PBS高端访谈:为什么越来越多的叙利亚难民离开约旦?

 　　JUDY WOODRUFF: But first, we take a closer look at what's driving many Syrian refugees to risk their lives by attempting the journey to Europe.

　　Syria's neighbor, Jordan, has taken in more than 600,000 refugees over the past four years, and has quite literally¹ been buckling² under the strain on its scarce resources and a massive drop in international aid. The refugees themselves are the hardest-hit there.

　　And, tonight, special correspondent Jane Arraf introduces us to a few of them who are willing to risk everything to leave.

　　JANE ARRAF: Every evening, Ali goes out with his daughters and his son, Hassan. It's not for the fresh air. It's illegal for most Syrian refugees to work in Jordan. In the daytime, he tries to find odd jobs without getting arrested. To help put food on the table, at night, he looks for soda³ cans to sell and broken appliances to repair.

　　ALI, Syrian Refugee (through interpreter): Sometimes, I take the girls with me and walk for three or four miles. At the end of the month, people get their salaries and throw a lot of things away. But when I walk for longer distances, I just take Hassan, and I carry two or three bags with me.

　　JANE ARRAF: It's exhausting, but he says he would rather do honest work than beg for money. Hassan is 13. He was in a car accident in Syria when he was a baby. He and five sisters and a brother came to Jordan with their parents three years ago. Two more children were born here, a blessing⁴, Ali says.

　　He says when they first came from Aleppo, things were fine. They brought almost $20,000 in savings⁵. And organizations were eager to help. But now the savings are gone. And aid has been cut to almost nothing. With winter coming, it's become almost impossible here. But Ali has a plan.

　　ALI (through interpreter): My wife's family is in Turkey. Her relatives went to Germany. Some of them arrived. Some of them didn't. We spoke⁶ to some people, and, God willing, by the end of the month, we will be there. We will leave from here to Turkey with our passports and then we will leave Turkey for Greece and then Austria and then Germany.

　　JANE ARRAF: Ali's nephew drowned this year trying to reach Europe. He says the children are all terrified of dying on the crossing. But he plans to get a backpack and carry the youngest children on his back. His wife will carry Hassan.

　　Ali's family is among the 80 percent of Syrian refugees trying to survive outside the camps in Jordan. It's a small country with high unemployment and few resources sandwiched between Syria, Iraq, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and Saudi Arabia.

　　Politicians like Mustafa Hamarneh say it would make sense to allow Syrians to work legally in Jordan, but that's unlikely to happen.

　　MUSTAFA HAMARNEH, Member of Parliament: You have to keep in mind that over 20 percent of the — of Jordan's population today is — consists of Syrian refugees. On top of that, you have 400,000 Egyptians. On top of that, you have about 300,000 Iraqis, and you have 50,000 Yemenis.

　　And now Interior tells us that there are about 100,000 Libyans. So, how do you deal with all this and how do you deal with the tremendous unrest around us?

　　JANE ARRAF: There's an intense sympathy here for the refugees, but as the war goes on, a growing frustration⁷.

　　MUSTAFA HAMARNEH: Now, you will not see in Jordan what you see in Europe, massive demonstrations⁸ against the refugees. You see some voices here, that these are our skinheads who make noise here and there, but there will not be any mass — negative mass movement opposing either the Syrians or the Iraqis.

　　Once the dust settles down at the end of the day these are Arabs and people see them as fellow Arabs.

　　JANE ARRAF: But particularly in the cities, a lot of Jordanian citizens feel they are competing with Syrian refugees for basic resources. This is one of Jordan's biggest supermarket chains. It's one of 90 supermarkets where Syrian refugees can access the aid provided by the World Food Program.

　　With the latest cuts, it's full of food that refugees now can only dream of being able to afford. Only the poorest of Syrian refugees are still getting help buying food. So, with cards like these from the World Food Program, each of them gets $14 a month. That doesn't go very far. For instance, this bottle of oil costs $4.

　　Just a bag of sugar would cost almost half a refugee's monthly allowance. The cuts in aid have been so deep that, on this day, all of these shoppers are Jordanian. Jordanian businesspeople say rents have risen so much since the Syrians arrived that even Jordanians have less money to spend on food.

　　The World Food Program cut aid in half to a quarter-million Syrians here. More than 100,000 people, including children, were dropped entirely⁹. Refugees are increasingly making the dangerous journey to Europe because they're having trouble surviving in neighboring countries.

　　JONATHAN CAMPBELL, World Food Program: The cuts in assistance is one of the driving factors. I don't think we are the only organization, but we were described the other day as the straw that broke the camel's back, and I think that's probably true.

　　JANE ARRAF: After four years of fighting in Syria, half the country's population is displaced. And Jordan's biggest camp, Zaatari, is looking more permanent. The tents are still here, but now they are attached to trailers provided for each family. Some refugees have started growing their old food, like corn and eggplant.

　　The population at Zaatari camp has been capped at 80,000 people, and the cuts in aid here are far less severe. It's sweltering in the summer and cold in the winter, but no one is in danger of starving. From this camp, though, more than 100 refugees a day are actually leaving back to Syria. They're not allowed to return to Jordan.

　　Relatives load the bus with blankets and clothing they will need to survive in devastated¹⁰ communities. Um Mohammad is trying to take one last photo of her grandson before a policeman stops her. Many of those on the bus don't want it known they're going back.

　　Her son was arrested for working illegally and has already gone back to Syria.

　　UM MOHAMMAD, Syrian Refugee (through interpreter): He called his wife and said, we are going to Turkey. Come and join me. In Turkey, life is much better than here. We are allowed to work.

　　JANE ARRAF: Jordan has essentially¹¹ closed its border with Syria. There are now more Syrian refugees leaving Jordan than arriving. Most of the refugees going back to Syria won't talk on camera. Some say they're being sent back by the Jordanian government after being caught working illegally. Some are going back to fight.

　　But most of them say, with the cuts in aid, they just can't survive in Jordan anymore. The Jordanian government says it has in the past deported¹² a small number of refugees back to Syria for serious security violations¹³. But it says all of those going back now are returning voluntarily.

　　Ali isn't thinking of going back to Syria. He's got his sights set on Sweden. He can fix almost anything. Almost everything in their home, including the television, was either thrown away or bought cheaply and repaired. He says he doesn't want any handouts¹⁴ in Europe. He will clean bathrooms if he has to.

　　He knows there's a chance they could die trying to get there. But here, he says, is the certainty of another difficult winter.

　　For the PBS NewsHour, I'm Jane Arraf in Amman, Jordan.

 

1 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

2 buckling   

扣住

参考例句：

• A door slammed in the house and a man came out buckling his belt. 房子里的一扇门砰地关上，一个男子边扣腰带边走了出来。
• The periodic buckling leaves the fibre in a waved conformation. 周期性的弯折在纤维中造成波形构成。

3 soda   

n.苏打水；汽水

参考例句：

• She doesn't enjoy drinking chocolate soda.她不喜欢喝巧克力汽水。
• I will freshen your drink with more soda and ice cubes.我给你的饮料重加一些苏打水和冰块。

4 blessing   

n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿

参考例句：

• The blessing was said in Hebrew.祷告用了希伯来语。
• A double blessing has descended upon the house.双喜临门。

5 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

6 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

7 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

8 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

9 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

10 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。

11 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

12 deported   

v.将…驱逐出境( deport的过去式和过去分词 )；举止

参考例句：

• They stripped me of my citizenship and deported me. 他们剥夺我的公民资格，将我驱逐出境。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The convicts were deported to a deserted island. 罪犯们被流放到一个荒岛。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

14 handouts   

救济品( handout的名词复数 )； 施舍物； 印刷品； 讲义

参考例句：

• Soldiers oversee the food handouts. 士兵们看管着救济食品。
• Even after losing his job, he was too proud to accept handouts. 甚至在失去工作后，他仍然很骄傲，不愿接受施舍。