访谈录 2010-08-27&08-31 “以骨还骨”弄断凶手脊椎

Human rights groups have appealed to Saudi authorities not to deliberately¹ sever² the spinal³ cord of a man who allegedly paralyzed someone else in a fight. Amnesty International has said that would violate United Nations Convention on Torture as well as principles of medical ethics⁴. Could the Saudis be backing down, well, we'd go live to CNN’s Mohammed Jamjoom in Abu Dhabi. Mohammed, tell us what is the latest here. Obviously, this has surprised and shocked a lot of people who’ve heard about this case recently.
Suzanne, a high ranking Saudi government official told me just a short while ago that the president of the court in Tabuk, that’s the province in Saudi Arabia where this case is happening has denied, has officially denied that paralysis⁵ as a punishment was ever actually considered by the court there. But here is where it gets complicated, as do most cases in the Saudi Arabia get complicated. In fact, the president of the court also gave an interview to a Saudi newspaper just a few hours ago. And he's quoted to saying that they actually did reach out to the hospitals in Saudi Arabia trying to ascertain⁶ if this kind of surgery to sever man's spine⁷ could be done. But he adds this was only done in an effort to convince the plaintiff that this kind of surgery was impossibility that it could not actually be performed in Saudi Arabia. Ultimately now the president of the court is saying that the kind of  judgment⁸ that would be rendered in this would only include the payment of blood money by the plaintiff to the victim and the victim's family .Susan~So we have seen a number of these controversial cases in Saudi Arabia recently that have been quite shocking actually. Why does this keep happening?
Susan, Saudi Arabia practices the very puritanical⁹ version of  Islam called Wahhabism. And in that version of Islam, you still see "eye for an eye" type punishments being doled¹¹ out. Judges there have wide discretion¹² and latitude¹³ to try to impose the law, enforce Islam the way they see fit and to dole¹⁰ out the kind of punishments they think are appropriate. But what you are seeing  recently are more and more of these controversial cases emerging. In the past few years, we have seen the case of child bride who was refused her request to get a divorce from a man much old than her. We have seen the case of a 19-year-old girl who was raped¹⁴ and then she was sentenced to a punishment harsher than the punishment that some of her attackers got. Lately, we saw a sentence of a man who was accused of sorcery in Saudi Arabia, he was sentence to die. That case is still pending¹⁵, and because these cases are emerging, it’s really showing the societal struggle that’s going on in Saudi Arabia between the hardliners and between the moderates and the progressives, the moderates and the progressives, they know this kind of cases they will give Saudi Arabia a black eye in the international community, and they want to see a streamlining of justice system  there and they want to see the justice system in the court modernized¹⁶; they wanna get rid of what they consider to be this draconian¹⁷ type of justice, Susan.
Mohammed, thanks you very much.

1 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

2 sever   

v.切开，割开；断绝，中断

参考例句：

• She wanted to sever all her connections with the firm.她想断绝和那家公司的所有联系。
• We must never sever the cultural vein of our nation.我们不能割断民族的文化血脉。

3 spinal   

adj.针的，尖刺的，尖刺状突起的；adj.脊骨的，脊髓的

参考例句：

• After three days in Japan,the spinal column becomes extraordinarily flexible.在日本三天，就已经使脊椎骨变得富有弹性了。
• Your spinal column is made up of 24 movable vertebrae.你的脊柱由24个活动的脊椎骨构成。

4 ethics   

n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准

参考例句：

• The ethics of his profession don't permit him to do that.他的职业道德不允许他那样做。
• Personal ethics and professional ethics sometimes conflict.个人道德和职业道德有时会相互抵触。

5 paralysis   

n.麻痹(症)；瘫痪(症)

参考例句：

• The paralysis affects his right leg and he can only walk with difficulty.他右腿瘫痪步履维艰。
• The paralysis affects his right leg and he can only walk with difficulty.他右腿瘫痪步履维艰。

6 ascertain   

vt.发现，确定，查明，弄清

参考例句：

• It's difficult to ascertain the coal deposits.煤储量很难探明。
• We must ascertain the responsibility in light of different situtations.我们必须根据不同情况判定责任。

7 spine   

n.脊柱，脊椎；(动植物的)刺；书脊

参考例句：

• He broke his spine in a fall from a horse.他从马上跌下摔断了脊梁骨。
• His spine developed a slight curve.他的脊柱有点弯曲。

8 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。

9 puritanical   

adj.极端拘谨的；道德严格的

参考例句：

• He has a puritanical attitude towards sex.他在性问题上主张克制，反对纵欲。
• Puritanical grandfather is very strict with his children.古板严厉的祖父对子女要求非常严格。

10 dole   

n.救济，（失业）救济金；vt.（out）发放，发给

参考例句：

• It's not easy living on the dole.靠领取失业救济金生活并不容易。
• Many families are living on the dole since the strike.罢工以来，许多家庭靠失业救济金度日。

11 doled   

救济物( dole的过去式和过去分词 )； 失业救济金

参考例句：

• The food was doled out to the poor. 食品分发给了穷人。
• Sisco briskly doled out the United States positions on the key issues. 西斯科轻快地把美国在重大问题上的立场放了出去。

12 discretion   

n.谨慎；随意处理

参考例句：

• You must show discretion in choosing your friend.你择友时必须慎重。
• Please use your best discretion to handle the matter.请慎重处理此事。

13 latitude   

n.纬度，行动或言论的自由(范围)，(pl.)地区

参考例句：

• The latitude of the island is 20 degrees south.该岛的纬度是南纬20度。
• The two cities are at approximately the same latitude.这两个城市差不多位于同一纬度上。

14 raped   

v.以暴力夺取，强夺( rape的过去式和过去分词 )；强奸

参考例句：

• A young woman was brutally raped in her own home. 一名年轻女子在自己家中惨遭强暴。 来自辞典例句
• We got stick together, or we will be having our women raped. 我们得团结一致，不然我们的妻女就会遭到蹂躏。 来自辞典例句

15 pending   

prep.直到，等待…期间；adj.待定的；迫近的

参考例句：

• The lawsuit is still pending in the state court.这案子仍在州法庭等待定夺。
• He knew my examination was pending.他知道我就要考试了。

16 modernized   

使现代化，使适应现代需要( modernize的过去式和过去分词 )； 现代化，使用现代方法

参考例句：

• By 1985 the entire railway network will have been modernized. 等到1985年整个铁路网就实现现代化了。
• He set about rebuilding France, and made it into a brilliant-looking modernized imperialism. 他试图重建法国，使它成为一项表面华丽的现代化帝业。

17 draconian   

adj.严苛的；苛刻的；严酷的；龙一样的

参考例句：

• You can't expect the people to obey such draconian regulations.你不能指望人民服从如此严苛的规定。
• The city needs a draconian way of dealing with robbers.这个城市需要一个严苛的办法来对付强盗。