[ti:Young Afghans Fear Taliban Return Will Undo Kandahar’s Progress]
[by:www.21voa.com]
[00:00.00]更多听力请访问21VOA.COM
[00:00.04]The city of Kandahar in southern Afghanistan
[00:03.28]was once the center of the Taliban's Islamist government.
[00:08.72]But Kandahar is slowly changing into an energetic city of 700,000.
[00:16.56]It has busy eateries, universities with both men and women
[00:21.52]and even a women's exercise center.
[00:26.28]Young men gather each night at the Arena club,
[00:30.08]a popular gathering place in the city.
[00:34.40]They play games, watch sporting events or smoke tobacco.
[00:41.00]Such activities were almost unthinkable
[00:44.40]when the Taliban ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.
[00:51.88]"There was no such place in Kandahar when we built it
[00:55.36]and there is still no other such place in the [entire] south,"
[00:58.96]said 30-year-old Nazir Ahmad, Arena's owner.
[01:04.36]Under Taliban rule, all kinds of entertainment were banned,
[01:09.24]from music and movies to kite flying.
[01:14.52]But the city's young people fear such freedoms may be lost again.
[01:20.80]The Taliban have increased its attacks in the area
[01:24.60]even during peace talks with the government.
[01:28.04]Many in Kandahar still remember the public beatings
[01:31.72]and executions in open areas of the city.
[01:36.52]But Kandahar has experienced a huge change in recent years.
[01:42.68]Women can now be seen riding on motorcycles.
[01:47.04]Families enjoy eating together outdoors.
[01:52.04]Several city spaces have fountains that light up when the sun goes down.
[01:58.36]Street sellers serve hot Afghan food into the night.
[02:04.52]But the Taliban appear energized to fight back
[02:08.16]after a deal with the United States
[02:10.80]that secured the withdrawal of all foreign forces by May.
[02:16.80]They have strengthened their campaign against Afghan forces in rural areas.
[02:23.16]Afghanistan now faces the possibility of giving back some power to the Taliban,
[02:29.40]which U.S.-led forces have been unable to defeat for 19 years.
[02:36.20]The Taliban claim to control or contest more than half of the country,
[02:41.40]including large areas across southern Afghanistan.
[02:47.48]Kandahar city remains firmly in the control of government forces.
[02:52.84]But the Taliban are not far away.
[02:57.12]"I hope the Taliban have changed and will let this club remain open,"
[03:02.36]Arena club's owner, Ahmad, told reporters with Agence France-Presse.
[03:08.56]Cafe Delight is another popular eatery in the city.
[03:13.72]The cafe permits entry to female customers
[03:17.60]— something that is still uncommon in the city.
[03:22.08]"What kind of peace would it be if they closed down our cafe?"
[03:26.56]asked the café's owner, Mohammad Yasin.
[03:30.24]"We will not comply if the Taliban tell us not
[03:33.48]to accept female customers," he added.
[03:37.80]When the Taliban ruled Afghanistan, girls were banned from school.
[03:43.72]Women accused of crimes such as adultery
[03:47.24]were stoned to death at sports stadiums.
[03:51.84]But since the Taliban were ousted,
[03:54.32]women have made great progress in cities.
[03:57.92]They have taken jobs in the media,
[04:01.32]politics and even the country's security forces.
[04:06.52]But some women in Kandahar fear they will lose
[04:09.68]some of their hard-won freedoms if the Taliban returns to power.
[04:15.60]"There was only one school for girls and now we have 15," said Mariam Durrani.
[04:23.04]The 36-year-old has established several projects for women
[04:27.72]-- including an education center, a radio station
[04:31.84]and an exercise center where some women secretly attend classes.
[04:38.24]"There is a possibility that the Taliban may return
[04:41.80]and that restrictions could be imposed on women again," Durrani said.
[04:48.28]Others are more hopeful, like Shukria Ali.
[04:52.92]She works at Radio Merman, the women-led station that Durrani started.
[04:59.48]The station recently received a prize
[05:02.24]from the press freedom group Reporters Without Borders.
[05:07.32]"Maybe the Taliban have changed," Ali told AFP.
[05:12.68]Weeks after Ali spoke with AFP reporters,
[05:16.60]the country experienced a number of deadly
[05:19.52]and unclaimed attacks on reporters.
[05:23.56]I'm Jonathan Evans. 更多听力请访问21VOA.COM
END OF TRACK. "END OF TRACK." The two men bowed. "Whoever was that person you were talking to?" she enquired, as soon as they stood together. The took of triumph faded from her eyes, she had grown worn and weary. The roses were wilting on the walls, the lights were mostly down now. Hetty, looking in to see if anything was wanted, found herself driven away almost fiercely. I only saw Master Jervie once when he called at tea time, The year 1747 was opened by measures of restriction. The House of Lords, offended at the publication of the proceedings of the trial of Lord Lovat, summoned the parties to their bar, committed them to prison, and refused to liberate them till they had pledged themselves not to repeat the offence, and had paid very heavy fees. The consequence of this was that the transactions of the Peers were almost entirely suppressed for nearly thirty years from this time, and we draw our knowledge of them chiefly from notes taken by Horace Walpole and Lord Chancellor Hardwicke. What is still more remarkable, the reports of the House of Commons, being taken by stealth, and on the merest sufferance, are of the most meagre kind, sometimes altogether wanting, and the speeches are given uniformly under fictitious names; for to have attributed to Pitt or Pelham their[112] speeches by name would have brought down on the printers the summary vengeance of the House. Many of the members complained bitterly of this breach of the privileges of Parliament, and of "being put into print by low fellows"; but Pelham had the sense to tolerate them, saying, "Let them alone; they make better speeches for us than we can make for ourselves." Altogether, the House of Commons exhibited the most deplorable aspect that can be conceived. The Ministry had pursued Walpole's system of buying up opponents by place, or pension, or secret service money, till there was no life left in the House. Ministers passed their measures without troubling themselves to say much in their behalf; and the opposition dwindled to Sir John Hinde Cotton, now dismissed from office, and a feeble remnant of Jacobites raised but miserable resistance. In vain the Prince of Wales and the secret instigations of Bolingbroke and Doddington stimulated the spirit of discontent; both Houses had degenerated into most silent and insignificant arenas of very commonplace business. "It certainly will be. Miss Widgeon," answered Maria, with strictly "company manners." "One who has never had a brother exposed to the constant dangers of army life can hardly understand how glad we all feel to have Si snatched from the very jaws of death and brung back to us." "Just plug at 'em as you would at a crow, and then go on your way whistlin'?" persisted Harry. "Hurroo!" echoed Hennessey; "that's the ticket." "Come forward, keeper," continued the baron, "and state how these arrows came into your hands!" "Yes." HoMEJULIA京香2018下载
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