英伦广角 Issue 108 网络搭建寻亲之路

Survivors¹ pulled from the rubble² of the China earthquake have begun describing their dreadful ordeal³ and the other voices are also emerging on the Internet. Many are searching desperately⁴ for relatives and friends, hoping someone else on the message boards has news of them. Others trapped in the earthquake zone are appealing for help via their mobile phones.

Once the images would have been censored⁵ in the information holdback, but today Chinese are watching this horrifying⁶ story unfold. Many bypassing government sources are turning to the Internet communities for answers and for action.

One says, Mum, are you ok? After the earthquake I have not been able to get in touch with you by phone. It's May 13, your phone seems to work, but no one answers. I don't know whether you're ok. I'm really concerned about you.

Another posts an image of his relative's car in an effort to track him down. Later adding his thanks, saying he's been in contact.

A soldier awaiting orders to join the rescue effort in Wenchuan says his pregnant wife has told him she's starving, without food or water, in Jiangyou. "Why doesn't the television report the situation in Jiangyou? I'm willing to devote all of my energy to save the people from my hometown. But there's nobody to save my wife. Please, everyone. Her name is Wang Zhou. She's a teacher. Please help, everyone."

Another has heard of a group of minors⁷, safe, but again without food in Qingpin. They could die if they have to wait too long. Please help to spread this message to let everybody know because this message could save the lives of a thousand people.

And there are messages direct from the disaster zone. One man trapped near Wenchuan lists all the landmarks⁸ he's passed in a text message to a friend to help rescuers find him. These places haven't got any signs. But there are so many people waiting to be rescued. Please forward this message for me so people can send a rescue team to us. Please, quick!

So are the messages from the Internet. We're joined now by Doctor Yi Lu from Nottingham University's China Policy Institute. Yi Lu, what is without precedent⁹, despite the horribleness, is that we are seeing more of something happening in China that we've ever seen in history?

Yes, I think so far Chinese people are generally happy with the Chinese government's response. People feel that the government responded to this major disaster very swiftly and they mobilized a large resources and also people feel that this time the medium has been very open in reporting all aspects of the disaster.

Yeah, there was some sort of new act that came in that I think May 1, demanding more transparency, perhaps to coincide with the Olympics. Has that played a part?

I think that has definitely played a part. This new regulation which became effective on May 1, basically it's about government transparency and government has the obligation to disclose the information. So people see this as really a test to see how well the government is going to implement¹⁰ this new regulation. In fact in commentaries in Chinese media, many people are all sublinking this media coverage¹¹ to the regulation and saying they seem to be doing well so far.

To what extent are their questions beginning to come for around China about how well the cities were built?

 

I was watching sort of Chinese media coverage and reading article online just earlier. And I saw people have already raised these issues, for example, we know that some school buildings collapsed¹² and many children who were in class at that time were trapped underneath¹³. So I saw an article sort of questioning whether the government buildings, maybe they're of higher quality. So if that's a case, then that'll tell you something.

 

Well that in itself is quite extraordinary, isn't it?  That's sort of criticism should already be surfacing?

Yes, although I think at the moment the mainstream¹⁴ voice is still of supporting the efforts to help the victims and also praising the government effort in general. You also hear some of these voices questioning, er, you know, whether, for example beforehand whether they could have done better in terms of forecasting this disaster and also as I said raising this issue of building quality. So I think at the moment also the voices do get heard.

 

Doctor Lu, thank you very much indeed for joining us from Nottingham University.

 

1 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

2 rubble   

n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾

参考例句：

• After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
• After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。

3 ordeal   

n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验

参考例句：

• She managed to keep her sanity throughout the ordeal.在那场磨难中她始终保持神志正常。
• Being lost in the wilderness for a week was an ordeal for me.在荒野里迷路一星期对我来说真是一场磨难。

4 desperately   

adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地

参考例句：

• He was desperately seeking a way to see her again.他正拼命想办法再见她一面。
• He longed desperately to be back at home.他非常渴望回家。

5 censored   

受审查的，被删剪的

参考例句：

• The news reports had been heavily censored . 这些新闻报道已被大幅删剪。
• The military-backed government has heavily censored the news. 有军方撑腰的政府对新闻进行了严格审查。

6 horrifying   

a.令人震惊的，使人毛骨悚然的

参考例句：

• He went to great pains to show how horrifying the war was. 他极力指出战争是多么的恐怖。
• The possibility of war is too horrifying to contemplate. 战争的可能性太可怕了，真不堪细想。

7 minors   

n.未成年人( minor的名词复数 )；副修科目；小公司；[逻辑学]小前提v.[主美国英语]副修，选修，兼修( minor的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The law forbids shops to sell alcohol to minors. 法律禁止商店向未成年者出售含酒精的饮料。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He had three minors this semester. 这学期他有三门副修科目。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 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

9 precedent   

n.先例，前例；惯例；adj.在前的，在先的

参考例句：

• Is there a precedent for what you want me to do?你要我做的事有前例可援吗？
• This is a wonderful achievement without precedent in Chinese history.这是中国历史上亘古未有的奇绩。

10 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

11 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

12 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

13 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

14 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。