美国国家公共电台 NPR--Medics risk their lives in Bakhmut to treat Ukrainian soldiers and evacuate them

Medics risk their lives in Bakhmut to treat Ukrainian soldiers and evacuate¹ them

Transcript²

The battle over the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut has been a deadly slugfest that has reduced it to ruins. Ukrainian medics have worked hard to support and treat wounded soldiers.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

After nine months of fighting, the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut is in ruins - neither side in control. Losses have been massive on both sides, although Western officials say Russian fatalities³ are particularly staggering. While there's no way to independently verify numbers, one factor helping⁴ Ukrainian soldiers stay alive are the medics who risk their lives to treat and evacuate them. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley met a team of them.

ELEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE⁵: We're pulling up outside the house where the medics are staying. Not so far from Bakhmut, it's the first town out.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Hello. (Non-English language spoken).

BEARDSLEY: Eleanor.

VITALINA: Vitalina.

BEARDSLEY: Vitalina, Maxime and Andrea, who aren't allowed to use their last names, are all in their early 20s. Before we sit down to talk, they show me where to go in case there's shelling.

OK, so this is in case we need it.

I may feel uneasy in the town of Kostyantynivka, about 15 miles from Bakhmut, but for these three, it's peace and tranquility. Vitalina describes what it's like to work in Bakhmut.

VITALINA: (Through interpreter) It's terrifying. There is shelling, and it's hard to gauge⁶ where it's going to hit while you are bandaging someone. You don't know if you should take cover or run. But somehow, you get used to it and begin to figure out if the artillery⁷ fire is close or far.

BEARDSLEY: Four teams of medics rotate in and out of Bakhmut, spending two sleepless⁸ nights in a house there. Andrea drives this team in when it's time to return.

ANDREA: I have the NVGs.

BEARDSLEY: What are they called?

ANDREA: Night vision goggles⁹ - NVGs.

BEARDSLEY: So you can you can see at night with those.

ANDREA: Yeah. So without any lights, I can drive at night. So it's - like this, you see in the night.

BEARDSLEY: He says there's only one road into Bakhmut now, and the Russians have their sights on it. So you only go at night with the car lights off, driving at top speed.

ANDREA: Personally, I do nothing. I do my job and that's all. I'm not scared. I don't feel nothing. We make sure to do all to save the lives of our soldiers.

BEARDSLEY: Vitalina says she's got the hang of Bakhmut now, but being part of the Kharkiv counteroffensive last September was very difficult. That's when Ukraine punched through Russian defenses in a surprise attack and took back huge swaths of territory in just a couple days.

VITALINA: (Through interpreter) They were my first wounded and my first up-close eye contact with the enemy.

BEARDSLEY: She says they even treated injured Russian soldiers before taking them prisoner. Taras Dzioba is a press officer for these medics with Ukraine's 80th Brigade. He says the Kharkiv counteroffensive was difficult because they pushed deep into enemy-controlled territory.

TARAS DZIOBA: We were moving very quickly, and all the rear units, all the medical staff, had to move with us. So it was a lot harder to evacuate people and to bring them to the medics in the rear because the rear units had to be all on the move all the time as well.

BEARDSLEY: Andrea says the Russians don't evacuate their wounded from Bakhmut.

ANDREA: The Russians don't have a question. They don't care for their soldiers.

BEARDSLEY: They don't evacuate?

ANDREA: They don't care - no. They don't evacuate.

BEARDSLEY: Are there just dead bodies all over?

ANDREA: Yes.

BEARDSLEY: Vitalina says experience has now given her automatic reflexes when it comes to treating war wounds.

VITALINA: (Through interpreter) There was a case when we had a soldier with his leg and arm almost torn off. So my only thought was, please don't faint. My mind wasn't working properly because I was panicking, but my hands had muscle memory and took over.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Laughter).

BEARDSLEY: There's a lot of joking and teasing on days off - card games, magic tricks, anything to distract from work, say these medics. They also sleep and do laundry in this tiny brick bungalow¹⁰ whose occupants are long gone.

(SOUNDBITE OF BAG UNZIPPING)

BEARDSLEY: Vitalina shows me her kit¹¹ - tourniquets¹², morphine, hemostatics to stop bleeding. She calls them her treasures. And then there are the cartoon character kids Band-Aids.

VITALINA: (Non-English language spoken).

BEARDSLEY: "We use these on our brutal¹³ men," she laughs. All joking aside, buoying¹⁴ spirits is an important part of being a medic.

VITALINA: (Through interpreter) We talk to them while we are treating them. We say things like get well soon so we can go have a coffee together. We are waiting for you.

BEARDSLEY: Vitalina has a 4-year-old son waiting for her outside the country. She says she risks her life to save Ukraine's soldiers because she must. If not us, she asks, then who?

Eleanor Beardsley, NPR News, Kostyantynivka.

(SOUNDBITE OF MARY LATTIMORE'S "THE WARM SHOULDER")

1 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。

2 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。

3 fatalities   

n.恶性事故( fatality的名词复数 )；死亡；致命性；命运

参考例句：

• Several people were injured, but there were no fatalities. 有几个人受伤，但没有人死亡。
• The accident resulted in fatalities. 那宗意外道致多人死亡。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

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 gauge   

v.精确计量；估计；n.标准度量；计量器

参考例句：

• Can you gauge what her reaction is likely to be?你能揣测她的反应可能是什么吗？
• It's difficult to gauge one's character.要判断一个人的品格是很困难的。

7 artillery   

n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队)

参考例句：

• This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
• The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。

8 sleepless   

adj.不睡眠的，睡不著的，不休息的

参考例句：

• The situation gave her many sleepless nights.这种情况害她一连好多天睡不好觉。
• One evening I heard a tale that rendered me sleepless for nights.一天晚上，我听说了一个传闻，把我搞得一连几夜都不能入睡。

9 goggles   

n.护目镜

参考例句：

• Skiers wear goggles to protect their eyes from the sun.滑雪者都戴上护目镜使眼睛不受阳光伤害。
• My swimming goggles keep steaming up so I can't see.我的护目镜一直有水雾，所以我看不见。

10 bungalow   

n.平房，周围有阳台的木造小平房

参考例句：

• A bungalow does not have an upstairs.平房没有上层。
• The old couple sold that large house and moved into a small bungalow.老两口卖掉了那幢大房子，搬进了小平房。

11 kit   

n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物

参考例句：

• The kit consisted of about twenty cosmetic items.整套工具包括大约20种化妆用品。
• The captain wants to inspect your kit.船长想检查你的行装。

12 tourniquets   

n.止血带( tourniquet的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Can tourniquets be used in patients with sickle cell disease? 止血带能否用于镰状细胞病患者？ 来自互联网
• Fig. 1-1 A, Straight (rectangular) tourniquets fit optimally on cylindrical limbs. 图1-1A直（长方形）止血带最适合用于柱状的肢体。 来自互联网

13 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

14 buoying   

v.使浮起( buoy的现在分词 )；支持；为…设浮标；振奋…的精神

参考例句：

• For years, the government has been buoying up cotton prices. 多年来政府一直保持棉花高价格。 来自互联网
• He is buoying the channel. 他在用浮标指示航道。 来自互联网