VOA标准英语2008年-Poverty, Ethnic Tensions Fuel Indian Anti-Chris

Anti-Christian¹ violence appears to be worsening in the eastern Indian state of Orissa with Hindu extremist groups ransacking² churches, schools, health clinics and houses belonging to Christians³. The violence has left at least 18 people dead and more than 20,000 homeless. VOA's Raymond Thibodeaux reports from Rudangia, about 300 kilometers west of Bhubaneswar, Orissa's capital.
　
Ransacked⁴ Christian Church in the southern Indian city of Mangalore, 14 Sep 2008

Broken roof tiles and other debris⁵ is strewn across the floor of this demolished⁶ Christian primary school. Places like this are the front lines of a conflict that has engulfed⁷ hundreds of farming villages in these remote, mist-covered hills.

Ratna Naik and her husband fled the nearby village of Adaskupa during a Hindu attack two weeks ago. They have been staying in a crowded, squalid relief camp set up at a run-down high school in the town of Udaygiri, about 15 kilometers away.

"It was a big crowd, maybe more than 200 or 300," said Ratna Naik. "They are not only our village Hindus also there were included outside Hindus. Their demand is that if you want to stay in the village with us you have to become Hindu. Otherwise, we will kill you."

Her story is similar to thousands of others at this camp. In the Kandhamal district in Orissa, gangs of Hindu militants⁸ are carrying out attacks against Christians.

They have ransacked hundreds of churches, schools and health clinics run by Christian groups. They have looted and burned thousands of homes belonging to Christian families. Some here say they have witnessed the killing⁹ of family members and neighbors.

Indian authorities say the violence in Orissa has left at least 18 people dead and displaced as many as 20,000. Most of them are crowded into 14 government-run shelters in Kandhamal. Christian groups say the numbers of dead and displaced are much higher.

It is one of the worst episodes of Hindu-Christian violence in Orissa.

But the conflict's roots are less about faith than the more sanguine¹⁰ aspects of daily life in the region, says Hemanth Naik, no relation to Ratna. He runs a grassroots civil rights group, the Forum¹¹ for Peace, in Kandhamal.

Persistent¹² poverty and ethnic¹³ differences exploited by Hindu fundamentalists have played a big role, he says.

The two ethnic groups at the center of the conflict were once part of the same forest-dwelling tribe, known as the "Kui" people, who are traditionally animists - nature worshippers.

India's government divided them into two groups, the Kandhas and the Panas. The division, based largely on professions and poverty levels, was part of a well-meaning affirmative action program to absorb them into the mainstream¹⁴, Naik says.

The Panas, the poorer of the two, were listed as Scheduled Caste, among the lowest rank in India's caste system. Often shunned¹⁵ by fellow Hindus, many Panas sought out schools and health clinics run by Christians.

Conservative Hindu groups bristled¹⁶ at the idea that Christian groups, largely funded by Western countries, were giving the lower-caste Panas an unfair advantage, Naik says.

"It was an egalitarian society," said Naik. "But in the process [of mainstreaming them] a sense of inequality and discrimination crept into that area. They want to keep these disadvantaged communities down. That is why this problem has come."

Politics also plays a powerful role, says a top minister for the ruling Congress Party, Ajay Maken, who recently visited a YMCA center in Bhubaneswar, Orissa's capital, where hundreds of families have sought shelter from the anti-Christian violence.

"The problem is that some people are trying to give it a communal¹⁷ color," said Ajay Maken. "Perhaps it is the same kind of experiment that was performed in Gujarat is being performed here. It is an election year."

The experiment that Maken refers to is the 2002 riots in Gujarat state in which 2,000 Muslims were massacred by Hindu mobs after a train fire killed 58 Hindus.

Government investigators¹⁸ ruled that the fire was accidental, but the incident galvanized Hindu support for Gujarat's chief minister, Narendra Modi, whose "get-tough" stance against Muslims catapulted him to top leadership in India's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP, the main opposition¹⁹ party.

The recent violence in Orissa, a state dominated by the Bharatiya Janata Party, was sparked by the Aug. 23 killing of an 84-year-old Hindu spiritual leader who opposed the spread of Christianity in Orissa. Police say Maoist rebels killed him, but Hindu groups blamed Christians.

One of those Hindu groups is Vishnu Hindu Parishad, which has links to the Bharatiya Janata Party. One of their leaders is Milind Parande, who speaks by phone from outside Bangalore in the Indian state of Karnataka.

"Conversion²⁰ is the biggest violence," said Vishnu Hindu Parishad. "It is generating all this reaction. A Hindu is a peaceful person. A Hindu does not believe in violence. But if you do an act and provoke him, then I do not know what will happen."

He says he is not against Christians, but opposes Christian groups that lure²¹ Hindus into converting with enticements such as better schools, health clinics, jobs and food. He says Hindus should be left alone.

But the conflict's complicated overlays of ethnicity and politics are little consolation²² to people like Ratna and her husband, a church pastor²³. Like thousands of others, they are too scared to return home.

"It will be heartbreaking pain," said Ratna. "No confidence will we have now. Because the brotherly love, [has been] burned. The trust, we do not have."

For now, Indian authorities fear that the anti-Christian violence could spread. During the weekend, Hindu gangs reportedly ransacked 12 Christian churches in Karnataka.

 

1 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

2 ransacking   

v.彻底搜查( ransack的现在分词 )；抢劫，掠夺

参考例句：

• She was ransacking the stores for Jim's present. 她正在彻底搜寻各家店铺，为吉姆买礼物。 来自英汉文学 - 欧亨利
• Ransacking the drawers of the dresser he came upon a discarded, tiny, ragged handkerchief. 他打开橱柜抽屉搜寻，找到了一块弃置的小旧手帕。 来自辞典例句

3 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

4 ransacked   

v.彻底搜查( ransack的过去式和过去分词 )；抢劫，掠夺

参考例句：

• The house had been ransacked by burglars. 这房子遭到了盗贼的洗劫。
• The house had been ransacked of all that was worth anything. 屋子里所有值钱的东西都被抢去了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

5 debris   

n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片

参考例句：

• After the bombing there was a lot of debris everywhere.轰炸之后到处瓦砾成堆。
• Bacteria sticks to food debris in the teeth,causing decay.细菌附着在牙缝中的食物残渣上，导致蛀牙。

6 demolished   

v.摧毁( demolish的过去式和过去分词 )；推翻；拆毁（尤指大建筑物）；吃光

参考例句：

• The factory is due to be demolished next year. 这个工厂定于明年拆除。
• They have been fighting a rearguard action for two years to stop their house being demolished. 两年来，为了不让拆除他们的房子，他们一直在进行最后的努力。

7 engulfed   

v.吞没，包住( engulf的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was engulfed by a crowd of reporters. 他被一群记者团团围住。
• The little boat was engulfed by the waves. 小船被波浪吞没了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

9 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

10 sanguine   

adj.充满希望的，乐观的，血红色的

参考例句：

• He has a sanguine attitude to life.他对于人生有乐观的看法。
• He is not very sanguine about our chances of success.他对我们成功的机会不太乐观。

11 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

12 persistent   

adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的

参考例句：

• Albert had a persistent headache that lasted for three days.艾伯特连续头痛了三天。
• She felt embarrassed by his persistent attentions.他不时地向她大献殷勤，使她很难为情。

13 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。

14 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

15 shunned   

v.避开，回避，避免( shun的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She was shunned by her family when she remarried. 她再婚后家里人都躲着她。
• He was a shy man who shunned all publicity. 他是个怕羞的人，总是避开一切引人注目的活动。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 bristled   

adj. 直立的，多刺毛的 动词bristle的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• They bristled at his denigrating description of their activities. 听到他在污蔑他们的活动，他们都怒发冲冠。
• All of us bristled at the lawyer's speech insulting our forefathers. 听到那个律师在讲演中污蔑我们的祖先，大家都气得怒发冲冠。

17 communal   

adj.公有的，公共的，公社的，公社制的

参考例句：

• There was a communal toilet on the landing for the four flats.在楼梯平台上有一处公共卫生间供4套公寓使用。
• The toilets and other communal facilities were in a shocking state.厕所及其他公共设施的状况极其糟糕。

18 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

20 conversion   

n.转化，转换，转变

参考例句：

• He underwent quite a conversion.他彻底变了。
• Waste conversion is a part of the production process.废物处理是生产过程的一个组成部分。

21 lure   

n.吸引人的东西，诱惑物；vt.引诱，吸引

参考例句：

• Life in big cities is a lure for many country boys.大城市的生活吸引着许多乡下小伙子。
• He couldn't resist the lure of money.他不能抵制金钱的诱惑。

22 consolation   

n.安慰，慰问

参考例句：

• The children were a great consolation to me at that time.那时孩子们成了我的莫大安慰。
• This news was of little consolation to us.这个消息对我们来说没有什么安慰。

23 pastor   

n.牧师，牧人

参考例句：

• He was the son of a poor pastor.他是一个穷牧师的儿子。
• We have no pastor at present:the church is run by five deacons.我们目前没有牧师：教会的事是由五位执事管理的。