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VOA慢速英语--学生和老师们担心阿富汗音乐的未来

时间:2021-08-31 01:33:34

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(单词翻译)

Students, Teachers Worry about the Future of Music in Afghanistan

Ahmad Sarmast left his home in Melbourne, Australia, to help bring back music in his home country, Afghanistan. He started a school there that was different than most; it admitted children without parents and young people who had no homes. His school aimed to bring a little joy back to Kabul after the Taliban had banned music.

Last week, Sarmast watched from his home in Australia as the Taliban marched into the Afghan capital. Their quick rise to power shocked him and the world.

Now, Sarmast is wondering what will happen next.

His two mobile1 phones have not stopped ringing since the takeover. Many of the calls are from worried students asking him what happens next. Will the school be closed? Will the Taliban ban music again? Are their prized musical instruments safe?

"I'm heartbroken," Sarmast told The Associated Press. "It was so unexpected2 and so unpredictable that it was like an explosion3, and everyone was caught by surprise," he said of the Taliban takeover.

Sarmast left Kabul on July 12 for his summer holiday. He could not have imagined that just a few weeks later everything he had worked for in the past 20 years would be in danger. He worries about his 350 students and the 90 teachers at the school. Many of them have already gone into hiding. Reports of Taliban fighters searching for enemies door-to-door have increased their fears.

"We are all very, very fearful4 about the future of music, we are very fearful about our girls, about our faculty5," Sarmast said. He asked reporters not to publish more information, in order to protect the students and school.

In a sign of what the future holds, radio and TV stations stopped broadcasting music, except for Islamic songs. It was not clear if the change was a result of Taliban orders or an effort by the stations to avoid problems with the Taliban.

Sarmast is 58 years old. He is the son of a famous Afghan composer. He sought asylum6 in Australia in the 1990s, during a time of civil war in Afghanistan. After earning a doctoral degree in musicology, he returned to Afghanistan. In 2010, he founded the Afghanistan National Institute of Music.

Donated instruments

Foreign governments and private sponsors7 soon gave money to support the school. The World Bank gave the school 2 million U.S. dollars. Truckloads of musical equipment — violins, pianos, guitars and oboes — were sent from the German government and the German Society of Music Merchants. Students learned8 to play traditional Afghan string instruments like the rubab, sitar and sarod.

Elham Fanous, 24, was the first student to graduate from the music institute in 2014. After spending seven years at the school, he said, "It was such an amazing school, everything was perfect. It changed my life and I really owe it to them. A visitor once called it "Afghanistan's happy place."

"I cannot believe this is happening," Fanous added, speaking from New York. He recently received his master's degree in piano from the Manhattan School of Music. He was also the first student from Afghanistan to be admitted to a U.S. university music program.

The institute's musicians traveled all over the world to represent the peaceful side of their country. Fanous himself performed at events in Poland, Italy and Germany.

In 2013, the institute's youth orchestra9 began its first U.S. tour. Members of the orchestra included a girl who not long ago had sold chewing gum10 on the streets of Kabul to earn a living. In 2015, the school formed an all-female orchestra called Zohra. The group was named after a goddess of music in Persian culture.

Injured in bombing

In 2014, Sarmast was attending a concert at a French-run high school in Kabul when a bomb exploded. He lost some of his hearing in one ear and has had numerous11 operations to remove pieces of metal from his head. The Taliban took responsibility for the suicide12 attack and accused him in a statement of corrupting13 Afghanistan's youth.

That only increased Sarmast's wish to continue his work. He kept traveling between the school in Kabul and Australia, where his family lives.

Sarmast said his students all had big dreams to play around the world. "All my students had been dreaming of a peaceful Afghanistan. But that peaceful Afghanistan is fading away."

Still, Sarmast is hopeful. He believes young Afghans will resist. And he wants the international artistic14 community to fight for the Afghans' right to music.

"I'm still hopeful that my kids will be allowed to go back to the school and continue to enjoy learning15 and playing music," he said.

Words in This Story

faculty – n. teachers or staff of a school

amazing – adj. causing great surprise or wonder

composer – n. a person who writes music

merchant – n. someone who buys and sells goods especially in large amounts

orchestra – n. a group of musicians who play usually classical music together and who are led by a conductor

tour – n. a series of related16 performances, appearances, competitions or the like that occur at different places over a period of time

chewing gum -n. a type of soft candy that you chew on but do not swallow

fade – v. to disappear gradually

kids – n. children

allow – v. to permit (something)


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 mobile l6dzu     
adj.可移动的,易变的,机动的;n.运动物体
参考例句:
  • The old lady sits on a mobile chair every morning.那位老妇人每天上午坐在一把可携带使用的椅子上。
  • She's much more mobile now that she's bought a car.自从她买了汽车后,活动量就大多了。
2 unexpected Qkpw8     
adj.想不到的,意外的
参考例句:
  • I always keep some good wine in for unexpected guests.我总保存些好酒,用来招待不速之客。
  • His promotion was unexpected.他的升迁出人意料。
3 explosion qmLxG     
n.爆发,发出,爆炸
参考例句:
  • The police arrived right at the moment of the explosion.警察就在爆炸的那个时候赶到了。
  • The shock of the explosion was felt far away.爆炸引起的震动很远都可感觉到。
4 fearful tksxs     
adj.惧怕的,担心的;可怕的,吓人的
参考例句:
  • What a fearful waste of time!简直太浪费时间了!
  • They are fearful of another business depression.他们担心会再次发生商业萧条。
5 faculty HhkzK     
n.才能;学院,系;(学院或系的)全体教学人员
参考例句:
  • He has a great faculty for learning foreign languages.他有学习外语的天赋。
  • He has the faculty of saying the right thing at the right time.他有在恰当的时候说恰当的话的才智。
6 asylum DobyD     
n.避难所,庇护所,避难
参考例句:
  • The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
  • Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。
7 sponsors 4cf2d30b6327df1b462663c7611de22f     
n.保人( sponsor的名词复数 );(广播电视节目、音乐会或运动会的)赞助者;(培训或教育的)资助者;(法案等的)倡议者v.赞助( sponsor的第三人称单数 );资助(某人的培训或教育);为慈善活动捐资;倡议
参考例句:
  • The race organizers are trying to attract sponsors. 比赛的组织者在想方设法吸引赞助者。
  • They become official sponsors and put their logos on stadium walls. 他们成为正式赞助者,从而能在赛场周围的墙上挂上他们公司的广告牌。 来自辞典例句
8 learned m1oxn     
adj.有学问的,博学的;learn的过去式和过去分词
参考例句:
  • He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
  • In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里,他被视为有学问的人。
9 orchestra 90OyN     
n.管弦乐队;vt.命令,定购
参考例句:
  • He plays the violin in an orchestra.他在管弦乐队中演奏小提琴。
  • I was tempted to stay and hear this superb orchestra rehearse.我真想留下来听这支高超的管弦乐队排练。
10 gum MefzN     
n.牙龈;口香糖;树胶
参考例句:
  • We can stick these pictures into the book with gum.我们可用胶水把这几张画粘贴在书里。
  • Americans like to chew gum.美国人喜欢嚼口香糖。
11 numerous C5qz5     
adj.为数众多的;极多的
参考例句:
  • There have been numerous exchanges of views between the two governments.两国政府间曾多次交换意见。
  • There are numerous people in the square. 有许多人在广场上。
12 suicide ssAwA     
n.自杀,自毁,自杀性行为
参考例句:
  • The number of suicide has increased.自杀案件的数量增加了。
  • The death was adjudged a suicide by sleeping pills.该死亡事件被判定为服用安眠药自杀。
13 corrupting e31caa462603f9a59dd15b756f3d82a9     
(使)败坏( corrupt的现在分词 ); (使)腐化; 引起(计算机文件等的)错误; 破坏
参考例句:
  • It would be corrupting discipline to leave him unpunished. 不惩治他会败坏风纪。
  • It would be corrupting military discipline to leave him unpunished. 不惩治他会败坏军纪。
14 artistic IeWyG     
adj.艺术(家)的,美术(家)的;善于艺术创作的
参考例句:
  • The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
  • These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。
15 learning wpSzFe     
n.学问,学识,学习;动词learn的现在分词
参考例句:
  • When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时,常会从车上掉下来。
  • Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。
16 related vkGzSv     
adj.有关系的,有关联的,叙述的,讲述的
参考例句:
  • I am not related to him in any way.我和他无任何关系。
  • We spent days going through all related reference material.我们花了好多天功夫查阅所有有关的参考资料。

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