美国国家公共电台 NPR 'We Were Eating Grass': Syrians Flee As Fight Pushes On Against Last ISIS Remnants

 

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

There are still refugees fleeing from the last pockets of ISIS-controlled areas in the country. Many say they held out for years but had to leave their homes recently because of the U.S.-led offensive to defeat the militants¹. There's been little word on what life has been like amid the fighting in the desert region. NPR's Ruth Sherlock was in Syria and talked to the refugees.

RUTH SHERLOCK, BYLINE²: The al-Hol refugee camp is overwhelmed with new arrivals. Hundreds of women all dressed in black wait for tents and blankets in a long line in the bitterly cold wind. Seeing us arrive, they crowd around and beg for help.

(CROSSTALK)

SHERLOCK: These refugees have just fled towns where the U.S.-led coalition³ fights ISIS.

AHMED: (Speaking Arabic).

SHERLOCK: Fifteen-year-old Ahmed tells us he and his family worked for days to get out. Like most of the people we speak to in this camp, he's been through such an ordeal⁴ that he's scared even to give his full name.

AHMED: (Through interpreter) We couldn't leave by car. We escaped on foot.

FADEL: ISIS charged $1,500 for cars to get through their checkpoints, money most couldn't afford. And in any case, people were afraid that their vehicles would be targeted by coalition planes.

AHMED: (Through interpreter) We walked. We came with just the clothes on our backs. We slept in the desert in the rain.

FADEL: He says the freezing winter temperatures claimed victims on the journey.

AHMED: (Through interpreter) We escaped with other families. And on the way, a young girl and two men died on the road. They froze to death. Somebody in the group had shovels⁵. So we buried their bodies.

SHERLOCK: In a concrete shelter in the middle of the camp, women cook on gas stoves on the floor. They held out living under ISIS for years. And 28-year-old Fatema Ahmed (ph) tells us it was the coalition airstrikes that ultimately forced them from their homes.

FATEMA AHMED: (Through interpreter) So many people have died who didn't deserve it. Even if you were just waiting in line outside for food, you could get hit. And there are no hospitals left for people to get treated. There's no medication because there was a siege. There's nothing left.

SHERLOCK: The subject of airstrikes is a controversy⁶ here. Shadi, a skinny man in his 20s, interrupts.

SHADI: (Speaking Arabic).

SHERLOCK: He's spent two years on the frontlines as a member of the U.S.'s locally allied⁷ militia⁸, the SDF. He says he believes the coalition airstrikes are precise.

SHADI: (Speaking Arabic).

ABDULLAH BADRY: (Speaking Arabic).

SHERLOCK: But he's interrupted by Abdullah Badry, who lost his 4-year-old daughter in a strike.

BADRY: (Through interpreter) Precision? There's no precision. We were there while you were on the side of the frontline. So many of the people being bombed are civilians¹⁰. The bombing is random¹¹. I swear for every ISIS person you kill, you hit 20 civilians. I lived this in real time.

SHERLOCK: Both men forget our interview and argue with each other.

BADRY: (Speaking in Arabic).

SHERLOCK: President Trump¹² has decided¹³ to pull U.S. troops out of Syria. But, for now, they remain fighting ISIS, a group that the U.S. says threatens countries beyond these borders. I ask the refugees if they think this war is necessary.

AHMED: (Speaking Arabic).

SHERLOCK: No, they exclaim, talking over one another. Fatema says no one here really believes that ISIS is this great international threat.

AHMED: (Through interpreter) The only thing ISIS got involved with is telling us how to dress. We should cover ourselves and keep our voices low. Other than that, everybody is living their own life.

SHERLOCK: Even Shadi, the man who fights ISIS alongside the U.S., says most of the people he knows who joined ISIS aren't terrorists. They're motivated by local reasons, like to fight other militias¹⁴ in the Syrian civil war. And he subscribes¹⁵ to the common conspiracy¹⁶ theory that the claim the ISIS is a global threat is a cover story.

SHADI: (Through interpreter) This is for the media. There are things that are said on TV. And then there are things that happen under the table.

SHERLOCK: The real reason the U.S. is in Syria, he thinks, is for the control of land and oil. U.S. officials have repeatedly denied claims like these. In a statement to NPR, a spokesperson said the U.S. mission in Syria is to achieve the enduring defeat of ISIS. And the U.S. says it tries to avoid civilian⁹ deaths but is fighting a ruthless enemy that hides among civilians. But Syrians in this camp don't believe that reasoning.

BADRY: (Speaking Arabic).

SHERLOCK: And the man who lost his 4-year-old girl, Abdullah Badry, says this matters because if locals don't support the war, it's just going to create more extremism.

BADRY: (Through interpreter) Our children used to fear the word death. Now it's normal for children to see dead bodies. Now they stand over dead bodies, picking up the limbs with us - young children picking up limbs. This drives people to extremism because this strips people of their fear.

SHERLOCK: And he says, someday, the fear will be replaced by anger. Ruth Sherlock, NPR News, northeast Syria.

1 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。

2 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。

3 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

4 ordeal   

n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验

参考例句：

• She managed to keep her sanity throughout the ordeal.在那场磨难中她始终保持神志正常。
• Being lost in the wilderness for a week was an ordeal for me.在荒野里迷路一星期对我来说真是一场磨难。

5 shovels   

n.铲子( shovel的名词复数 )；锹；推土机、挖土机等的)铲；铲形部份v.铲子( shovel的第三人称单数 )；锹；推土机、挖土机等的)铲；铲形部份

参考例句：

• workmen with picks and shovels 手拿镐铲的工人
• In the spring, we plunge shovels into the garden plot, turn under the dark compost. 春天，我们用铁锨翻开园子里黑油油的沃土。 来自辞典例句

6 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

7 allied   

adj.协约国的；同盟国的

参考例句：

• Britain was allied with the United States many times in history.历史上英国曾多次与美国结盟。
• Allied forces sustained heavy losses in the first few weeks of the campaign.同盟国在最初几周内遭受了巨大的损失。

8 militia   

n.民兵，民兵组织

参考例句：

• First came the PLA men,then the people's militia.人民解放军走在前面，其次是民兵。
• There's a building guarded by the local militia at the corner of the street.街道拐角处有一幢由当地民兵团守卫的大楼。

9 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。

10 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。

11 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

12 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

13 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

14 militias   

n.民兵组织，民兵( militia的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The troops will not attempt to disarm the warring militias. 部队并不打算解除战斗中的民兵武装。 来自辞典例句
• The neighborhood was a battleground for Shiite and Sunni militias. 那里曾是什叶派和逊尼派武装分子的战场。 来自互联网

15 subscribes   

v.捐助( subscribe的第三人称单数 )；签署，题词；订阅；同意

参考例句：

• The library subscribes to 40 magazines. 这个图书馆订购四十种杂志。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• He subscribes to a number of journals concerning his subject. 他订阅了许多与他的学科有关的杂志。 来自辞典例句

16 conspiracy   

n.阴谋，密谋，共谋

参考例句：

• The men were found guilty of conspiracy to murder.这些人被裁决犯有阴谋杀人罪。
• He claimed that it was all a conspiracy against him.他声称这一切都是一场针对他的阴谋。