PBS高端访谈:女孩被绑架事件激起了民众对尼日利亚政府的抗议和不满

 　　JEFFREY BROWN: And we take a close look now at the situation, with Carl LeVan, an assistant professor at American University's School of International Service, and Mojubaolu Okome, a professor of African and women's studies at Brooklyn College.

　　And let me start with you, Professor Okome.

　　What can you tell us about the strong feeling about this inside Nigeria? And who is it aimed at, the president, the military, the system as a whole?

　　MOJUBAOLU OKOME, Brooklyn College: Many parents are distressed¹ because, if this happens to somebody's child, it affects everybody who is a parent because of the potential that things can spiral out of control.

　　Besides, it's important for the girls to be united with their families. And this situation has dragged on now into three weeks. And there's absolutely no cohesive² information. The distrust that people are feeling and a lot of the criticisms are directed against the system as a whole.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: Well, Carl LeVan, let me ask you about that system, just to frame it for people, context here, sectarian violence going on at the same time as the country is still in a transition to democracy.

　　CARL LEVAN, American University School of International Service: The transition has been longer and perhaps more painful than I think many Nigerians expected.

　　The country transitioned in May 1999, after almost 17 long years of dictatorship. And there have been several elections since then, most recently in 2011. And the most recent election went pretty well, but the country's also had to overcome some really difficult challenges along the way.

　　Just a few years ago, there was a very serious rebellion in the oil-producing region, the Niger Delta³, and now, for the last several years, the country has faced this rebellion in the Northeast by this group Boko Haram.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: And how much do the — what we hear about schisms⁴ between north and south, how much — or any of what you just described — how much does that play into the willingness or ability of the government to go and find these girls, to take more action?

　　CARL LEVAN: Well, politicians certainly like to portray⁵ themselves and like to campaign on a national platform. And I think that's certainly what the Nigerian citizens expect.

　　But the truth is that the historical divide and the cultural divide is one that the country is still grappling with. Nigeria is in fact exactly 100 years old this year. And over the last year or two, there were a lot of commentary in the newspapers, for example, about the so-called mistake of 1914.

　　Having said that, I think many Nigerians are very hopeful about the future and they would like to see their government invest a little bit more in that hope.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: Professor Okome, what about the strange juxtaposition⁶ we have seen just in the last day where you have the president saying he is going to do everything possible, and that is after not saying much publicly for a while, and then the first lady reportedly questioning the whole kidnapping? What is going on?

　　MOJUBAOLU OKOME: I think the Goodluck Jonathan administration would be able to explain better what's going on.

　　But just judging from what I was able to read in the media, if what I am reading is true, then it's indicative of the fact that the government itself needs to learn that it has to have a cohesive message. It has to have a unified⁷ approach. It has to give confidence to the Nigerian people that these missing children are uppermost in its mind, and that it's going to do everything in its power to bring them back to their families.

　　Besides, if it's saying that it wants to do this, and then people are being arrested because they are raising attention, they are calling attention to the situation, then it's sending a very bad message. And the government needs to do everything that it can to correct this immediately and restore confidence in Nigerian people that their security matters to it, and that it's going to truly do everything in its power to bring the girls back to their families.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: Well, Carl LeVan, this has clearly taken on international dimensions now. So, is it affecting how people, how the outside world sees Nigeria, and what if anything can the U.S. and other outside nations do at this point?

1 distressed   

痛苦的

参考例句：

• He was too distressed and confused to answer their questions. 他非常苦恼而困惑，无法回答他们的问题。
• The news of his death distressed us greatly. 他逝世的消息使我们极为悲痛。

2 cohesive   

adj.有粘着力的；有结合力的；凝聚性的

参考例句：

• She sealed the parcel with cohesive tape.她用粘胶带把包裹封起来。
• The author skillfully fuses these fragments into a cohesive whole.作者将这些片断巧妙地结合成一个连贯的整体。

3 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。

4 schisms   

n.教会分立，分裂( schism的名词复数 )

参考例句：

5 portray   

v.描写，描述；画(人物、景象等)

参考例句：

• It is difficult to portray feelings in words.感情很难用言语来描写。
• Can you portray the best and worst aspects of this job?您能描述一下这份工作最好与最坏的方面吗？

6 juxtaposition   

n.毗邻，并置，并列

参考例句：

• The juxtaposition of these two remarks was startling.这两句话连在一起使人听了震惊。
• It is the result of the juxtaposition of contrasting colors.这是并列对比色的结果。

7 unified   

(unify 的过去式和过去分词)； 统一的； 统一标准的； 一元化的

参考例句：

• The teacher unified the answer of her pupil with hers. 老师核对了学生的答案。
• The First Emperor of Qin unified China in 221 B.C. 秦始皇于公元前221年统一中国。