美国国家公共电台 NPR Targeted To Teens, A German Play About ISIS Stokes Fear, Teaching Opportunities

Targeted To Teens, A German Play About ISIS Stokes Fear, Teaching Opportunities

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German teenagers are the target audience of a new play about the so-called Islamic State. It's being performed at the largest youth theater in Berlin. The German-Muslim director says he wants to expose the vulnerabilities extremists prey² on. But NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson reports that critics expressed concerns about how the sensitive theme really comes across to students.

SORAYA SARHADDI NELSON, BYLINE³: If you ask me to describe this play called "Inside IS" in a single word, that word would be disturbing.

(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "INSIDE IS")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character, speaking German).

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character, speaking German).

NELSON: The audience squirms as the actors put on skullcaps and fake beards and shout about how great it is to be a German Muslim. They call for jihad, initially⁴ as a way to self-reflect and later as a battle cry.

(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "INSIDE IS")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTORS: (As characters, speaking German).

NELSON: The actors ask, how can you sit here in comfort when our brothers and sisters in Syria and Iraq are being slaughtered⁵? What does your conscience say? Do you even have a conscience?

NELSON: Teacher Sebastian Herdler, who is here with his class from a largely Muslim neighborhood in Berlin, says the in-your-face approach led him to check on some students who he worried might walk out.

SEBASTIAN HERDLER: (Through interpreter) I told one of them sitting behind me - listen, this is only a play. Give it a chance. They aren't trying to make Islam look bad, so stay calm.

NELSON: Maligning⁶ Islam is definitely not the point, says director Yuksel Yolcu. But he adds he wants the play he wrote to spark discussion.

YUKSEL YOLCU: (Speaking German).

NELSON: He calls it a teaching tool to give young people who've grown up here in Germany insight into the radicalization process. The play also dramatizes a book by Munich journalist Juergen Todenhoefer, who spent 10 days in ISIS-controlled parts of Syria and Iraq.

(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "INSIDE IS")

NELSON: Yolcu also introduces a fictitious⁸ German teen named Fabian, who was criticized by a mainstream⁹ Muslim preacher character for believing in ISIS.

(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "INSIDE IS")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As imam, speaking German).

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #4: (As Fabian, speaking German).

NELSON: Fabian explains, I was in Syria on the day I was supposed to become a martyr¹⁰.

(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "INSIDE IS")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #4: (As Fabian, speaking German).

NELSON: He adds that before he can carry out his mission, a bullet strikes him in the heart, killing¹¹ him.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

NELSON: Fabian's fictional¹² path to ISIS is linked to his parents' divorce, his loneliness in school and the breakup with his girlfriend after she gets an abortion¹³. He eventually finds happiness when he converts to Islam but later becomes radicalized and turns to violence.

Seventeen-year-old Fynn Guischard says he couldn't relate to Fabian.

FYNN GUISCHARD: (Speaking German).

NELSON: Guischard says, I know people who convert, so that's no big deal. But to say I will kill for my religion or die for my religion, that's something else.

Another student, a Muslim teen who asks that I not name him, says the play did a good job differentiating¹⁴ between mainstream and radical⁷ Islam. But Thorsten Schmitz, a correspondent for Suddeutsche Zeitung, criticized the play as superficial. One example he gives is this scene.

(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "INSIDE IS")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: (As character, speaking German).

UNIDENTIFIED ACTORS: (As characters) Ja, ja, ja, ja.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: (As character, speaking German).

NELSON: In it, three German converts tell a newcomer about how great life is for women in the Islamic State. Schmitz says he found it potentially dangerous for young viewers.

THORSTEN SCHMITZ: I mean, a director of a play can, of course, stage such a scene. But then there needs to be some - another scene that contradicts what they say in order for you to think and to reflect.

NELSON: The teacher, Herdler, however says he has no regrets bringing his students to see the play.

SCHMITZ: (Speaking German).

NELSON: He says more Germans need to see how shutting people out can drive them into the arms of groups like ISIS.

Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson, NPR News, Berlin.

1 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

2 prey   

n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨

参考例句：

• Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
• The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。

3 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。

4 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

5 slaughtered   

v.屠杀，杀戮，屠宰( slaughter的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The invading army slaughtered a lot of people. 侵略军杀了许多人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Hundreds of innocent civilians were cruelly slaughtered. 数百名无辜平民遭残杀。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 maligning   

vt.污蔑，诽谤（malign的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• She was criticized for maligning innocent people. 她由于中伤好人而受到批评。 来自互联网

7 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。

8 fictitious   

adj.虚构的，假设的；空头的

参考例句：

• She invented a fictitious boyfriend to put him off.她虚构出一个男朋友来拒绝他。
• The story my mother told me when I was young is fictitious.小时候妈妈对我讲的那个故事是虚构的。

9 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

10 martyr   

n.烈士，殉难者；vt.杀害，折磨，牺牲

参考例句：

• The martyr laid down his life for the cause of national independence.这位烈士是为了民族独立的事业而献身的。
• The newspaper carried the martyr's photo framed in black.报上登载了框有黑边的烈士遗像。

11 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

12 fictional   

adj.小说的，虚构的

参考例句：

• The names of the shops are entirely fictional.那些商店的名字完全是虚构的。
• The two authors represent the opposite poles of fictional genius.这两位作者代表了天才小说家两个极端。

13 abortion   

n.流产，堕胎

参考例句：

• She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
• A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。

14 differentiating   

[计] 微分的

参考例句：

• They succeed in differentiating the most commodity-like products. 在最通用的日用产品方面，它们也能独树一帜标新立异。
• The simplest and most effective method of differentiating areas is to use different colours. 区别面状要素最简单而又行之有效的办法，是使用不同的颜色。