建于高处是为保护城市。

10 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

11 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

12 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。

13 nomadic   

adj.流浪的；游牧的

参考例句：

• This tribe still live a nomadic life.这个民族仍然过着游牧生活。
• The plowing culture and the nomadic culture are two traditional principal cultures in China.农耕文化与游牧文化是我国传统的两大主体文化。

14 reconstruction   

n.重建，再现，复原

参考例句：

• The country faces a huge task of national reconstruction following the war.战后，该国面临着重建家园的艰巨任务。
• In the period of reconstruction,technique decides everything.在重建时期，技术决定一切。

15 novice   

adj.新手的，生手的

参考例句：

• As a novice writer,this is something I'm interested in.作为初涉写作的人，我对此很感兴趣。
• She realized that she was a novice.她知道自己初出茅庐。

16 novices   

n.新手( novice的名词复数 )；初学修士（或修女）；（修会等的）初学生；尚未赢过大赛的赛马

参考例句：

• The Russians are such novices in Africa. 在非洲的俄国人简直都是些毫无经验的生手。 来自辞典例句
• Where the primary track all novices, screams everywhere, ha ha good terror. 那里的初级道上全是生手，到处都是尖叫声，哈哈好恐怖的。 来自互联网

17 woolen   

adj.羊毛(制)的；毛纺的

参考例句：

• She likes to wear woolen socks in winter.冬天她喜欢穿羊毛袜。
• There is one bar of woolen blanket on that bed.那张床上有一条毛毯。

18 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

19 cleansing   

n. 净化(垃圾) adj. 清洁用的 动词cleanse的现在分词

参考例句：

• medicated cleansing pads for sensitive skin 敏感皮肤药物清洗棉
• Soap is not the only cleansing agent. 肥皂并不是唯一的清洁剂。

20 demise   

n.死亡；v.让渡，遗赠，转让

参考例句：

• He praised the union's aims but predicted its early demise.他赞扬协会的目标，但预期这一协会很快会消亡。
• The war brought about the industry's sudden demise.战争道致这个行业就这么突然垮了。

21 strife   

n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争

参考例句：

• We do not intend to be drawn into the internal strife.我们不想卷入内乱之中。
• Money is a major cause of strife in many marriages.金钱是造成很多婚姻不和的一个主要原因。

22 uprooted   

v.把（某物）连根拔起( uproot的过去式和过去分词 )；根除；赶走；把…赶出家园

参考例句：

• Many people were uprooted from their homes by the flood. 水灾令许多人背井离乡。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The hurricane blew with such force that trees were uprooted. 飓风强烈地刮着，树都被连根拔起了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

23 dwindling   

adj.逐渐减少的v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The number of wild animals on the earth is dwindling. 地球上野生动物的数量正日渐减少。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He is struggling to come to terms with his dwindling authority. 他正努力适应自己权力被削弱这一局面。 来自辞典例句

24 hampered   

妨碍，束缚，限制( hamper的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The search was hampered by appalling weather conditions. 恶劣的天气妨碍了搜寻工作。
• So thought every harassed, hampered, respectable boy in St. Petersburg. 圣彼德堡镇的那些受折磨、受拘束的体面孩子们个个都是这么想的。

25 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

26 yarns   

n.纱( yarn的名词复数 )；纱线；奇闻漫谈；旅行轶事

参考例句：

• ...vegetable-dyed yarns. 用植物染料染过色的纱线 来自辞典例句
• Fibers may be loosely or tightly twisted into yarns. 纤维可以是膨松地或紧密地捻成纱线。 来自辞典例句

27 spool   

n.（缠录音带等的）卷盘（轴）；v.把…绕在卷轴上

参考例句：

• Can you wind this film back on to its spool?你能把这胶卷卷回到卷轴上去吗？
• Thomas squatted on the forward deck,whistling tunelessly,polishing the broze spool of the anchor winch.托马斯蹲在前甲板上擦起锚绞车的黄铜轴，边擦边胡乱吹着口哨。