VOA标准英语2013--Boston Bombing Suspect Exhibited Extremism at Local Mosque

 

Boston Bombing Suspect Exhibited Extremism at Local Mosque¹

The two bombing suspects are seen in the background of many pictures taken by spectators. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, who wore a white baseball cap on the day of the bombing, is recovering at a Boston hospital after gunbattles with police. He faces the death penalty if convicted on a federal charge of using a weapon of mass destruction. His older brother, Tamerlan, who wore a black hat, was killed by police four days after the bombings.

Tamerlan attended Friday prayers and occasionally daily prayers at a mosque in Cambridge, outside of Boston. Mosque officials say that twice, he created a scene, arguing with the preachers - once about observing Thanksgiving and the U.S. Independence Day. But the more recent episode involved Martin Luther King Jr.

“The person who was delivering the sermon, he made a sort of a parallel between how Martin Luther King had inspired people just like our Prophet Muhammad had inspired people, and he [Tamerlan] seemed to have been offended by that. He stood up and objected to it,” recalled Anwar Kazmi, a mosque board member.

Mosque officials said Tamerlan called the preacher a "non believer" who was "contaminating people's minds." The Congregation shouted back to him to leave and he did.

A YouTube page, purported² to be Tamerlan’s, has videos that allegedly promote jihad, or holy war.

Both men lived in the Republic of Dagestan in Russia before coming to the United States. Their parents still have houses there. U.S. officials say Tamerlan visited Dagestan last year.

The area is the focus of militants³ who want to establish an Islamist state, so residents are accustomed to daily violence.

"There're always blasts, always criminals here," explained Galia Sulemanan, who lives near the suspect’s father. "I only know them [the Tsarnaevs] as good neighbors, I don't know anything else."

Anvor, a Muslim activist⁴, said he doesn’t understand why the brothers did not explode a bomb in their wartorn homeland, rather than at the Boston Marathon.

"There's no justification⁵ neither in Islam, nor in radical⁶ Islam, or Sufism, or even in Shia Islam to the thing that happened in Boston. There's no justification," Anvor said.

Others sid the United States needs to switch tactics to prevent future attacks. 

“We need to focus on the ideology⁷ and less on tactics," said Ryan Mauro, a member of a group that promotes tolerance⁸ and challenges radical Islam. "And until we combat the ideology itself, the current trend of Islamic terrorism around the world is going to increase.”

U.S. officials are still trying to determine if the Tsarnaev brothers acted alone or had support and training elsewhere. 

1 mosque   

n.清真寺

参考例句：

• The mosque is a activity site and culture center of Muslim religion.清真寺为穆斯林宗教活动场所和文化中心。
• Some years ago the clock in the tower of the mosque got out of order.几年前，清真寺钟楼里的大钟失灵了。

2 purported   

adj.传说的，谣传的v.声称是…，（装得）像是…的样子( purport的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• the scene of the purported crime 传闻中的罪案发生地点
• The film purported to represent the lives of ordinary people. 这部影片声称旨在表现普通人的生活。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 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。

4 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

5 justification   

n.正当的理由；辩解的理由

参考例句：

• There's no justification for dividing the company into smaller units. 没有理由把公司划分成小单位。
• In the young there is a justification for this feeling. 在年轻人中有这种感觉是有理由的。

6 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

7 ideology   

n.意识形态，(政治或社会的)思想意识

参考例句：

• The ideology has great influence in the world.这种思想体系在世界上有很大的影响。
• The ideal is to strike a medium between ideology and inspiration.我的理想是在意识思想和灵感鼓动之间找到一个折衷。

8 tolerance   

n.宽容；容忍，忍受；耐药力；公差

参考例句：

• Tolerance is one of his strengths.宽容是他的一个优点。
• Human beings have limited tolerance of noise.人类对噪音的忍耐力有限。