VOA标准英语2010年-Scale of Ethnic Violence in Kyrgyzstan

Uzbek refugees who fled from Kyrgyzstan live in a refugee camp on the border at the Uzbek village of Erkishlok, 15 Jun 2010

There are no exact figures on the scale of ethnic¹ unrest that has hit southern Kyrgyzstan. They are lost in the chaos² of what happened.  No one is even certain why the violence erupted.  Official casualty figures are contradictory³ and considerably⁴ lower than unofficial estimates.   All that is known is that many people are dead and as many as 100,000 refugees, perhaps more, have been forced to abandon their homes in the cities of Osh and Jalalabad and other towns. 

The United States and United Nations have condemned⁵ the violence in Kyrgyzstan.  So too has Russia.  But the international community has not responded to official and unofficial Kyrgyz requests for military assistance to stop the bloodshed. 

In Moscow, a member of the local Uzbek community, Sherzad Rakhmanov, cited the need for urgent outside help. "First of all [we're asking] to organize a corridor, not simply open the border, but to deploy⁶ some forces, which could lead people out who cannot get out of their houses, who are under siege, to help them cross the border, at least into Uzbekistan because it is the nearest country," Rakhmanoz said at Kyrgyz embassy.

International humanitarian⁷ assistance is arriving.  But food and water are scarce after armed looters raided stores of supplies.  Many Uzbeks are hiding in basements, afraid for their lives if they leave.  Uzbekistan has accepted as many as 100,000 refugees. Thousands more are reported trapped in a no-man's land between the violence at their backs and a frontier ahead of them.  "The entire city is in a state of panic - you see for yourselves. Because all people have children," said Galina Nikolayevna, an Uzbek refugee.

The number of dead is not clear.  Official reports vary between 124 and 200.  But news reports indicate no one knows how many corpses⁸ remain in the streets, how many have been burned or the number of those buried in private by their families.  This lends credence⁹ to unofficial estimates of as many as 1,000 dead. 

The violence erupted on Friday, but the cause is not clear.  Explanations range from a fight between a Kyrgyz and Uzbek over an unpaid¹⁰ taxi fare to a plot by Kyrgyzstan's ousted¹¹ president Kurmanbek Bakiyev to regain¹² power.  His base of support was in southern Kyrgyzstan, where local Uzbeks opposed him.  Bakiyev denies any role in the violence and blames interim¹³ authorities for failure to protect the people. 

Orunbai Suleimanov is a Kyrgyz who volunteered to patrol the ethnically-mixed Anoshin neighborhood of Osh. "I'm telling all the Uzbeks: there is nothing to fear. Let them live normally, nobody is going to harass¹⁴ anyone and nobody is going to say bad words about others," he said.

But sporadic¹⁵ gunfire means people are being harassed¹⁶.  Blood has been shed, people have been turned away and their homes set on fire.  There seems to be no going back and the way forward remains¹⁷ uncertain.

 

1 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。

2 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

3 contradictory   

adj.反驳的，反对的，抗辩的；n.正反对，矛盾对立

参考例句：

• The argument is internally contradictory.论据本身自相矛盾。
• What he said was self-contradictory.他讲话前后不符。

4 considerably   

adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上

参考例句：

• The economic situation has changed considerably.经济形势已发生了相当大的变化。
• The gap has narrowed considerably.分歧大大缩小了。

5 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

6 deploy   

v.（军）散开成战斗队形，布置，展开

参考例句：

• The infantry began to deploy at dawn.步兵黎明时开始进入战斗位置。
• The president said he had no intention of deploying ground troops.总统称并不打算部署地面部队。

7 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

8 corpses   

n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The living soldiers put corpses together and burned them. 活着的战士把尸体放在一起烧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Overhead, grayish-white clouds covered the sky, piling up heavily like decaying corpses. 天上罩满了灰白的薄云，同腐烂的尸体似的沉沉的盖在那里。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

9 credence   

n.信用，祭器台，供桌，凭证

参考例句：

• Don't give credence to all the gossip you hear.不要相信你听到的闲话。
• Police attach credence to the report of an unnamed bystander.警方认为一位不知姓名的目击者的报告很有用。

10 unpaid   

adj.未付款的，无报酬的

参考例句：

• Doctors work excessive unpaid overtime.医生过度加班却无报酬。
• He's doing a month's unpaid work experience with an engineering firm.他正在一家工程公司无偿工作一个月以获得工作经验。

11 ousted   

驱逐( oust的过去式和过去分词 )； 革职； 罢黜； 剥夺

参考例句：

• He was ousted as chairman. 他的主席职务被革除了。
• He may be ousted by a military takeover. 他可能在一场军事接管中被赶下台。

12 regain   

vt.重新获得，收复，恢复

参考例句：

• He is making a bid to regain his World No.1 ranking.他正为重登世界排名第一位而努力。
• The government is desperate to regain credibility with the public.政府急于重新获取公众的信任。

13 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。

14 harass   

vt.使烦恼，折磨，骚扰

参考例句：

• Our mission is to harass the landing of the main Japaness expeditionary force.我们的任务是骚乱日本远征军主力的登陆。
• They received the order to harass the enemy's rear.他们接到骚扰敌人后方的命令。

15 sporadic   

adj.偶尔发生的 [反]regular；分散的

参考例句：

• The sound of sporadic shooting could still be heard.仍能听见零星的枪声。
• You know this better than I.I received only sporadic news about it.你们比我更清楚，而我听到的只是零星消息。

16 harassed   

adj. 疲倦的，厌烦的 动词harass的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He has complained of being harassed by the police. 他投诉受到警方侵扰。
• harassed mothers with their children 带着孩子的疲惫不堪的母亲们

17 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。