VOA常速英语:南苏丹战争老兵在轮椅篮球中找到新生活
教程:2016年06月VOA常速英语  浏览:1019  
  • 00:00/00:00
  • 提示:点击文章中的单词,就可以看到词义解释

    South Sudan War Vets Find New Life in Wheelchair Basketball

    The men meet at Juba Basketball Stadium every Tuesday. Some are war veterans with missing legs. Others were stricken by polio.

    But all of them are athletes. These are players in South Sudan's Wheelchair Basketball Association.

    Gatluak Kual Luak helped found the team in 2011. He lost his leg as a soldier in the Second Sudanese Civil War in 2000. Like many others, he learned the sport as a refugee in Kenya.

    "Wheelchair basketball, it is not easy game. It is very technical," he said. "You need a lot of courage. You need a lot of mind. Let me say, you have to be committed. It has changed [the] bigger part of disability in me to ability. I realized that I can do anything like other people. Disability is not inability."

    Polio victims

    It's not only veterans who participate. James Amule got polio when he was two years old. He says disabled people are passed over for jobs in South Sudan and are called "abukarang" — a slur.

    "I have a name. I need to be called by my name, not by a nickname, as my name is called James Amule. I am supposed to be called that, James Amule, not to be called 'that disabled person,' which is not good. Even if you call me that disabled person, I will not feel like I am a human being," he said.

    Already, the sport is changing attitudes.

    The South Sudan Basketball Federation hopes the team will compete at this year's Paralympics in Brazil.

    "Everybody will be cheering them, and that will give them a pride and a sense of representing their country," said Malik.

    Courage and pride

    For now, though, the team wants to grow the sport at home.

    Many disabled South Sudanese sink into alcoholism and poverty. What's more, for the last two years, South Sudan has fought another civil war and produced more wounded veterans.

    "We are approaching everyone out [there] to have that courage and play wheelchair basketball so that they also begin a new life, and they realize that they can still do something,” said player Gatluak Kual Luak.

    For a nation in need of healing, this sport could be an example of how to move forward.

    0/0
      上一篇:VOA常速英语:(英国退欧)可能会对欧盟成员产生影响 下一篇:VOA常速英语:奥兰多悲剧成为美国总统选举的焦点

      本周热门

      受欢迎的教程

      下载听力课堂手机客户端
      随时随地练听力!(可离线学英语)