【英语语言学习】没有人在关注

FATIMA TLISOVA: Whatever you investigate in the North Caucasus is going to caught the attention of the authorities because corruption¹ is widespread. So wherever you turn, you're going to be in the center of the attention if you are trying to do your job properly as a journalist.

WERTHEIMER: That's Fatima Tlisova, an investigative reporter from Russia's North Caucasus region. During the 11 years she worked as a reporter there, she was repeatedly threatened and attacked. According to Human Rights Watch, the region is one of the most dangerous places for journalists in the world. Journalists are kidnapped and killed in broad daylight. Tlisova talks about that. Some of the content of this interview is disturbing.

In 2005, Fatmia Tlisova was kidnapped by people she believed were members of the FSB, Russia's Intelligence Agency. Since receiving asylum² in the U.S. in 2007, she has testified before Congress on human rights and freedom of expression in Russia. She is our Sunday Conversation.

TLISOVA: I wasn't only kidnapped. I was - you can put it in the word tortured because they burn cigarettes on my fingertips. They have bitten me a lot. So it was a difficult time.

WERTHEIMER: When the security forces took you, how long did they hold you?

TLISOVA: Well, it's not just one separate event. I experienced this many, many times. Once I was officially detained - no accusation³, just taken from the street. And they put me in the cage. I saw a human finger on the floor. The whole cage was so sticky. And there was no light. But I could smell the blood - the old blood. And the whole cage was made to terrify. And the time you asked about when I was kidnapped from the street and taken to the forest - they kept me for about eight hours.

WERTHEIMER: And that was the burning your fingertips with cigarettes and all of that.

TLISOVA: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

WERTHEIMER: And then they just brought you back?

TLISOVA: No. They left me there in the forest. They were waiting for some special orders, or I don't know. I think my fate was being decided⁴ by somebody on the top. And they decided me to let go. Later on somebody called me from the hidden number and told me say thanks to your Stas Diriv (ph). Stas Diriv was a politician and a very well-known businessman. I used to work with him as a press representative. And he - I don't know how he learned what he has done. But I think he saved my life at that time.

WERTHEIMER: How did you come to leave the region? I would think that you would want to be out of there. After those kinds of things have happened you would want to be out of there as soon as you possibly could get out of there.

TLISOVA: Well, actually, I never wanted to leave. I felt like leaving was a betrayal of all those people who continue suffer there. And I thought if I leave, it's going to send a signal. You know

WERTHEIMER: You can...

TLISOVA: So censorship is so high already. People are so scared to do their job. I was at the point where the question wasn't anymore about my own safety. It was my whole family - my parents, my children. Everywhere was suffering - the house searches. My kids always scared and witnessing all these horrible events happening to me. So there was kind of a decision made and difficult times. But, finally, we got here.

WERTHEIMER: So all of the people that the security forces were threatening got out?

TLISOVA: Well, if we are speaking about my family.

WERTHEIMER: About your immediate⁵ family, sure.

TLISOVA: Yeah. But there's 6 million people - the population of Massachusetts. Most of them still suffer. And the killings⁶ are going on every day on both sides. On the Russian side and - of course, the majority on the side of North Caucasus.

So imagine in Massachusetts in three years, you will lose 6,000 young people and nobody ever speaks about it - just a very few marginalized journalists. The whole Russia just doesn't care about it. And they care about people in Ukraine somehow. Russia's own citizens bombed, killed, harassed⁷, living in terror, and no Russian cares about it.

WERTHEIMER: Fatima Tlisova is an investigative reporter from Russia's Caucasus, but she currently works as an editor at the Voice of America here in the Washington area. Thank you very much for coming in.

TLISOVA: Thank you.

1 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

2 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

3 accusation   

n.控告，指责，谴责

参考例句：

• I was furious at his making such an accusation.我对他的这种责备非常气愤。
• She knew that no one would believe her accusation.她知道没人会相信她的指控。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

6 killings   

谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发

参考例句：

• His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。

7 harassed   

adj. 疲倦的，厌烦的 动词harass的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He has complained of being harassed by the police. 他投诉受到警方侵扰。
• harassed mothers with their children 带着孩子的疲惫不堪的母亲们