VOA慢速英语：伊朗政府调查女学生中毒事件

Iran's president recently ordered an investigation into a series of sicknesses from poisonous air at a number of girls' schools in the country. Some officials suspect the incidents are attacks targeting women's education.

伊朗总统最近下令对该国多所女子学校因有毒空气引起的一系列疾病进行调查。一些官员怀疑这些事件是针对女性教育的袭击。

Hundreds of girls at about 30 schools have been sickened since November, with some needing hospital care.

自去年11月以来，已有大约30所学校的数百名女孩患病，其中一些人需要住院治疗。

Children have reported head pain, fast heartbeats, feeling tired or weakened. Some described sensing a smell of the fruit tangerine, chlorine and chemicals used in cleaning.

孩子们报告说头痛、心跳加快、感到疲倦或虚弱。一些人描述，他们闻到了橘子、氯和清洁时使用的化学品的味道。

President calls for investigation

总统呼吁彻查

On Wednesday, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi told a Cabinet meeting that the Interior Ministry should investigate the incidents. He said the country’s health and intelligence ministries should help in the investigation.

周三，伊朗总统易卜拉欣·莱西在一次内阁会议上表示，内政部应该调查这些事件。他说，该国的卫生和情报部门应该协助调查。

It was the first time Raisi had spoken publicly about the sicknesses.

这是莱西首次公开对该事件表态。

A day earlier, a top security official had dismissed the reports of possible poisonings. The Interior Ministry official, Majid Mirahmadi, called the reports “psychological warring” by enemies in media and elsewhere. “Their goal was to force schools to close,” he said.

一天前，一名高级安全官员否认了可能中毒的报道。内政部官员马吉德·米拉艾哈迈迪称这些报道是媒体和其他敌人的“心理战”，并称“他们的目标是迫使学校关闭。”

Attacks began in Qom

袭击始于库姆

The first cases of sickness happened late last year in Qom, a city some 125 kilometers southwest of Iran's capital, Tehran. The city is known for its conservative religious history. Students at Qom’s Noor Yazdanshahr Conservatory got sick in November. They recovered before becoming sick again the next month.

去年年底，第一次袭击事件发生在伊朗首都德黑兰西南约125公里处的库姆市。这座城市以其保守的宗教历史而闻名。库姆Noor Yazdanshahr音乐学院的学生去年11月开始生病。康复之后第二个月又病倒了。

Then other cases, at other girls’ schools, followed.

随后，其他女子学校也发生了其他类似案件。

At first, officials did not connect the cases at different schools. Some questioned if the natural gas systems that heated schools was to blame. But the sicknesses were happening only at schools for females. Since then, officials say at least one boys' school has been targeted as well.

起初，官员们没有将不同学校的案件联系起来。一些人质疑为学校供暖的天然气系统是罪魁祸首。但这种疾病只发生在女校。官员们表示，自那以后，至少有一所男校也成为袭击目标。

Ali Reza Monadi is a national parliament member who sits on its education committee. He described the poisonings as "intentional."

阿里·礼萨·莫纳迪是国民议会成员，也是教育委员会成员。他称投毒是“故意的”。

We have to try to find roots, of the incidents, he told Iran’s state media agency, IRNA.

他对伊朗国家媒体机构伊斯兰共和国通讯社(IRNA)说，“我们必须设法找到这些事件的根源。”

Shargh, a reformist news website based in Tehran, reported that many parents have withdrawn their students from school. On Tuesday, another suspected attack was reported at a girls' school in Pardis on the eastern outskirts of Tehran.

德黑兰改革派新闻网站Shargh报道称，许多家长已经让学生退学。据报道，周二，德黑兰东郊Pardis的一所女子学校发生了另一起疑似袭击事件。

The poisonings come as getting confirmable information out of Iran remains difficult. The government is strongly punishing any public show of dissent following months of huge civil rights demonstrations in the country. Security forces have arrested at least 95 press workers since protests broke out in September of last year, reports the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.

这些中毒事件发生后，从伊朗获得可证实的信息仍然很困难。在该国几个月的大规模民权示威之后，政府正在大力惩罚任何公开的异议。总部设在纽约的保护记者委员会报告说，自去年9月爆发抗议活动以来，安全部队至少逮捕了95名新闻工作者。

Human rights activists in Iran say at least 530 people have been killed in the increased security measures. They say Iranian security forces have arrested about 19,700 people as well.

伊朗人权活动人士表示，至少530人在加强的安全措施中丧生。他们说，伊朗安全部队还逮捕了大约19,700人。

Attacks on women have happened in the past in Iran, most recently with a wave of acid attacks in 2014 around Isfahan. At the time, the attacks were believed to have been carried out by religious extremists targeting women for the clothing they wore. But, even in the disorder surrounding the Islamic Revolution, no one was known to target schoolgirls for attending classes.

伊朗过去曾发生过针对女性的袭击事件，最近的一次是2014年伊斯法罕附近发生的泼酸事件。当时，这些袭击被认为是由宗教极端分子实施的，目标是女性的着装。但是，即使是在伊斯兰革命的混乱时期，也没有人把上课的女学生作为袭击目标。

Hadi Ghaemi is the executive director of the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran.

哈迪·格米是总部设在纽约的伊朗人权中心的执行主任。

“There is a very fundamentalist thinking surfacing in society,” Ghaemi said. “We have no idea how widespread this group is but the fact they have been able to carry it out with such impunity is so troubling."

“社会上出现了一种非常原教旨主义的思想，”格米说。“我们不知道这个群体的范围有多大，但他们能够如此肆无忌惮地实施，实在令人不安。”

I’m Jill Robbins.

吉尔·罗宾斯报道。