紐時賞析／阿富汗洪災 災民道盡一無所有心聲

‘I Have Nothing Left’: Flooding Adds to Afghanistan’s Crises

「一無所有」：洪災惡化阿富汗危機

As heavy rains poured down on his village in eastern Afghanistan around 11 a.m. Monday, Meya, a 57-year-old farmer, gathered his wife and daughters and rushed from their small home toward the safety of the mountains. Looking back, he saw a thunderous wave of water tearing through the village — and his wife being swept away in the storm.

周一上午11時許，傾盆大雨下在阿富汗東部村莊，57歲農民梅亞帶著妻子和女兒，從他們的小房子衝向安全的山區。回頭一看，他見到雷鳴般洪水撕裂村莊，他的妻子在暴風雨中被沖走。

“At that moment I completely lost control,” said Meya, who goes by one name.

「那一刻，我完全失去控制」，名字只有一個字的梅亞說道。

Days later, as he and his neighbors salvaged what they could from the wreckage, Meya stared at his destroyed village in dismay. His wife had drowned. His house was destroyed. His two cows and three goats were killed. His jewelry and all of his cash — around $400 — were washed away in the flood.

幾天後，當他和他的鄰居們從廢墟中盡可能搶救東西時，梅亞沮喪地盯著他被摧毀的村莊。他的妻子淹死了。他的房子毀了。他的兩頭牛和三隻山羊死了。他的珠寶和大約四百美元的所有現金都被洪水沖走了。

Over the past week, flash floods across eastern, central and southern Afghanistan have killed at least 43 people and injured 106 more, according to Mohammad Nasim Haqqani, a spokesperson for Afghanistan’s Ministry of Disaster Management.

阿富汗災害管理部發言人哈卡尼表示，過去一周，阿富汗東部、中部和南部的暴洪已造成至少43人喪生以及106人受傷。

The floods’ toll, local officials say, is likely to rise as more bodies are discovered. Around 790 homes have been damaged or destroyed in the flooding, which has affected nearly 4,000 families, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

當地官員說，隨著更多屍體被發現，洪水造成的傷亡可能會增加。根據聯合國人道主義事務協調廳的數據，大約790棟房屋在洪水中受損或被毀，近4000個家庭受影響。

The flooding offered the latest blow to Afghanistan, which has been seized by an economic collapse and a spate of natural disasters and deadly terrorist attacks in recent months.

洪水給阿富汗帶來最新打擊，近幾個月來，阿富汗因經濟崩潰、一連串天災與致命的恐怖攻擊而陷入困境。

Around half the country’s 39 million people are facing life-threatening food insecurity, according to the United Nations. An earthquake in June in eastern Afghanistan killed around 1,000 people and destroyed the homes of thousands more. The latest terrorist attack — on a mosque in the capital, Kabul, on Wednesday — killed at least 21 people and wounded 33 others, officials said.

聯合國指出，阿富汗3900萬人口中，約有一半面臨危及生命的糧食不安全問題。今年6月，阿富汗東部發生地震，造成約1000人喪生，數以千計的人家園被毀。官員們指出，首都喀布爾一座清真寺周三發生的最新一起恐怖攻擊，造成至少21人死亡，另有33人受傷。

The back-to-back crises have tested the Taliban’s ability to provide security and badly needed emergency assistance even as their government slides further into pariah state status. The Taliban’s decision to close girls’ secondary schools indefinitely in March, and the public revelation earlier this month that the Taliban had been sheltering al-Qaida’s leader in Kabul, have increasingly alienated the country from Western donors despite the worsening humanitarian crisis.

接連的危機考驗神學士的能力，他們必須提供安全和急需的緊急援助，即便他們的政府正進一步落入「被排斥國家」狀態。神學士決定在今年3月無限期關閉女子中學，以及神學士在喀布爾庇護凱達組織領導人的消息本月稍早公開揭露，使得阿富汗與西方捐助國日益疏遠，儘管人道主義危機不斷惡化。

文／Yaqoob Akbary, Christina Goldbaum, Kiana Hayeri　譯／陳韋廷

說文解字看新聞

【陳韋廷】

阿富汗近來面臨地震、暴洪與恐攻等天災人禍挑戰，加上外國援助減少，當地人正遭遇前所未見的人道危機，文中flash flood即指「暴洪」，表示短時間突然發生的洪水，flash mob是「快閃的群眾」。引發洪水的動詞可用cause/bring/trigger a flood。洪災劫後餘生可說survive a flood；慘遭洪災肆虐可用be devastated by, be hit by, be ravaged by a flood（floods）。

Wreckage指沉船、出事車輛等的殘骸，是不可數名詞，非要描述數量時可用：Pieces of wreckage were found ten miles away from the scene of the explosion。

首段動詞片語pour down表示「雨傾盆而下」，俚語offer a blow to是「打擊或不幸」，動詞offer可用deliver, give, land, strike等單字替代，遭受的動詞可用receive或take。A spate of則指短時間大量發生的同類事件，通常是壞事：a spate of bombings/thefts/violence。