Level 5-Day 18. 'A Modern Tragedy And Its Consequences' (2)

词汇提示

1.prosthetic 假设2.handicapped 残疾的3.amputee 截肢者4.pervasive 无所不在的5.hazardous 危险的6.refugees 难民7.casualties 伤员

原文

Diana,Princess Of Wales: 'A Modern Tragedy And Its Consequences' (2)

As the Red Cross have expressed it:"Each victim who survives, will incur lifetime expenses for surgery and prosthetic care totaling between 2,000 and 3,000."That is an intolerable load for a handicapped person in a poor country.That is something to which the world should urgently turn its conscience.In Angola, one in every 334 members of the population is an amputee!Angola has the highest rate of amputees in the world.How can countries which manufacture and trade in these weapons square their conscience with such human devastation?My third main experience was to see what has been done, slowly and perilously, to get these mines out of the earth.In the Kuito and Huambo region I spent a morning with small team from Halo Trust, which is training Angolans to work on the pervasive minefields and supervising their work.I speak of "our team" because men of the Mines Advisory group - or, in this instance, the Halo Trust -who volunteer for this hazardous work are usually former members of our own Services.I take this opportunity to pay my tribute to the work these men do on our behalf- the perils they encounter are not just confined to mines.Two members of the Mines Advisory Group team in Cambodia, Chris Howes and Houn Horth, were kidnapped by the Khmer Rouge a year ago and their fate is uncertain.We can only pray for their safe return.Much ingenuity has gone into making some of these mines.Many are designed to trap an unwary de-miner.Whenever such tricky mines appear, the de-miner will call in one of the supervising team, who will then take over.That is what keeps their lives perpetually at risk.It might be less hazardous, I reflected, after my visit to Angola, if some of the technical skills used in making mines had been applied to better methods of removing them.Many of these mines are relatively cheap- they can be bought for 5 apiece, or less.Tracing them, lifting them, and disposing of them, costs far more – sometimes as much as a hundred times more.Angola,is full of refugees returning after a long war.They present another aspect of this tragedy.The refugee turns towards home, often ignorant of conditions in his homeland.He knows of mines, but homeward bound, eagerness to complete the journey gets the better of him.Or he finds mines on what was once his land, and attempts to clear them.There were many examples of that in Angola.These mines inflict most of their casualties on people who are trying to meet the elementary needs of life.They strike the wife, or the grandmother, gathering firewood for cooking - They ambush the child sent to collect water for the family.I was impressed to see the work being done by many of the world's agencies on"Mine Awareness."If children can be taught at school, if adults can be helped to learn what to do, and what not to do in regions that have been mined, then lives can be saved and injuries reduced.

翻译

威尔士王妃戴安娜:“一场现代悲剧及其后果”(2)

正如红十字会所说:

“每一位幸存的受害者，都将终身承担总计2000到3000美元的手术和假肢护理费用。”

这对一个贫穷国家的残疾人来说是难以忍受的负担。

这是世界迫切需要反省的问题。

在安哥拉，每334个人中就有一个是截肢者!

安哥拉是世界上截肢率最高的国家。

制造和交易这些武器的国家怎么能以这样的人类毁灭来问心无愧呢?

我的第三个主要经历是，看看人们已经做了些什么，缓慢而危险地把这些地雷从地球上挖出来。

在奎托和万博地区，我与Halo Trust的一个小团队度过了一个上午，该团队正在培训安哥拉人在无处不在的雷区工作并监督他们的工作。

我之所以说“我们的团队”，是因为自愿从事这项危险工作的地雷咨询小组的成员- -或者在这个例子中是Halo信托基金的成员- -通常是我们自己部队的前成员。

我借此机会向这些人代表我们所做的工作表示敬意——他们所遇到的危险不仅仅局限于矿山。

柬埔寨地雷咨询小组的两名成员克里斯·豪斯和霍恩·霍斯一年前被红色高棉绑架，他们的命运尚不确定。

我们只能祈祷他们平安归来。

制造这些地雷需要很大的匠心。

很多都是用来诱捕不小心的排雷人员的。

每当出现这种棘手的地雷时，排雷人员将叫来一个监督小组，然后由他接管。

这就是让他们的生命永远处于危险之中的原因。

在我访问安哥拉之后，我想，如果把制造地雷所用的一些技术技能应用于更好的排除地雷的方法，危险可能会小一些。

这些矿中有许多相对便宜——每片5英镑或更低就能买到。

追踪、打捞和处理垃圾的成本要高得多，有时甚至要高出100倍。

安哥拉到处都是经过长期战争返回的难民。

他们展现了这场悲剧的另一面。

难民返乡，往往不了解家乡的情况。

他知道我的故事，但在回家的路上，他对完成旅程的渴望胜过了他。

或者他在曾经属于自己的土地上发现了地雷，并试图清除它们。

在安哥拉有很多这样的例子。

这些地雷造成的伤亡大多数是在努力满足基本生活需要的人身上。

他们袭击收集柴火做饭的妻子或祖母——他们伏击被派去为家庭取水的孩子。

看到世界上许多机构在“地雷意识”方面所做的工作，我印象深刻。

如果能够在学校教育儿童，如果能够帮助成年人学习在被地雷埋设的地区该做什么、不该做什么，那么就可以挽救生命，减少伤害。