美国国家公共电台 NPR As Iraqi Forces Encircle Mosul, ISIS Unleashes New Level Of Brutality On Civilians

 

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

People who have recently fled the Iraqi city of Mosul are sharing stories that reveal just how dangerous life has gotten there. Some 300,000 people are trapped in areas of the city held by ISIS and now under siege by Iraqi security forces. As ISIS loses the fight, it has become a more violent ruler. NPR's Jane Arraf reports.

JANE ARRAF, BYLINE¹: This is an abandoned gas station about 10 miles from the frontlines. It's been turned into kind of a holding center for civilians² being taken from Mosul after their neighborhoods have just been liberated³. About 2,000 people have managed to flee so far today, and they're telling stories of increasingly brutal⁴ tactics by ISIS.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: (Foreign language spoken).

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: (Foreign language spoken).

ARRAF: Women and young children evacuated⁵ from Mosul are sent straight to camps for the displaced, several thousand every day. The men are brought here in military trucks to be screened for ties to ISIS. After living through months of fighting, they say ISIS has become increasingly violent.

OMAR: (Foreign language spoken).

ARRAF: Omar says he watched from a window as ISIS fighters intercepted⁶ families who had run out of food, trying to escape to army-held territory.

OMAR: (Through interpreter) God strike me down if I'm lying. They shot seven people in the head, and then they took the people's cars and left.

ARRAF: No one wants their last name used because they're afraid of ISIS. Omar says female ISIS members gathered the women to search them for gold and money. ISIS beats the men, but for women trying to escape, there's a special punishment.

OMAR: (Through interpreter) There was a woman who was searching them, and the same woman was biting them. I swear to God she was biting them on their arms.

ARRAF: Omar says his father died three days before after being wounded in a mortar⁷ strike. He says ISIS doctors refuse to try to save him because he wasn't one of them. Another man, Abdul Wahab, worked at Mosul University until ISIS closed it. He says most people now have run out of food.

ABDUL WAHAB: I eat today tomato paste mixed with water and salt. Sometimes we didn't eat.

ARRAF: And Jasim Muthana says when people did have food, ISIS began confiscating⁸ it as Iraqi security forces closed in.

JASIM MUTHANA: (Through interpreter) I had seven bags of rice. They took four. I had two bags of sugar. They took one. I had two tanks of water, and they took one. Their excuse was it was for the Muslim brothers. They have no relation with Islam.

ARRAF: Ali, a high school teacher, says ISIS fighters took over a room in his house while his family stayed in the basement. He shows us photos of rocket-propelled grenades they're restoring there.

ALI: (Through interpreter) They burned my car because I wouldn't give it to them. I told them it doesn't work, so they burned it.

ARRAF: There's still more than 30,000 people left in the city. As well as being victimized by ISIS, they are also dying in mortar attacks and airstrikes.

Mahmoud, an engineer, says an airstrike targeted ISIS fighters using a house next door this week, killing⁹ his neighbors.

MAHMOUD: Man and his wife and his mother and four daughters and his niece. Sometimes I taught her English. This makes me cry.

ARRAF: He says they couldn't even bury them. The youngest girl was so small he thought her body was a doll.

MAHMOUD: We have disaster between ISIS and the Iraqi army. We're in the middle.

ARRAF: For ISIS, Mosul is a fight to the death. They seem intent on taking civilians with them.

Jane Arraf, NPR News, near Mosul, Iraq.

(SOUNDBITE OF THOM SONNY GREEN'S "VIENNA")

1 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。

2 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。

3 liberated   

a.无拘束的，放纵的

参考例句：

• The city was liberated by the advancing army. 军队向前挺进，解放了那座城市。
• The heat brings about a chemical reaction, and oxygen is liberated. 热量引起化学反应，释放出氧气。

4 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

5 evacuated   

撤退者的

参考例句：

• Police evacuated nearby buildings. 警方已将附近大楼的居民疏散。
• The fireman evacuated the guests from the burning hotel. 消防队员把客人们从燃烧着的旅馆中撤出来。

6 intercepted   

拦截( intercept的过去式和过去分词 )； 截住； 截击； 拦阻

参考例句：

• Reporters intercepted him as he tried to leave the hotel. 他正要离开旅馆，记者们把他拦截住了。
• Reporters intercepted him as he tried to leave by the rear entrance. 他想从后门溜走，记者把他截住了。

7 mortar   

n.灰浆，灰泥；迫击炮；v.把…用灰浆涂接合

参考例句：

• The mason flushed the joint with mortar.泥工用灰浆把接缝处嵌平。
• The sound of mortar fire seemed to be closing in.迫击炮的吼声似乎正在逼近。

8 confiscating   

没收（confiscate的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• There was Mame by my side confiscating my intellects and attention. 有玛米坐在我身边，害得我心不在焉。
• Intimidate book sellers by confiscating books deemed unfavourable to the Barisan government. 充公被视为对国阵不利的书籍，威胁书商。

9 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。