美国国家公共电台 NPR For Foreign Journalists, A Rare Invitation To Damascus

For Foreign Journalists, A Rare Invitation To Damascus 

play pause stop mute unmute max volume 00:0003:48repeat repeat off Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser¹ to a recent version or update your Flash plugin. RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST: 

We've been hearing for months about the siege of the rebel-controlled eastern side of Aleppo, Syria's biggest city. People there are dying daily, bombarded by Syrian and Russian planes. Now, rebels have been trying to break the siege with fierce attacks on government-controlled western Aleppo, attacks quickly condemned² by the U.N. for their high number of civilian³ casualties. In the midst of all the carnage in Aleppo, Syria's government has granted visas to a group of Western journalists to visit the capital, Damascus. Among them, NPR's Peter Kenyon. Good morning.

PETER KENYON, BYLINE⁴: Morning, Renee.

MONTAGNE: Now, you have been in Damascus before, but how long has that been?

KENYON: Well, it's been several years. I want to say around 2008. Certainly it was a few years before this uprising in 2011.

MONTAGNE: So how dramatically has the capital changed over this last almost six years of conflict?

KENYON: There's definitely a different edge here. But I think the first thing I have to say is it's still functioning, which is such a huge contrast with what we've been able to see in videos and getting from reports from residents in Aleppo and places like that. Aleppo is a humanitarian⁵ crisis, full-blown. The latest rebel offensive has the U.N. condemning⁶ civilian casualties on the government-held side.

Here in Damascus, people have food. They've got electricity. The water works. But as I said, there's a bit of an edge. There's many, many military and police checkpoints around the city. And this isn't just cars getting waved through by police. Each one is inspected, trunk searched, kind of like in Baghdad during the conflict there.

MONTAGNE: Some Western journalists have been blacklisted by Syria for years, Peter. Why do you think you've got this invitation now?

KENYON: Well, I think the government wants to get its side of the story out and realizes it has been not doing a great job of that. Officials have been pushing hard on their own narrative⁷ that Syria's in a battle against Jihadi terrorism, allies of the rebels in the West and here in the region are backing that terrorism. And there's also been a lot of criticism of the Western media and how it's covered the conflict.

And it was pointed⁸ out that maybe if more reporters from the West got in to see what was going on, a fuller picture might come out. Some of the officials said, yeah, that could be right. But the other side is they want to talk about what might happen next. I talked with a man named Elia Samman (ph). He's with the Syrian Ministry⁹ of National Reconciliation¹⁰.

And he told me about this program where they're taking fighters and sometimes civilians¹¹ out of certain areas. Often after a siege, they either lay down their weapons, if they're fighters, or they move to the north and keep fighting. And as Samman said, it's worked in some areas, but Aleppo, with its large number of foreign fighters and other problems is posing a terrific challenge. Here's what he said.

ELIA SAMMAN: It's very difficult now because Aleppo has huge number of foreigners. The armed groups in Aleppo mostly today is radical¹² jihadi groups, so they would continue fighting till the last penny is still coming to them. So the main issue here is the money supplies. As long as they're receiving money from Saudi Arabia, from Qatar, from wherever, I don't think we have very good chances.

KENYON: Now these reconciliations¹³, we have to say, are a source of dread¹⁴ for many Syrians in opposition¹⁵ areas. But the government is determined¹⁶ to continue with them. They don't seem to have any other plan. But the prospects¹⁷ for Aleppo, as we just heard, seem pretty grim unless there's some new international peace effort.

MONTAGNE: Just briefly¹⁸, it's interesting that Syria has a Ministry of National Reconciliation. The minister's job sounds like it might be tough.

KENYON: Very tough. And really, it hasn't started yet. This is kind of a piecemeal¹⁹ local reconciliation. You can only have national reconciliation after the shooting stops, and then they need a constitution and elections. But when that might happen is anybody's guess.

MONTAGNE: NPR's Peter Kenyon speaking to us from Damascus, the capital of Syria. Thanks very much.

KENYON: Thanks, Renee.

1 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

2 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

3 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。

4 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。

5 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

6 condemning   

v.（通常因道义上的原因而）谴责( condemn的现在分词 )；宣判；宣布…不能使用；迫使…陷于不幸的境地

参考例句：

• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。
• I concur with the speaker in condemning what has been done. 我同意发言者对所做的事加以谴责。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

7 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

8 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。

9 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

10 reconciliation   

n.和解，和谐，一致

参考例句：

• He was taken up with the reconciliation of husband and wife.他忙于做夫妻间的调解工作。
• Their handshake appeared to be a gesture of reconciliation.他们的握手似乎是和解的表示。

11 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。

12 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

13 reconciliations   

和解( reconciliation的名词复数 )； 一致； 勉强接受； （争吵等的）止息

参考例句：

• You mean long-lost mother-son reconciliations in a restaurant? 你是说在餐厅调解分开多年的母子？
• Responsible for communications with financial institutions, daily cash processing and daily and monthly cash bank reconciliations. 负责与各财务机构的沟通，了解现金日流动状况，确认与银行往来的现金日对账单和月对账单。

14 dread   

vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧

参考例句：

• We all dread to think what will happen if the company closes.我们都不敢去想一旦公司关门我们该怎么办。
• Her heart was relieved of its blankest dread.她极度恐惧的心理消除了。

15 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。

16 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

17 prospects   

n.希望，前途(恒为复数)

参考例句：

• There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
• They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。

18 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

19 piecemeal   

adj.零碎的；n.片，块；adv.逐渐地；v.弄成碎块

参考例句：

• A lack of narrative drive leaves the reader with piecemeal vignettes.叙述缺乏吸引力，读者读到的只是一些支离破碎的片段。
• Let's settle the matter at one stroke,not piecemeal.把这事一气儿解决了吧，别零敲碎打了。