VOA常速英语: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.
这些人每个星期二都会在朱巴篮球馆会面。有些是失去双腿的退伍老兵。而其他人则饱受脊髓灰质炎困扰。

But all of them are athletes. These are players in South Sudan's Wheelchair Basketball Association.
但所有这些人都是运动员。这些人都是南苏丹轮椅篮球协会的运动员。

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.
加特卢克•卡尔•卢克在2011年帮助建立了球队。在2000年第二次苏丹内战时作为一名士兵的他失去了双腿。像许多其他人一样, 作为一名肯尼亚的难民，他了解到了这项运动。

 "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."
“轮椅篮球可不是一项简单的游戏。它非常具有技术含量。你需要很大的勇气。你需要很多想法。让我说,你必须全身心投入。它改变了残疾的我，让我从一无是处变成有能力。我意识到我可以像其他人一样做任何事。残疾并不代表无能。”

 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.
不仅是退伍老兵们参与其中。詹姆斯•阿穆尔在两岁的时候患了脊髓灰质炎。他表示在南苏丹的残疾人不会有工作机会而且被称为“abukarang”，即污点。

"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.
“我有名字。我需要别人叫我的名字,而不是绰号，我的名字是詹姆斯•阿穆尔。人们应该叫我詹姆斯•阿穆尔，而不是残疾人,这样很不好。即使你叫我残疾人,我不会觉得自己是一个人。”

Already, the sport is changing attitudes.
这项运动已经改变了人们对这些退伍老兵的态度。

The South Sudan Basketball Federation hopes the team will compete at this year's Paralympics in Brazil.
南苏丹篮球联合会希望球队能够出现在巴西残奥会的舞台上。

"Everybody will be cheering them, and that will give them a pride and a sense of representing their country," said Malik.
“每个人都将为他们欢呼,而他们将会感到骄傲并且以代表他们的国家为荣。”

Courage and pride For now, though, the team wants to grow the sport at home.
现在,这支队伍希望在家乡发展这项运动。

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.
许多南苏丹残疾人被酗酒及贫困问题困扰。更为重要的是,在过去的2年间,南苏丹一直饱受另一场内战困扰，而且有了更多受伤的老兵。

"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.
“我们会向每个有勇气投身轮椅篮球的人伸出援手,这样他们就可以开始新生活,而且他们意识到自己仍然能够做一些事情。”

For a nation in need of healing, this sport could be an example of how to move forward.
对于一个需要抚平痛处的民族,这项运动能够帮助这个国家。