【英语语言学习】暴力少年的蜕变史

LYNN NEARY, HOST:

Now, the story of an incredible¹ journey that begins in the late 1980s when the first Palestinian uprising began.

(SOUNDBITE OF EXPLOSION)

NEARY: The images from the intifada include exploding tear gas canisters launched by Israelis answered by Palestinian youngsters² shooting slingshots and hurling³ rocks. A photographer snapped⁴ a photo of a boy with tears in his eyes. The image of 8-year-old Ramzi Aburedwan came to represent the rage and frustration⁵ of life in the refugee⁶ camps. But Ramzi's life changed dramatically when he was 16, when he was introduced to music.

(SOUNDBITE OF VIOLA)

NEARY: He began playing viola, received a scholarship to study at a conservatory⁷ in France, became a teacher. In 2005, he started Al Kamandjati, schools to bring music to Palestinian children. Today, Ramzi is touring America, playing an Arabic instrument called the bouzouk, along with other Middle Eastern players from the Dal'Ouna Ensemble⁸. They're finishing up a tour, including several performances in Washington, D.C.

(SOUNDBITE OF DAL'OUNA ENSEMBLE)

NEARY: Ramzi Aburedwan joins us now. Welcome to the program.

RAMZI ABUREDWAN: Good morning.

NEARY: And Sandy Tolan, radio producer and author, has been following Ramzi's story, told in a new book, "Children Of The Stone." He's in the studio with us as well. Hi, Sandy, so good to have you here.

SANDY TOLAN: Great to see you, Lynn. Great to be here.

NEARY: And let's start with you, Sandy, how did you first hear about Ramzi?

TOLAN: I saw Ramzi's image as a young 8-year-old stone thrower in a famous iconic image on a poster for the National Conservatory of Music. But alongside⁹ that image was another image of 18-year-old Ramzi playing the viola. And these twin images of throwing a stone and playing the viola - same guy, 10 years apart - fascinated¹⁰ me so much, and I just wanted to know who this guy was and what his story was and managed to find him at the Al'Amari refugee camp where he had been raised with his grandparents and did a piece actually for public radio - for NPR back in '98 - during which time, he told me, you know, my dream is to open up music schools for the children of Palestine.

NEARY: And, Ramzi, can you give us a sense of what that was like for you to have that introduction to music and how it did begin to transform your own life?

ABUREDWAN: Actually, when I started, I was very surprised by the sound of the instrument. I just - when I went to the room for the first time, the teacher asked me which instrument do I like to play. I said I would like to play the violin. Take - this is a bigger violin and that was the viola, actually. And, for me, I didn't know the difference, and I was very happy. And first six months, when I started these lessons and workshops, actually I was still between playing music and throwing stones at the same time. Sometimes I had a break of 20 minutes waiting for my lessons. I would just go down, throw stones on these cars and slowly, slowly, you know, I mean, the expressions from the music side started to be bigger and higher in myself.

NEARY: Yeah, there's a young girl on the cover of your book. Her name is Ala, I think, is that right?

TOLAN: Ala.

NEARY: Ala. And she's holding a violin. And in a film that's been made about the school, she says that the violin has become her weapon. Tell me a little bit about her, and what does she mean when she says the violin is now her weapon?

ABUREDWAN: In Palestine, giving to a child or a youth a tool of fighting, like music or art or even sport, that's very important things to do. And that's - Ala want - she meant because the music can be part of the fighting and art can be a part of the fighting.

NEARY: You put on - you have put on some concerts in places where you are directly challenging Israeli authorities. One was at a checkpoint. Can you explain to me why you did that and how it came about?

ABUREDWAN: Yes, fighting through stones in the first intifada now continue through sound, through the instrument. And that was, like, a way to say no to all soldier who was there and also a way to play for all Palestinian who are waiting in big lines just waiting to go to their houses or to their work every day, and to get our message to the world that we love to have our freedom and we're - we will do it with even the most pacifist way that exists.

NEARY: Sandy, I - you said that that's a very joyless place, that checkpoint.

TOLAN: Yes, yes.

NEARY: But that that day, they brought joy to that checkpoint. Tell me what it was like.

TOLAN: This is a massive¹¹ checkpoint full of steel barriers and 25-foot-high walls and and gun turrets¹². And it's basically a barrier between Ramallah and Jerusalem which - East Jerusalem being the hoped-for capital of the Palestinians. So people who have these precious permits that they're able to get were crossing this checkpoint to go to Jerusalem. And then suddenly Ramzi and Al Kamandjati musicians pull up in this bus, right at the edge of the checkpoint and all of a sudden, you see them marching out right to the checkpoint itself, right on the other side of these steel bars where the soldiers were. They set up their music stands and let me tell you, you know, I've been a journalist for 30-some years. I don't remember a more amazing experience.

(SOUNDBITE OF AL KAMANDJATI CONCERT)

TOLAN: To see this space transformed and see the joy on the face of these kids - Ala, who's on the cover of the book, you know, we - they were going back in jubilation¹³ after the concert. I said, you know - at the time she was 13 - I said, so, Ala, how do you feel? She goes, oh, this was - the veteran violinist said - this was the best concert of my life.

NEARY: (Laughter).

(SOUNDBITE OF AL KAMANDJATI CONCERT)

NEARY: You know, the news out of the Mideast, forever and a day it seems, has been nothing but bad, and the situation seems so intractable, and it's very hard to see that it's ever going to get better. So you really want to believe your message that music can transform people's lives and then perhaps transform even a political situation. But do you really believe that?

ABUREDWAN: I have no choice to not believe. I believe that through this message, you see that we are alive and we are seeking our freedom through music, through all these young and all these people in Palestine who are trying to fight in the best ways that they see, and the more beautiful and unique ways just to tell everybody that we are there and we are alive. And we would like just to raise our kids in a free Palestine and in a peaceful situation and in a normal situation like how we grow kids everywhere in the world.

TOLAN: Just to add to that, I think that music cannot in and of itself change a political structure. But what I've seen it do with the kids of Al Kamandjati - it makes them agents of their own sense of self-worth, and it makes them agents toward their own freedom and to send an example out that we are here and we are human, too, and we deserve the rights that children all over the world also have.

NEARY: Sandy Tolan, author of "Children Of The Stone," and Ramzi Aburedwan, musician and founder¹⁴ of the Al Kamandjati Association. They joined us in our studio here in Washington. It was great talking to you both.

TOLAN: Thanks for having us. It was great being here.

ABUREDWAN: Thank you.

1 incredible   

adj.难以置信的，不可信的，极好的，大量的

参考例句：

• Some planets run at incredible speed.某些星球以难以置信的速度运行着。
• Her answer showed the most incredible stupidity.她的回答显示出不可思议的愚蠢。

2 youngsters   

n.孩子( youngster的名词复数 )；少年；青年；年轻人

参考例句：

• We followed the youngsters at a more sedate pace. 我们跟在年轻人后面，步子稍慢一点。
• The camp is for youngsters aged 8 to 14. 这次夏令营是为8至14岁的少年儿童安排的。

3 hurling   

n.爱尔兰式曲棍球v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的现在分词 )；大声叫骂

参考例句：

• The boat rocked wildly, hurling him into the water. 这艘船剧烈地晃动，把他甩到水中。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Fancy hurling away a good chance like that, the silly girl! 想想她竟然把这样一个好机会白白丢掉了，真是个傻姑娘！ 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 snapped   

v.猛地咬住( snap的过去式和过去分词 )；（使某物）发出尖厉声音地突然断裂[打开，关闭]；厉声地说；拍照

参考例句：

• The wind had snapped the tree in two. 风把树喀嚓一声刮断了。
• He lost his temper and snapped irritably at the children. 他发火了，暴躁地斥责孩子们。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

6 refugee   

n.难民，流亡者

参考例句：

• The refugee was condemned to a life of wandering.这个难民注定要过流浪的生活。
• The refugee is suffering for want of food and medical supplies.难民苦于缺少食物和医药用品。

7 conservatory   

n.温室，音乐学院；adj.保存性的，有保存力的

参考例句：

• At the conservatory,he learned how to score a musical composition.在音乐学校里，他学会了怎样谱曲。
• The modern conservatory is not an environment for nurturing plants.这个现代化温室的环境不适合培育植物。

8 ensemble   

n.合奏(唱)组；全套服装；整体，总效果

参考例句：

• We should consider the buildings as an ensemble.我们应把那些建筑物视作一个整体。
• It is ensemble music for up to about ten players,with one player to a part.它是最多十人演奏的合奏音乐，每人担任一部分。

9 alongside   

adv.在旁边；prep.和...在一起，在...旁边

参考例句：

• There was a butcher's shop alongside the theatre.剧院旁边有一家肉店。
• Alongside of him stood his uncle.他的身旁站着他叔叔。

10 fascinated   

a.被强烈地吸引住，感到着迷的

参考例句：

• China has always fascinated me. 中国一直令我心驰神往。
• The children watched, fascinated, as the picture began to appear. 电影开始以后孩子们入迷地观看着。

11 massive   

adj.巨大的，大规模的，大量的，大范围的

参考例句：

• A massive sea search has failed to find any survivors.经过大规模的海上搜救仍未找到幸存者。
• He drank a massive amount of alcohol.他喝了大量的烈酒。

12 turrets   

（六角）转台( turret的名词复数 )； （战舰和坦克等上的）转动炮塔； （摄影机等上的）镜头转台； （旧时攻城用的）塔车

参考例句：

• The Northampton's three turrets thundered out white smoke and pale fire. “诺思安普敦号”三座炮塔轰隆隆地冒出白烟和淡淡的火光。
• If I can get to the gun turrets, I'll have a chance. 如果我能走到炮塔那里，我就会赢得脱险的机会。

13 jubilation   

n.欢庆，喜悦

参考例句：

• The goal was greeted by jubilation from the home fans.主场球迷为进球欢呼。
• The whole city was a scene of jubilation.全市一片欢腾。

14 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。