Residents of Mariupol are trying to escape the besieged Ukrainian city

Residents of Mariupol are trying to escape the besieged¹ Ukrainian city

　　Transcript²

　　Thousands of people continue to risk their lives to flee the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

　　STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

　　The war in Ukraine is not stopping, just changing locations. Russian officials made a hopeful-sounding statement yesterday. As Ukraine made proposals at peace talks, Russia said it would back off the capital, Kyiv, and another city. Russia said it was making room for negotiation³, although U.S. officials think their troops are just moving. Russia's assault continues elsewhere, like the besieged city of Mariupol. Civilians⁴ who make it out and head west cross the Dnieper River over a bridge at a town called Zaporizhzhia. NPR's Jason Beaubien went there.

　　(SOUNDBITE OF VEHICLE WHIRRING)

　　JASON BEAUBIEN, BYLINE⁵: They arrived packed into battered⁶ cars, the windows of many of them blown out by bomb blasts. Dirty strips of white cloth flutter like flags of surrender from their door handles. The evacuees⁸ have taped signs with the word children on their hoods⁹ to try to identify themselves as civilians. They've traveled for days to cover just over 100 miles to get back into Ukrainian-controlled territory. And many of them are emotionally frazzled.

　　UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Non-English language spoken).

　　UNIDENTIFIED INTERPRETER: The happiest moment was when they saw Ukrainian flags and Ukrainian soldiers.

　　BEAUBIEN: Angelina Voychenko (ph) and Yuliya Bortnik (ph) just arrived along with five other people in a compact Daewoo sedan. Their journey out of Mariupol took them a week. They moved in fits and starts, sleeping in their car and trying to gauge¹⁰ the security situation in front of them. They both break down in tears when they describe finally getting through the last Russian roadblock. They'd been sheltering in a basement in Mariupol without electricity or running water for weeks. Explosions and fighter jets shook their building. Their phones were dead. And they didn't know whether it was safe to leave or not. Voychenko says when they came out of the basement last week and saw their city in ruins, they knew they had to leave.

　　ANGELINA VOYCHENKO: (Non-English language spoken).

　　UNIDENTIFIED INTERPRETER: When they realized that there will be not enough of supplies, they walked to the nearest street. And then they saw all the block of flats completely destroyed and no shops. And there were some store looters. So people were looking for some food. And they realized that it won't be possible to stay there.

　　BEAUBIEN: Another evacuee⁷ describes emerging from a bomb shelter into what he describes as a wasteland with dead bodies in the streets. The main bridge out of Mariupol has been destroyed, forcing the evacuees to try various routes out of the city under the constant threat of shelling and snipers. One man, Vadim Timoshenko (ph), says his family tried three times to get out. Then on the road, they were constantly being stopped by Russian soldiers and checkpoints.

　　VADIM TIMOSHENKO: (Through interpreter) Every kilometer, there is a Russian checkpoint. And they search the cars, the phones.

　　BEAUBIEN: He says they deleted everything off their phones because they knew the Russians were looking for signs of pro-Ukrainian sentiment. He says even in the cold, the soldiers would strip search the evacuees, looking for weapons. Another young man, Ilya (ph), who didn't want to give his full name, says despite deleting his social media apps, soldiers found references to Russian warships¹¹ in his Google search history. Laying face down, naked, on the floor with a gun to his head, he says they told him to confess to being a spy.

　　ILYA: (Non-English language spoken).

　　UNIDENTIFIED INTERPRETER: They took him to the basement. And he thought he would never see his family again. He asked if he could see his family for the last time. But they told him, you would never see them.

　　BEAUBIEN: After holding him for several hours, Ilya says a Russian soldier offered to let him go if his family paid 200 euros to release him. Before the war, Mariupol was a city of just over 400,000 people on Ukraine's southeastern coast. It's the last piece of Ukrainian territory blocking the Kremlin from having complete control of the land corridor between Russia and the Crimea region, which it seized in 2014. Most of the population has already fled. According to Ukrainian officials, up to 100,000 people may still be in the city. There have been reports of Russian troops forcibly deporting¹² people from Mariupol to Russia. Artyom (ph), who just escaped, says residents are so desperate to leave and have so little information, they will go anywhere to get out of Mariupol.

　　ARTYOM: If you will say to the people, OK, you have choice - you can be in a basement or go to some safety place, we have buses, they will sit in the buses and go to any other country. They even don't think about other options.

　　BEAUBIEN: He looks around the parking lot filled with evacuees, a few Red Cross vans and Ukrainian police. It's not safe even here, he says. His hope is to get to Germany.

　　Jason Beaubien, NPR News, Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine.

1 besieged   

包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Paris was besieged for four months and forced to surrender. 巴黎被围困了四个月后被迫投降。
• The community besieged the newspaper with letters about its recent editorial. 公众纷纷来信对报社新近发表的社论提出诘问，弄得报社应接不暇。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 negotiation   

n.谈判，协商

参考例句：

• They closed the deal in sugar after a week of negotiation.经过一星期的谈判，他们的食糖生意成交了。
• The negotiation dragged on until July.谈判一直拖到7月份。

4 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 battered   

adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损

参考例句：

• He drove up in a battered old car.他开着一辆又老又破的旧车。
• The world was brutally battered but it survived.这个世界遭受了惨重的创伤,但它还是生存下来了。

7 evacuee   

n.被疏散的人员，被撤走的人员

参考例句：

• A woman sits motionless at an evacuee center for leaked radiation from the damaged fukushima nuclear facilities friday march 25 2011 in soma fukushima prefecture japan.2011年3月25日星期五，日本福岛县相马市，为福岛核设施泄露而设立的避难中心里，一位妇女一动不动地坐在那里。
• Not quite true,said Tom,a 42-year-old evacuee.但汤姆，一位42岁的避难者，说事实不尽然如此。

8 evacuees   

n.被疏散者( evacuee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Moreover, for multi-exits, evacuees select a exit based on game theory. 在有多个出口时，疏散人员根据对策论选择出口。 来自互联网
• Evacuees wade through flooded area following heavy monsoon rains in Peshawar on Saturday, July 31, 2010. 撤离灾区涉水通过后在白沙瓦沉重的季风降雨在周六，2010年7月31日。 来自互联网

9 hoods   

n.兜帽( hood的名词复数 )；头巾；（汽车、童车等的）折合式车篷；汽车发动机罩v.兜帽( hood的第三人称单数 )；头巾；（汽车、童车等的）折合式车篷；汽车发动机罩

参考例句：

• Michael looked at the four hoods sitting in the kitchen. 迈克尔瞅了瞅坐在厨房里的四条汉子。 来自教父部分
• Eskimos wear hoods to keep their heads warm. 爱斯基摩人戴兜帽使头暖和。 来自辞典例句

10 gauge   

v.精确计量；估计；n.标准度量；计量器

参考例句：

• Can you gauge what her reaction is likely to be?你能揣测她的反应可能是什么吗？
• It's difficult to gauge one's character.要判断一个人的品格是很困难的。

11 warships   

军舰，战舰( warship的名词复数 )； 舰只

参考例句：

• The enemy warships were disengaged from the battle after suffering heavy casualties. 在遭受惨重伤亡后，敌舰退出了海战。
• The government fitted out warships and sailors for them. 政府给他们配备了战舰和水手。

12 deporting   

v.将…驱逐出境( deport的现在分词 )；举止

参考例句：