ISG 0726 Sri Lanka

[janet12tw]

Hi Everybody,

This week let's have a look at the civil war in Sri Lanka. Please write a summary for the below piece of news from The New York Times:

Tamils Now Languish in Sri Lanka Camps
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/13/world ... sq=&st=nyt

No Victory in Sri Lanka
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/opini ... sq=&st=nyt

[janet12tw]

Sorry I forgot to mention that the second link is for extended reading. You only have to write a summary for the news from the first link!

[IVY]

With the death of Tamil Tiger’s leader, the civil war in Sri Lanka seems to have ended. The war, lasting for 26 years, killed tens of thousands of people and caused hundreds of thousands homeless. The government helped free nearly 300,000 hostages from the rebels but locked them into the camps in order to wipe out suspicious terrorists hidden among these displaced people. Although the living environments of the camps have been improved, civilian accumulated anger could cause another conflict. The president emphasized that the security of residents is his prior concern, however many evidences from satellite pictures, witnesses, and UN showed that there were too many people died during the fighting and it leads foreign countries to reconsider if they continue to offer aid for refugees.

[Kooper]

Here is my summary. The words listed in ISG word bank are marked in blue.

After winning a hard-fought victory over the rebellious armed group Tamil Tigers, the Sri Lankan government is taking controversial measures to root out residual Tamil Tigers fighters hiding among civilians.

Contrary to the propaganda that Tamils have been liberated by government troops from the terrorists’ control, hundreds of thousands of Tamils are confined in camps by the government, indefinitely and with very limited contacts with the outside world. The government claims that these Tamils will only be kept there tentatively and that they’re held for security reasons: there’re still plenty of landmines left outside and Tigers’ fighters hiding inside. Nevertheless, the reality is people in the camps are facing a bleak outlook; the progress of clearing landmines has so far been slow; insurgents and local residents are so closely tied that any attempt to distinguish one from the other is doomed to failure.

There has been increased concern that the confinement is paving the way for another ethnic clash in the future. The Tamils, as time goes by, are getting more frustrated, impatient, irritated, and less grateful to the government, and their anger at being unfairly suppressed and treated are growing all the time. After all, the SriLankan government have to realize that military victories are just half measures and that there are still plenty of loose ends to be tied up before a true victory comes true.

[Kooper]

Supplemental listening material on camps in Sri Lanka:

[Just JJ]

My summary:
The Sri Lanka Government was doing their last push, which is an ongoing civil war between the government and one race called Tiger Tamils over the last 26 years.
Tiger fighters have cannily covered themselves within their compatriots. The Tiger civilian have lived with infectious deaseases, and lived in much lower health condition, such as screened area, or flimsy tents.
Officailly the Gorvernment claimed that they have been doing it in a right way, which involved no death of innocent civilians. Allegedly, the real situation, however, was not the case. Some death of sournalists remained mistery, the images captured by satterlite showed bodies are everywhere. If Sri Lanka government was doing it without regarding humanity, this government will lose the financial support from abroad.

Voca:
Screen
From:
"Some elderly people have been allowed to leave, but government officials refused to say when others who have been screened would be released."


I am wandering how to translate the “screen” here in Mandarin. After my research, it probably could be translate as “隔離” (also: quarantine). (but not 100 percents sure)

“screen” is also used in this article:

http://images.google.com.tw/imgres?imgu ... 8%26um%3D1

[Wayne]

"Some elderly people have been allowed to leave, but government officials refused to say when others who have been screened would be released."


I am wandering how to translate the “screen” here in Mandarin. After my research, it probably could be translate as “隔離” (also: quarantine). (but not 100 percents sure)

I suggest that "screen" be translated into 過濾.

[Kooper]

The president emphasized that the security of residents is his prior concern.

Hi Ivy,

Do you actually mean "primary concern" here?

[janet12tw]

The new government of Sri Lanka has defeated the Tamil Tiger, one of the minority and branded terrorists by governments in the country, and brought the 26-year civil war to an end. However, many Tamil civilians are displaced in the war and still locked up in the camp now because the government is afraid the Tamil Tiger fighters are still hiding among them. The anger is building up among the Tamil civilians who are held captive by the government after the war due to the bad living condition and long screening process for the terrorists which promises no peaceful live for these Tamil civilians.

[janet12tw]

Vocab:

1. displaced (paragraph 4): cause to move, usually with force or pressure; Ex: The refugees were displaced by the war.

2. caught sb flatfooted (paragraph 11)手足无措
(扁平足引文叫做flatfoot。扁平足的人脚弓instep arch直接触地，不利于行，因此flat-footed 常用来指笨手笨脚，手足失措。)

Ex. A recent drought caught the government flat-footed.

[Kooper]

Hi JJ,

I've made some revisions to your summary.

Officailly the Gorvernment claimed that they have been doing it in a right way, which involved no death of innocent civilians. Allegedly, the real situation, however, was not the case.

Officially the Government claimed that they had been doing it in a right way, which involved no death of innocent civilians.

The Tiger civilian have lived with infectious deaseases, and lived in much lower health condition, such as screened area, or flimsy tents

"Lower health condition" sounds uncommon to me. I would rather using "poor health conditions" or "adverse health conditions" here.

Some death of sournalists remained mistery, the images captured by satterlite showed bodies are everywhere.

The death of some journalists remains mysteries, and the images captured by satellites showed bodies were everywhere.

[Kooper]

The anger is building up among the Tamil civilians who are held captive by the government after the war due to the bad living condition and long screening process for the terrorists which promises no peaceful live for these Tamil civilians.

Hi Janet,
Does "which" here refer to the terrorists or the build-up of anger among the Tamil civilians?

[Sherry Liao]

My summary:

After successfully stamping out the rebellious force of Tamil Tigers and ending the 26-year civil war, Sri Lanka is now swamped with another sticky position – hundreds of thousands of Tamils are detained in camps because remaining rebels are suspected of hiding themselves in those displaced Tamils and the government insists on screening them out.

Although claiming its triumph over the ruthless terrorist group, Sri Lanka has paid a heavy price for its victory. Many civilians were presumably died at the last battles because of the heavy weapons used by the government. Now as the situation of internment keeps dragging on, reserving or refusing pecuniary aid to the refugees may be taken into account by human right organizations and aid groups, to prevent themselves from being the accomplices of the government. Also, experts worry that the situation does not do any good or may even worsen the ethnic conflicts between the Sinhalese majority and the minorities in the country.

[Sherry Liao]

along/down the road: in the future, especially at a later stage in a process
Ex.: You can always upgrade a bit further down the road if you want.

insinuate yourself into sth: to use clever, secret and often unpleasant methods to gradually become part of something
Ex.: Over the years she insinuated herself into the great man's life.

[Kooper]

Although the living environments of the camps have been improved, civilian accumulated anger could cause another conflict.

Hi Ivy,

I would word the main clause this way:

Although..., accumulating anger among civilians could...