美国国家公共电台 NPR--Security precautions are in place as mourners gather for Queen Elizabeth's funeral

Security precautions are in place as mourners gather for Queen Elizabeth's funeral

Transcript¹

NPR's Rachel Martin talks to NPR's Frank Langfitt, author Claudia Joseph and Nick Aldworth, a U.K. national counterterrorism expert, about the queen's funeral and security precautions.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

The funeral begins in less than an hour at Westminster Abbey for Queen Elizabeth II. Foreign dignitaries have come from around the world and are filing into the church as we speak. Meanwhile, the streets of London are full, overflowing² with people who have come from around the city, outside of the city, to come pay their respects to the queen. It is the culmination³ of 10 official days of mourning and all the pomp and circumstance and ceremony that goes along with it. Claudia, I'm going to turn to you first. Almost no one alive has ever seen this before when you think about it. I mean, the queen was on the throne for 70 years. What has it just been like for you to witness the historic ritual of this playing out over the last few days?

CLAUDIA JOSEPH: Well, I think it's amazing. I mean, the last state funeral we had was in 1965 with Winston Churchill, and most people alive don't remember that. Obviously, it's incredible if you live in London to see how life has changed over the last 10 days.

MARTIN: How so?

JOSEPH: Just - well, people are pouring into the capital. A lot of people were incredibly upset, tearful, even journalists. Just - life changed. I think that when your monarch⁴ dies, it brings back all the griefs in your life as well. So I think that is quite significant - and I think the sense of history, the sense of witnessing something that you'll probably never see again. And the ceremony of it, the people pouring into the streets - I actually queued up myself for 8 hours.

MARTIN: Did you?

JOSEPH: Yes, I wanted to - well, I met someone earlier in the day that had actually been as a child to see Winston Churchill. And I thought, I really want to do this myself...

MARTIN: Yeah.

JOSEPH: ...Because I think I'll regret it if I don't. And the atmosphere in the queue, talking to people, making friends with people, sharing food, each having loo breaks and things like that, it was - I took a book thinking I'd be bored, and I didn't even open it.

MARTIN: Its own kind of community...

JOSEPH: Yeah, it was.

MARTIN: ...In the queue as everybody marking this moment. Again, I'm here with NPR's Frank Langfitt as well. Frank, you and I were out and about this morning. I mean, there is a - there are a lot of people, and it means that there is a heavy security presence, right?

FRANK LANGFITT, BYLINE⁵: There is. I mean, I think that it's not that easy to move around the city. What we're seeing - there are lots of barricades⁶ around, lots of police officers, very polite. But a lot of people - in some cases, people trying to move around and actually getting stuck because diplomats⁷ are moving. And so they have to lock down gates - and definitely a challenge. But - and also tube stops shut down as well because it's not easy to move. But a big day for a lot of people - a lot of people, I got to say, in the city for the last number of days since they had the queen lying in state, tons of people in the city, and hard to move at times near Westminster.

MARTIN: So we're going to bring in another voice on this exact topic, Nick Aldworth. He is a former national coordinator⁸ for counterterrorism for the U.K. Nick, thanks for being here.

NICK ALDWORTH: Good morning. You're welcome.

MARTIN: What a day when you think of all the different individuals who are needed to pull something like this off, just from a logistics security standpoint. I mean, London has had its fair share of massive events in the past - I mean, even funerals, right? I'm thinking about Princess Diana, but also the London Olympics. How comparable is the challenge today?

ALDWORTH: So I think in terms of numbers and, in some respects, complexity⁹, this is not dissimilar to the Olympics. But where the fundamental change takes place is that the Olympics took place over three weeks. Everything was very predictable when you knew how many tickets we'd sold for every event, what time that took place, when, where and how, and also it took place across a much broader geographic¹⁰ location as well - you know, half the U.K. This is an Olympics compressed into 10 days and in some great part compressed into today. But I suppose, you know, if I can just give you a small personal perspective, Rachel, this for me actually is the bookmark to well over 20 years of my life in as much as the first time I saw Operation London Bridge, which was the - is the plan for today...

MARTIN: This is the code name, essentially¹¹.

ALDWORTH: ...Was well over 20 years ago.

MARTIN: Yes.

ALDWORTH: It was - yeah.

MARTIN: For the memorial.

ALDWORTH: And it used to sit on a lever arch file in my office and physically¹² get dusty across the course of a year. We'd dust it off once a year, check whether it's still valid¹³ or not. So, of course, what we're dealing¹⁴ with today is a plan that's evolved. It's evolved against the threats that we have to worry about. It's evolved against the changes in society. And actually, do you know what? Sometimes, it's even evolved in the face of changing geography where streets have changed.

MARTIN: I mean, there - on this day, we don't want to bring it up, but when you think about massive gatherings¹⁵ of people in spaces that are trying to be kept safe, there is a threat of terrorism, is there not?

ALDWORTH: Yep, there is. But my opinion on that is that we've probably passed the greatest point of risk. And the greatest point of risk for me was this long queue which stretched for several miles throughout London and which couldn't possibly be policed to the nearest inch. It was incredibly well planned, its route incredibly well thought out so that it stayed away from points where vehicles could perhaps engage with it. But nonetheless, my view is that that was the real weak point. What's going to happen now is everything else today is going to take place inside an area that's actually been developed over the years to be secure. Recognizing how many of these sorts of events we hold in central London, there is permanent protective infrastructure¹⁶ in the area that stops vehicles. And the number of police officers out there today - numbers are probably over 10,000.

MARTIN: Wow.

ALDWORTH: You know, this is an upside-down iceberg¹⁷. For once, you're going to see the bulk of what's going on rather than just the tip of it.

MARTIN: And what's the agency in charge? Is it the Metropolitan¹⁸ Police?

ALDWORTH: So the Metropolitan Police Service have overall responsibility for delivering the security, the crowd management and the safety of this event. But they work out of an operations room just down the road from where I'm standing¹⁹ at the moment. And every agency that plays a part in keeping this place safe and secure and clean and tidy, for that matter - so the street cleaners are represented in there as well - are in this large, large room with all the intelligence and information feeds you could ever hope for. And they're all tracking second by second what's going on and making sure that security is paramount²⁰, safety is paramount and then, most importantly, that the constitutional solemnity of what's going on is allowed to happen.

MARTIN: And let's just pay tribute to those folks right now because it's a hard job. And we encountered several security people this morning, and everyone was doing their best to be patient and kind and helpful. It is a huge undertaking²¹, as you well know. Nick Aldworth, a former national coordinator for counterterrorism for the U.K., thank you so much for talking with us this morning. We appreciate it.

ALDWORTH: You're most welcome. Thank you.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 overflowing   

n. 溢出物,溢流 adj. 充沛的，充满的 动词overflow的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The stands were overflowing with farm and sideline products. 集市上农副产品非常丰富。
• The milk is overflowing. 牛奶溢出来了。

3 culmination   

n.顶点；最高潮

参考例句：

• The space race reached its culmination in the first moon walk.太空竞争以第一次在月球行走而达到顶峰。
• It may truly be regarded as the culmination of classical Greek geometry.这确实可以看成是古典希腊几何的登峰造级之作。

4 monarch   

n.帝王，君主，最高统治者

参考例句：

• The monarch's role is purely ceremonial.君主纯粹是个礼仪职位。
• I think myself happier now than the greatest monarch upon earth.我觉得这个时候比世界上什么帝王都快乐。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 barricades   

路障，障碍物( barricade的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The police stormed the barricades the demonstrators had put up. 警察冲破了示威者筑起的街垒。
• Others died young, in prison or on the barricades. 另一些人年轻时就死在监牢里或街垒旁。

7 diplomats   

n.外交官( diplomat的名词复数 )；有手腕的人，善于交际的人

参考例句：

• These events led to the expulsion of senior diplomats from the country. 这些事件导致一些高级外交官被驱逐出境。
• The court has no jurisdiction over foreign diplomats living in this country. 法院对驻本国的外交官无裁判权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

9 complexity   

n.复杂(性)，复杂的事物

参考例句：

• Only now did he understand the full complexity of the problem.直到现在他才明白这一问题的全部复杂性。
• The complexity of the road map puzzled me.错综复杂的公路图把我搞糊涂了。

10 geographic   

adj.地理学的，地理的

参考例句：

• The city's success owes much to its geographic position. 这座城市的成功很大程度上归功于它的地理位置。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Environmental problems pay no heed to these geographic lines. 环境问题并不理会这些地理界限。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

11 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

12 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

13 valid   

adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的

参考例句：

• His claim to own the house is valid.他主张对此屋的所有权有效。
• Do you have valid reasons for your absence?你的缺席有正当理由吗？

14 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

15 gatherings   

聚集( gathering的名词复数 )； 收集； 采集； 搜集

参考例句：

• His conduct at social gatherings created a lot of comment. 他在社交聚会上的表现引起许多闲话。
• During one of these gatherings a pupil caught stealing. 有一次，其中一名弟子偷窃被抓住。

16 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

17 iceberg   

n.冰山，流冰，冷冰冰的人

参考例句：

• The ship hit an iceberg and went under.船撞上一座冰山而沉没了。
• The glacier calved a large iceberg.冰河崩解而形成一个大冰山。

18 metropolitan   

adj.大城市的，大都会的

参考例句：

• Metropolitan buildings become taller than ever.大城市的建筑变得比以前更高。
• Metropolitan residents are used to fast rhythm.大都市的居民习惯于快节奏。

19 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

20 paramount   

a.最重要的，最高权力的

参考例句：

• My paramount object is to save the Union and destroy slavery.我的最高目标是拯救美国，摧毁奴隶制度。
• Nitrogen is of paramount importance to life on earth.氮对地球上的生命至关重要。

21 undertaking   

n.保证，许诺，事业

参考例句：

• He gave her an undertaking that he would pay the money back with in a year.他向她做了一年内还钱的保证。
• He is too timid to venture upon an undertaking.他太胆小，不敢从事任何事业。