VOA慢速英语2014 西方国家检讨赎金换人质行为

 

AS IT IS 2014-09-20 West Trades Accusations¹ Over Hostage Ransoms³ 西方国家检讨赎金换人质行为

World leaders were in Paris earlier this week to discuss how to deal with the Islamic State militant⁴ group. Western countries have differing policies over making ransom² payments to win the release of hostages.

In the past month, the Islamic State group has killed two Americans and one Briton. Both countries refuse to pay ransom money to hostage-takers.

A new video from Islamic State militants⁵ appeared on the Internet last Sunday. In the video, the group threatens to execute a British aid worker, Alan Henning.

The images were released hours before the start of the Iraq Security meeting in Paris. Laurent Fabius is the French foreign minister. He was asked if his country pays ransom money to terrorist organizations.

Mr. Fabius denied allegations that France had paid ransoms. He told a reporter, “You seem to have information that I don't have.” He also said he could confirm that France does not pay ransoms.

But observers say evidence suggests the opposite is true. French media claim the government paid $34 million in ransom money for the release of four French hostages. The four were kidnapped in Niger in 2010. The kidnappers⁶ were supporters of al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb.

Ian Bond is head of Foreign Policy at the Center for European Reform.

“What we saw with al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb was that they did very good business by kidnapping Western tourists in places like Niger and Mali and then collected ransoms from governments in Europe. And that’s a very negative phenomenon.”

Thomas Hegghammer is with the Norwegian Defense⁷ Research Establishment in Oslo. He says most Western countries have paid ransoms in the past.

“No country is innocent of this. But I think it’s clear now that some European countries have been doing it more.”

The latest Islamic State victim, David Haines, was kidnapped with an Italian aid worker. However, the Italian was released earlier this year. It was reported that a ransom had been paid. The Italian government did not comment.

The British government says it will continue to refuse to pay ransoms. Andrew Silke is director of Terrorism Studies at the University of East London.

“The UK's attitude on this is that if they pay a ransom, they'll simply encourage terrorist groups around the world to take British citizens hostage, and put more people's lives in danger.”

The United States says it also refuses to pay ransom money. The Islamic State executed American journalist James Foley last month. His employers, GlobalPost, said the group had demanded $132 million for his release. Days later, another American journalist, Steven Sotloff, was killed.  

Hannah Stuart is an expert on terrorism at the Henry Jackson Society in London.

“Ideally we would have an international consensus⁸ so perhaps Western liberal democracies, who are the targets of this type of hostage-taking, could agree to not pay ransoms. But then you run into sovereignty issues and you can’t tell other governments how best to protest their citizens.”

In 2012, the United States Treasury⁹ estimated that terrorist organizations had collected about $120 million in ransoms over eight years. The U.S. government argues that paying money to hostage-takers may save one life. But it only motivates them to capture more victims.

1 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

2 ransom   

n.赎金，赎身；v.赎回，解救

参考例句：

• We'd better arrange the ransom right away.我们最好马上把索取赎金的事安排好。
• The kidnappers exacted a ransom of 10000 from the family.绑架者向这家人家勒索10000英镑的赎金。

3 ransoms   

付赎金救人，赎金( ransom的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The kidnappers exacted ransoms for their hostages. 绑匪勒索人质的赎金。
• Hotel:Wealthy captives sleep at the hotel for an increase in their ransoms. 酒店：富有的俘虏们要住在酒店等待足够的赎金以回家。

4 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

5 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

6 kidnappers   

n.拐子，绑匪( kidnapper的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They were freed yesterday by their kidnappers unharmed. 他们昨天被绑架者释放了，没有受到伤害。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The kidnappers had threatened to behead all four unless their jailed comrades were released. 帮匪们曾经威胁说如果印度方面不释放他们的同伙，他们就要将这四名人质全部斩首。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

8 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

9 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。