人教新课标必修4 Unit1 Women of achievement[背景文章]Jody Williams.docVIP

LIFESAVER HERO: JODY WILLIAMS One of the greatest myths of modern times is that when wars end, the killing stops. Reality, however, is far more grim. Landmines, the silent sentinels planted in the ground by opposing armies in every war since World War I, continue to kill and maim long after the peace treaties are signed. Jody Williams, longtime activist and 1997 Nobel Peace Prize winner, has spent more than a decade fighting this invisible scourge that no longer kills well-trained soldiers, but rather innocent and unarmed civilians. In 1981, Jody Williams was working for a temporary employment agency in Washington DC when a leaflet handed to her as she left a subway sparked a career in global activism. She began working on human rights campaigns in Central America, seeking to change U.S. policy in the region. She was soon exposed to activists in the veterans community who were trying to do more than simply refit landmine victims with prosthetic limbs. Acting upon the old homily, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, these veterans were trying to convince the worlds leaders that removing landmines before they harm innocent people was the most effective solution to this deadly problem. In the early 1990s Williams began the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL). Within seven years, the ICBL had grown from two offices in as many countries to several hundred in over fifty nations around the world. The ICBL generated international headlines when the late Princess Diana began championing the drive to ban landmines. It was the October, 1997 announcement that Williams and ICBL would share the Nobel Peace Prize, however, that firmly established the former temporary worker as a political force to be reckoned with. Soon after the announcement, President Yelstin of Russia agreed to join an international treaty to ban the future use of landmines. Ironically, one of the treatys holdouts is Williams own country. President Clinton repeatedly refused to sign the