美国国家公共电台 NPR--Gazans say they pay the price of fighting between Israel and militant groups

Gazans say they pay the price of fighting between Israel and militant¹ groups

Transcript²

Still recovering from the last bout³ of fighting between Israel and Islamic Jihad last week, civilians⁵ in Gaza are exhausted⁶ by suffering through the cycles of conflict.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

We now have a view from the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian territory that is fenced in by Israel. People there recently faced three days of fighting. Israel launched what it called a preemptive strike on Islamic Jihad fighters that Israel says were planning attacks. Militants⁷ then fired more than 1,000 rockets toward Israel, which was protected by air defenses and saw no deaths. But nearly 50 people were killed in Gaza before a cease-fire was reached. NPR's Fatma Tanis reports.

FATMA TANIS, BYLINE⁸: As the fighting was building, Fauziyye al-Shamallakh (ph) was at home having breakfast with her kids. Her husband was out selling fruit when he got a call. It was the Israeli military.

FAUZIYYE AL-SHAMALLAKH: (Non-English language spoken).

TANIS: She says they told him to drop the fruit and call his wife and tell her to immediately leave the apartment. It's the kind of call Gazans have learned over the years can come at any moment.

AL-SHAMALLAKH: (Through interpreter) By the time he reached me, we had seconds to evacuate⁹. My hands were shaking so bad, I couldn't put my pants on.

TANIS: This is the third time an airstrike has hit near their home. Each time, it gets more damaged. This one knocked down a building nearby and left her apartment with water leaking from all sides and cracks in the walls.

AL-SHAMALLAKH: (Through interpreter) I no longer feel safe. I feel like the house will crash over our heads. And I don't know what to do. We can't afford to fix anything.

TANIS: She says years of war destroyed her emotionally.

AL-SHAMALLAKH: (Through interpreter) I just want peace, to be able to live with dignity, like everyone else.

TANIS: People here have still not recovered from the trauma¹⁰ of last year's war, which went on for 11 days. Some 260 people were killed then. And what little economy Gaza had was devastated¹¹. The violence this time ended quickly because Hamas, which runs Gaza, stayed out of the fighting. Israel was battling the smaller Islamic Jihad militant group. Israel acknowledged its strikes killed several civilians, but it said others were killed by rockets fired at Israel that fell short. I went to an apartment that was hit by one of those. The couple there - we're not using their names to protect them from militant reprisals¹² - says a rocket crashed into their apartment but didn't explode. The warhead, about the size of a watermelon, blew through three walls and landed on a mattress¹³. The woman was injured.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Through interpreter) I have cuts all over my neck, back and legs from the shards¹⁴ of metal and glass. I thought I was going to die. Even now, I have nightmares constantly. And I can't stand to be in the living room.

TANIS: Her husband thought it was a so-called roof knock. That's the Israeli tactic¹⁵ of firing a warning missile to send civilians fleeing before a full-on air strike. He was shocked when he was told by Gaza authorities that it was a militant rocket.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Through interpreter) We had to deal with the threats from all sides now. It's impossible to live like this.

(CROSSTALK)

AL-SHAMALLAKH: In a different neighborhood, 7-year-old Riyadh Gaddoum (ph) is laying in bed as his grandparents dote on him. His legs are in a cast up to his waist. The family says he and his 5-year-old sister, Alaa (ph), were walking to their aunt's house when what appears to be an Israeli strike hit near them. Gaddoum was thrown in the air and broke both legs in his hip¹⁶. His sister died. She was one of the first casualties of the conflict. The grandfather, also named Riyadh Gaddoum, pointed¹⁷ a shaking finger out the window to the street where it happened.

RIYADH GADDOUM: (Non-English language spoken).

AL-SHAMALLAKH: He says, the man the Israelis wanted was far away and asks what his granddaughter's crime was and why they killed her. Israel says it takes care not to kill civilians by sending warnings, watching by overhead video for when civilians are near. But Gaza is crowded. And Palestinians say Israel isn't being careful enough. One of Israel's first militant targets, Tayseer al-Jabari, was killed in an apartment in a 14-story building. Khalil Kanoon (ph) is a child protection worker who lived there, too.

KHALIL KANOON: (Through interpreter) They sent eight rockets from multiple sides to kill one man. There are hundreds of children here.

TANIS: He eventually got his family out safely but was injured himself. He doesn't understand why the Israelis didn't do what the United States says it did when it killed al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in Kabul a couple of weeks ago without any civilian⁴ deaths.

KANOON: (Through interpreter) Israel has the best technology in the world. Why are we still dying?

TANIS: "We know they're going to keep fighting," he says, meaning Israel and militant groups. "But how much longer are we going to pay the price?"

Fatma Tanis, NPR News, Gaza City.

(SOUNDBITE OF CHAD LAWSON'S "THE FAIREST THINGS")

1 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

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 bout   

n.侵袭，发作；一次(阵，回)；拳击等比赛

参考例句：

• I was suffering with a bout of nerves.我感到一阵紧张。
• That bout of pneumonia enfeebled her.那次肺炎的发作使她虚弱了。

4 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

5 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。

6 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

7 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

8 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。

9 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。

10 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

11 devastated   

v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的

参考例句：

• The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 这颗炸弹炸毁了旧城的一大片地方。
• His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。

12 reprisals   

n.报复（行为）( reprisal的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They did not want to give evidence for fear of reprisals. 他们因为害怕报复而不想作证。
• They took bloody reprisals against the leaders. 他们对领导进行了血腥的报复。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 mattress   

n.床垫，床褥

参考例句：

• The straw mattress needs to be aired.草垫子该晾一晾了。
• The new mattress I bought sags in the middle.我买的新床垫中间陷了下去。

14 shards   

n.（玻璃、金属或其他硬物的）尖利的碎片( shard的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Eyewitnesses spoke of rocks and shards of glass flying in the air. 目击者称空中石块和玻璃碎片四溅。 来自辞典例句
• Ward, Josh Billings, and a host of others have survived only in scattered shards of humour. 沃德、比林斯和许多别的作家能够留传下来的只是些幽默的残章断简。 来自辞典例句

15 tactic   

n.战略，策略；adj.战术的，有策略的

参考例句：

• Reducing prices is a common sales tactic.降价是常用的销售策略。
• She had often used the tactic of threatening to resign.她惯用以辞职相威胁的手法。

16 hip   

n.臀部，髋；屋脊

参考例句：

• The thigh bone is connected to the hip bone.股骨连着髋骨。
• The new coats blouse gracefully above the hip line.新外套在臀围线上优美地打着褶皱。

17 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。