2019年经济学人 印尼灾难新闻发言人苏托波(4)

 

Here, he worked fast. Incipient¹ panics got short shrift: "No tsunami² seen in Banggai. Please don't spread hoaxes³." Fake images were denounced. ("This eruption⁴ is in South America. Ignore and don't spread.") Talk of "portents⁵" was firmly shot down. ("The mountain peak is clouded with altocumulus lenticularis...due to a whirlwind at the top...No connection with mysticism or politicsahead of the election.")

在这里，他工作得很迅速。刚开始的恐慌没有得到足够的重视：“邦盖没有发生海啸。请不要散布谣言。”假照片被谴责了。（“火山爆发发生在南美。忽略这个，不要散播。”）关于灾难预兆的言论被坚定地击破了。(“山顶布满了荚状高积云...这是由于顶部刮起了一阵旋风...它与神秘主义或选举的政治领袖无关。”

As a result, he helped Indonesians feel safer. Jokowi, the president, publicly praised him, which was almost as good a moment as when he at last met the singer Raisa, on whom he had such a crush that he included her Twitter handle in more than 90 of his disaster tweets. He claimed his only motive⁶ was to get them retweeted to her 8m followers⁷. Of course! With all this whirling round him, he was also cheerfully facing disaster of another sort. In 2018 he was diagnosed with Stage 4 lungcancer, though he had never smoked. He could not have foreseen it; Nature was unpredictable. Science helped him understand it, but could not cure it.

结果就是，苏托波帮助让印尼人感到更安全了。佐科威总统公开表扬了他，这几乎是和他最后见到歌手瑞莎一样美好的时刻。他对歌手瑞莎非常着迷，他在超过90个灾难推特中都提到了瑞莎的推特用户名。苏托波声称他唯一的目的就是让瑞莎的800万粉丝转发自己的推特。当然了！随着这一切在他周围盘旋，他也愉快地面对着另一种灾难。2018年，苏托波被诊断出肺癌4期，尽管他从未吸烟。他不可能预见到这一点；大自然是不可预测的。 科学帮助他明白了这一点，但是却不能治愈他。

Allah had planned it, just as He had planned that others should die in earthquakes and tsunamis⁸. Many Indonesians, he had discovered, found it more comforting to think that way. So, after the first cruel shock, did he. His tweets of destroyed places now included mriscans of his lungs. Among the 350 people he had not been able to save from Merapi was the guardian⁹ of the mountain. Slowly, his house had filled up with grey ash. Before the rest of the villagers made their way down to safety, he simply told them his time had come to go.

这是真主安排的，就像他会安排其他人会死于地震和海啸一样。苏托波发现，许多印尼人觉得这样想更令人宽慰。在第一次残酷的打击之后，他也这样做了。他在推特上发布的被毁地点现在包括他肺部的核磁共振成像。在他未能从默拉皮火山中救出的350人中，有这座山的守护者。慢慢地，他的家里充满了灰色的火山灰。在其他村民赶往安全地带之前，苏托波仅仅告诉他们，他的时间到了。

1 incipient   

adj.起初的，发端的，初期的

参考例句：

• The anxiety has been sharpened by the incipient mining boom.采矿业初期的蓬勃发展加剧了这种担忧。
• What we see then is an incipient global inflation.因此，我们看到的是初期阶段的全球通胀.

2 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。

3 hoaxes   

n.恶作剧，戏弄( hoax的名词复数 )v.开玩笑骗某人，戏弄某人( hoax的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The disc jockey, a young separatist named Pierre Brassard, has made his name with such hoaxes. 这位名叫彼埃尔 - 布拉萨尔的音乐节目主持人，是一名年轻的分离主义者，以制造这类骗局闻名。 来自百科语句
• This chain-letter hoaxes, has mutated over the years. 这一骗局多年来在互联网上不断发展和变异。 来自互联网

4 eruption   

n.火山爆发；（战争等）爆发；（疾病等）发作

参考例句：

• The temple was destroyed in the violent eruption of 1470 BC.庙宇在公元前1470年猛烈的火山爆发中摧毁了。
• The eruption of a volcano is spontaneous.火山的爆发是自发的。

5 portents   

n.预兆( portent的名词复数 )；征兆；怪事；奇物

参考例句：

• But even with this extra support, labour-market portents still look grim. 但是即使采取了额外支持措施，劳动力市场依然阴霾密布。 来自互联网
• So the hiccups are worth noting as portents. 因此这些问题作为不好的征兆而值得关注。 来自互联网

6 motive   

n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的

参考例句：

• The police could not find a motive for the murder.警察不能找到谋杀的动机。
• He had some motive in telling this fable.他讲这寓言故事是有用意的。

7 followers   

追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件

参考例句：

• the followers of Mahatma Gandhi 圣雄甘地的拥护者
• The reformer soon gathered a band of followers round him. 改革者很快就获得一群追随者支持他。

8 tsunamis   

n.海啸( tsunami的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Our oceans are alive with earthquakes, volcanoes, and more recently, tsunamis. 海中充满着地震、火山，包括最近发生的海啸。 来自常春藤生活英语杂志-2006年2月号
• Please tell me something more about tsunamis! 请您给我讲讲海啸吧！ 来自辞典例句

9 guardian   

n.监护人；守卫者，保护者

参考例句：

• The form must be signed by the child's parents or guardian. 这张表格须由孩子的家长或监护人签字。
• The press is a guardian of the public weal. 报刊是公共福利的卫护者。