美国国家公共电台 NPR Omar Abdel-Rahman, Radical Cleric Connected To 1993 World Trade Center Bombing, Dies

 

LOURDES GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

The extremist Muslim cleric known as The Blind Sheikh has died in a U.S. prison. NPR's Cory Turner reports on the man who was convicted two decades ago of conspiring¹ to wage a war of urban terrorism against the United States.

CORY TURNER, BYLINE²: Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman died at 5:40 Saturday morning at a federal prison complex in North Carolina. The facility's acting³ executive assistant, Kenneth McCoy, said Abdel-Rahman was 78 years old and had died after a long struggle with coronary artery⁴ disease and diabetes⁵, which had caused his blindness as a child.

Abdel-Rahman was born in Egypt and came to the U.S. in the early 1990s, preaching a radical⁶, violent vision of Islam in and around New York City. After the February 1993 truck bombing of the World Trade Center that killed six people and injured more than a thousand, Abdel-Rahman spoke⁷ to reporters with the help of a translator. Here's a clip from The Associated Press.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED INTERPRETER: He says, I am - I said, I condemn⁸ any act that will hurt their national security or the security of America or the Americans.

TURNER: But the FBI was able to build a conspiracy⁹ case against Abdel-Rahman after one of his known associates turned informant. Four months after the Trade Center attack, Abdel-Rahman was arrested and charged with attempting to orchestrate an ambitious series of terror attacks on New York City landmarks¹⁰. Among the targets were the George Washington Bridge, the United Nations headquarters and the Lincoln and Holland tunnels. Abdel-Rahman was convicted of seditious conspiracy, guilty on 48 of 50 charges, and sentenced to life in U.S. prison. Cory Turner, NPR News, Washington.

1 conspiring   

密谋( conspire的现在分词 )； 搞阴谋； （事件等）巧合； 共同导致

参考例句：

• They were accused of conspiring against the king. 他们被指控阴谋反对国王。
• John Brown and his associates were tried for conspiring to overthrow the slave states. 约翰·布朗和他的合伙者们由于密谋推翻实行奴隶制度的美国各州而被审讯。

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 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。

4 artery   

n.干线，要道；动脉

参考例句：

• We couldn't feel the changes in the blood pressure within the artery.我们无法感觉到动脉血管内血压的变化。
• The aorta is the largest artery in the body.主动脉是人体中的最大动脉。

5 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。

6 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。

7 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。

8 condemn   

vt.谴责，指责；宣判(罪犯)，判刑

参考例句：

• Some praise him,whereas others condemn him.有些人赞扬他，而有些人谴责他。
• We mustn't condemn him on mere suppositions.我们不可全凭臆测来指责他。

9 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。

10 landmarks   

n.陆标( landmark的名词复数 )；目标；（标志重要阶段的）里程碑 ~ (in sth)；有历史意义的建筑物（或遗址）

参考例句：

• The book stands out as one of the notable landmarks in the progress of modern science. 这部著作是现代科学发展史上著名的里程碑之一。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The baby was one of the big landmarks in our relationship. 孩子的出世是我们俩关系中的一个重要转折点。 来自辞典例句