VOA标准英语2015--采取行动拯救叙利亚文化

Activists¹ Race to Save Syria's Cultural History 采取行动拯救叙利亚文化

PORTSMOUTH, OHIO—

The museum in the Syrian town of Maarat al-Numan is well-known for its ancient Roman and Byzantine mosaics² — which are now hidden from view, indefinitely.

They were wrapped and sandbagged by volunteers who are working to preserve Syria’s history from the destruction caused by the country’s civil war.

Syrian opposition³ member Amr Al-Azm, an associate professor of history at Shawnee State University in Portsmouth, Ohio, said government forces launched an assault on Maarat al-Numan not long after the mosaics were sandbagged, and some mosaics were damaged in the process.

“It’s in territory controlled by the opposition, but the government regularly barrel-bombs it,” he said.

Al-Azm once served as director of Syria’s Science and Conservation Laboratories and taught at the University of Damascus. He fell out of favor with the Syrian regime and left the country before the civil war began. But his concern for Syria’s past, and its future, did not end when he left the country.

“We started to try to see if there was anything we could do to reduce the damage where possible, and more importantly, document what damage was already done,” he said.

From a computer at Shawnee State, Al-Azm coordinates⁴ preservation⁵ efforts with a network of colleagues and former students who remain in Syria. They are his eyes and ears on the ground, while he documents and compiles reports of the destruction, remotely.

The Maarat al-Numan museum is just one of thousands in the Middle East that archaeologists are concerned about. While the museum’s mosaics may have been saved from permanent destruction, many sites at risk are not easily accessible, including those in places controlled by Islamic State, where militants⁶ have already looted or destroyed important historic sites.

Sending a message

“These are carefully crafted atrocities," Al-Azm said, "and they send a very specific message that ISIS is here and it can act with impunity⁷, and the fact that the international community is impotent to stop them.”

But ISIS isn't acting⁸ alone, said Professor McGuire Gibson, who specializes in Mesopotamian archaeology⁹ at the University of Chicago’s Oriental institute. "The looting that’s been taking place all over Syria is happening in areas where the various opposition groups are in control," he said.

Gibson said part of preserving Syria’s past is getting the international community to crack down on the trade of looted artifacts.

"Any site that archaeologists have worked on has been subjected to looting, because [thieves] know that there is something there that people will want,” he said.

Some pillaged¹⁰ items might never make their way back to Syria. Add them to what's already been destroyed, and Al-Azm acknowledges the Syria of the future may look very different.

“I hope that one day my children will be able to go back to Syria, and they’re not going to have the opportunity to see what I was able to see and grow up with,” he said.

That's why, despite the challenges of distance and access, Al-Azm and his network race to save what is left of Syria’s priceless, irreplaceable treasures.

1 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 mosaics   

n.马赛克( mosaic的名词复数 )；镶嵌；镶嵌工艺；镶嵌图案

参考例句：

• The panel shows marked similarities with mosaics found elsewhere. 这块嵌板和在其他地方找到的镶嵌图案有明显的相似之处。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The unsullied and shining floor was paved with white mosaics. 干净明亮的地上镶嵌着白色图案。 来自辞典例句

3 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

4 coordinates   

n.相配之衣物；坐标( coordinate的名词复数 )；（颜色协调的）配套服装；[复数]女套服；同等重要的人（或物）v.使协调，使调和( coordinate的第三人称单数 )；协调；协同；成为同等

参考例句：

• The town coordinates on this map are 695037. 该镇在这幅地图上的坐标是695037。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 preservation   

n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持

参考例句：

• The police are responsible for the preservation of law and order.警察负责维持法律与秩序。
• The picture is in an excellent state of preservation.这幅画保存得极为完好。

6 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。

7 impunity   

n.(惩罚、损失、伤害等的)免除

参考例句：

• You will not escape with impunity.你不可能逃脱惩罚。
• The impunity what compulsory insurance sets does not include escapement.交强险规定的免责范围不包括逃逸。

8 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

9 archaeology   

n.考古学

参考例句：

• She teaches archaeology at the university.她在大学里教考古学。
• He displayed interest in archaeology.他对考古学有兴趣。

10 pillaged   

v.抢劫，掠夺( pillage的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They are to be pillaged and terrorised in Hitler's fury and revenge. 在希特勒的狂怒和报复下，他们还遭到掠夺和恐怖统治。 来自辞典例句
• They villages were pillaged and their crops destroyed. 他们的村子被抢，他们的庄稼被毁。 来自辞典例句