纽约时报 斯里兰卡发生连环自杀式爆炸案(3)

As the day wore on, more explosions followed, all around Colombo,

随着时间一点一点地过去，科伦坡周围发生了更多爆炸，

including at the Tropical Inn, a small hotel not far from the national zoo in the suburb of Dehiwala.

包括距离国家动物园不远的郊区代希瓦勒的“热带旅馆”。

Two people were killed in that blast, officials said.

官员说，那里的爆炸造成了两人死亡。

The afternoon explosions added to the wave of fear and confusion that quickly spread across the country.

下午的几起爆炸进一步加深了人们的恐惧和困惑，这种情绪很快便蔓延到了全国各地。

Ambulance sirens wailed¹ across several cities.

救护车的警报声响彻好几个城市的上空。

After the first blasts, panic quickly spread to other churches, which halted or canceled Easter services.

第一批爆炸案发生后，恐慌的情绪迅速蔓延到了其他教堂，导致大家纷纷暂停或取消了接下来的庆祝活动。

“Our phones were on silent, but one guy got a text about the bomb blast,”

“我们的手机都安静了下来，但有一个人收到了一条关于爆炸的信息，”

said Ranil Thilkaratne, who was at a service in the Colombo suburb of Nugegoda.

当时正在科伦坡郊区努格戈达参加仪式的拉尼尔·蒂尔卡拉特纳说。

“Then he alerted the priest. We stopped the service and moved out.”

“之后他给牧师提了个醒。我们就停停下仪式，搬了出去。”

Sri Lanka is predominantly Buddhist², with Hindus the largest minority, about 12 percent, followed by Muslims at less than 10 percent.

政府数据显示，斯里兰卡以佛教徒为主，印度教徒是人数最多的少数群体，约占总人口的12%，

About 6 percent of the population is Catholic, according to government figures.

穆斯林教徒紧随其后，不到总人口的10%，还有大约6%的人口是天主教徒。

The country has struggled with sectarian divisions,

该国一直在和宗派分裂作斗争，

including last year, when the government temporarily shut down Facebook and WhatsApp in an effort to curb³ anti-Muslim violence.

去年，为了遏制反穆斯林暴力，该国政府就曾暂时关闭Facebook和WhatsApp。

On Sunday, the prime minister, Mr. Wickremesinghe,

周日，斯里兰卡总理维克勒马辛哈警告民众，

warned the public not to believe what he described as false information circulating online about the bombings.

不要相信网上流传的那些所谓的有关爆炸的虚假信息。

A Facebook spokeswoman confirmed on Sunday that Facebook, WhatsApp

周日，Facebook的一位发言人证实，Facebook，WhatsApp

and Instagram, a photo-sharing service owned by the company, had all been temporarily blocked.

和该公司旗下的照片分享平台Instagram都已被暂时屏蔽。

Twitter did not respond to a request for comment.

推特则没有回应置评请求。

The Sri Lanka civil war, which lasted from 1983 to 2009,

从1983年持续到了2009年的那场斯里兰卡内战，

pitted the Sinhalese majority against the minority Tamils,

让属于多数群体的僧伽罗人和属于少数群体的泰米尔人成了敌对势力，

whose militants⁴ became known for having invented the suicide vest and made suicide bombing their trademark⁵ as a tactic⁶ in war.

而泰米尔的武装分子就是因为发明自杀式炸弹背心并以他们招牌式的自杀式爆炸为战争策略而出名的。

Memories of the urban carnage from Sri Lanka’s conflict remains⁷ fresh, particularly for residents of the capital.

斯里兰卡的这种冲突造成的城市屠杀至今仍记忆犹新，尤其是对首都居民而言。

During the conflict, bombings of airports, bus stations, banks, cafes, and hotels were not uncommon⁸.

在冲突中，轰炸机场、汽车站、银行、咖啡馆和旅馆的事件并不罕见。

Several Tamil suicide bombers⁹ were women.

泰米尔自杀式炸弹袭击者中甚至还有女性。

One of the hotels targeted on Sunday, the Cinnamon Grand,

周日遇袭的酒店之一肉桂大酒店

had been blown up before, in 1984, when it was called the Hotel Lanka Oberoi.

之前也被炸毁过，1984年的时候，当时这家酒店还叫“斯里兰卡奥贝罗伊酒店”。

The Roman Catholic Church in Sri Lanka traces to the arrival of the Portuguese¹⁰ in the early 1500s

斯里兰卡罗马天主教堂的历史可以追溯到16世纪初葡萄牙人的到来，

and the subsequent influence of Portuguese, Dutch and Irish missionaries¹¹.

以及随后葡萄牙、荷兰和爱尔兰传教士的影响。

Sri Lankan Catholics are largely concentrated in the Colombo-Negombo area.

斯里兰卡的天主教徒主要集中在科伦坡-尼贡博地区。

Meenakshi Ganguly, the South Asia director at Human Rights Watch,

人权观察组织的南亚主任米纳克什·甘古利说，

said that given Sri Lanka’s history of ethnic¹² and religious violence,

鉴于斯里兰卡有种族和宗教暴力的历史，

it was premature¹³ to jump to conclusions about whether radicalized Muslims might have played a role in the bombings.

现在就妄下结论，断定极端穆斯林是否参与了爆炸案还为时过早。

But the magnitude of the carnage Sunday was extraordinary, even by Sri Lanka’s standards, Ms. Ganguly said.

但甘古利说，即使以斯里兰卡的标准来衡量，周日的屠杀规模也是非同寻常的。

“In three decades of war, this scale of attack has never happened,” she said.

“打了三十年的仗都没有发生过这种规模的袭击，”她说，

“In terms of serious, religion-based violence, we haven’t really seen that.”

“这么严重的宗教暴力事件我们还是头一回见。”

1 wailed   

v.哭叫，哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She wailed over her father's remains. 她对着父亲的遗体嚎啕大哭。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The women of the town wailed over the war victims. 城里的妇女为战争的死难者们痛哭。 来自辞典例句

2 Buddhist   

adj./n.佛教的，佛教徒

参考例句：

• The old lady fell down in adoration before Buddhist images.那老太太在佛像面前顶礼膜拜。
• In the eye of the Buddhist,every worldly affair is vain.在佛教徒的眼里，人世上一切事情都是空的。

3 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

4 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。

5 trademark   

n.商标；特征；vt.注册的…商标

参考例句：

• The trademark is registered on the book of the Patent Office.该商标已在专利局登记注册。
• The trademark of the pen was changed.这钢笔的商标改了。

6 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。

7 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

8 uncommon   

adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的

参考例句：

• Such attitudes were not at all uncommon thirty years ago.这些看法在30年前很常见。
• Phil has uncommon intelligence.菲尔智力超群。

9 bombers   

n.轰炸机( bomber的名词复数 )；投弹手；安非他明胶囊；大麻叶香烟

参考例句：

• Enemy bombers carried out a blitz on the city. 敌军轰炸机对这座城市进行了突袭。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Royal Airforce sill remained dangerously short of bombers. 英国皇家空军仍未脱离极为缺乏轰炸机的危境。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 Portuguese   

n.葡萄牙人；葡萄牙语

参考例句：

• They styled their house in the Portuguese manner.他们仿照葡萄牙的风格设计自己的房子。
• Her family is Portuguese in origin.她的家族是葡萄牙血统。

11 missionaries   

n.传教士( missionary的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Some missionaries came from England in the Qing Dynasty. 清朝时，从英国来了一些传教士。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The missionaries rebuked the natives for worshipping images. 传教士指责当地人崇拜偶像。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

12 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

13 premature   

adj.比预期时间早的；不成熟的，仓促的

参考例句：

• It is yet premature to predict the possible outcome of the dialogue.预言这次对话可能有什么结果为时尚早。
• The premature baby is doing well.那个早产的婴儿很健康。