美国国家公共电台 NPR In A Syrian Suburb Cleared Of Rebels, A Gradual Return To Everyday Life

 

AILSA CHANG, HOST: 

Syrian and Russian attacks on rebel-held areas of Syria often employ bombings and sieges to force out rebels at a horrific civilian¹ cost. But the Syrian government says there are some places where it can negotiate with locals to get fighters either to lay down their weapons or to go elsewhere. NPR's Peter Kenyon visited one Damascus suburb that was cleared of fighters.

PETER KENYON, BYLINE²: A front-end loader scrapes away at an earthen berm beside an army checkpoint in Qudsaya, just outside Damascus. Minutes later, the first civilian car to pass this way in about two years goes by, heading down a street crowded with children coming home from school and shoppers stocking up at newly reopened stores. Our visit to Qudsaya required multiple attempts at obtaining military permission and a government-approved interpreter. One of the newest returnees is Abdul Kandour. He's just unshuttered his small falafel shop and is handing out samples of the fried chick pea patties. When asked how it's going, he shrugs³ as if to say, can't complain.

ABDUL KANDOUR: (Through interpreter) It's good, but not typical.

KENYON: Kandour says it's good to see residents out shopping again and cars going by. Relief at the return of mundane⁴ daily routines is widespread here. Mohammad Aoudeh, an elderly man carrying two full shopping bags, is happy to see the backs of the fighters, who he says were just young men from in and around Qudsaya.

MOHAMMAD AOUDEH: (Through interpreter) In my view, they weren't rebels. They were an armed gang.

KENYON: A woman pauses to talk while her young son tugs⁵ at her hand. Abeer Shameel tells my interpreter that the fighters were bringing misery⁶ down on the town.

ABEER SHAMEEL: (Through interpreter) They are actually who used to start, you know, the problems and then to kidnap soldiers and start clashes and firing from inside Qudsaya to the checkpoints around the area. So they were actually the cause of the problem.

KENYON: Others don't judge the fighters so harshly. Sheikh Adel Mesto says he headed the local committee that negotiated with the government, and he says the fighters helped end the violence.

SHEIKH ADEL MESTO: (Through interpreter) The armed groups could see that more clashes with the military would mean this town is destroyed, so they took the step to leave to spare the town from destruction.

KENYON: The clearing of Qudsaya fighters was arranged through Syria's Ministry⁷ of National Reconciliation⁸. The title is aspirational⁹. Minister Ali Haidar knows that for now the best he can hope for are piecemeal¹⁰ local reconciliations¹¹ like this one. International attention naturally focuses on the worst humanitarian¹² cases, places like the Damascus suburb of Darayya which suffered a four-year military siege with aid deliveries turned backed by the Syrian army. By the time the fighters and surviving civilians¹³ left earlier this year, Darayya was destroyed. There was nothing to go back to.

Haidar disputes the U.N.'s assertion that thousands of Darayya civilians were starving, and he says those who did escape the area were given housing in another Damascus suburb. The reconciliation minister also says he can offer a list of other examples where the military was less heavy-handed and neighborhoods were largely saved.

ALI HAIDAR: (Through interpreter) Take the western countryside of Homs. It has so many villages. It has so many civilians who have returned. And an important example is Hussainiya area in Damascus outskirts¹⁴. More than 60,000 civilians have returned to their houses, and out of that, 30,000 Palestinians. We don't know why nobody have mentioned this in the media.

KENYON: Haidar says the process is working. Civilians who fled the clashes return home once fighters either lay down their arms or take them and leave, usually for Idlib province in the north. But departed fighters say it was more coercion¹⁵ the negotiation¹⁶. NPR reached one of the young men who got on the bus out. He gave only his initials - M.A. - because even today, he's worried about revenge attacks on his parents who are still in Qudsaya. He says as the talks with the government grew more intense, so did the military pressure. Until one day, he says, the army made clear how far it was prepared to go.

M A: (Through interpreter) Finally they literally¹⁷ said to us, either you get out of this town or we completely destroy the place. They literally said that. They'd destroy the town and then we'd have to leave anyway, like in Darayya. So a group of us decided¹⁸ we're better off leaving. We didn't want the town to be destroyed.

KENYON: The government says the point of the negotiation was to save the town, not destroy it. On the second floor a good sized municipal building, a crowd presses around a small doorway¹⁹. This is where people come to report all manner of problems with the homes they're returning to. Sanitation²⁰, water, electricity, every issue comes through here and a team is sent to investigate. It looks to be a slow process, but after the past two years of violence, people seem happy to wait in line. Outside, 6-year-old Hala (ph) is walking home from elementary school.

HALA: (Foreign language spoken).

KENYON: She says she used to be at another school, but when her grandparents heard the Qudsaya road was open again, they decided to come back to their home so now she's going to school here and it's fun. School is a distant dream for 6-year-old girls in other parts of Syria, where efforts to negotiate a similar agreement with fighters have failed. But the government seems intent on pursuing its strategy of trying to convince people that these piecemeal settlements are better than devastating²¹ conflict. Peter Kenyon, NPR News, Damascus.

1 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

2 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。

3 shrugs   

n.耸肩（以表示冷淡，怀疑等）( shrug的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany shrugs off this criticism. 匈牙利总理久尔恰尼对这个批评不以为然。 来自互联网
• She shrugs expressively and takes a sip of her latte. 她表达地耸肩而且拿她的拿铁的啜饮。 来自互联网

4 mundane   

adj.平凡的；尘世的；宇宙的

参考例句：

• I hope I can get an interesting job and not something mundane.我希望我可以得到的是一份有趣的工作，而不是一份平凡无奇的。
• I find it humorous sometimes that even the most mundane occurrences can have an impact on our awareness.我发现生活有时挺诙谐的，即使是最平凡的事情也能影响我们的感知。

5 tugs   

n.猛拉( tug的名词复数 )；猛拖；拖船v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The raucous sirens of the tugs came in from the river. 河上传来拖轮发出的沙哑的汽笛声。 来自辞典例句
• As I near the North Tower, the wind tugs at my role. 当我接近北塔的时候，风牵动着我的平衡杆。 来自辞典例句

6 misery   

n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦

参考例句：

• Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦。
• He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。

7 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

8 reconciliation   

n.和解，和谐，一致

参考例句：

• He was taken up with the reconciliation of husband and wife.他忙于做夫妻间的调解工作。
• Their handshake appeared to be a gesture of reconciliation.他们的握手似乎是和解的表示。

9 aspirational   

志同的，有抱负的

参考例句：

• Most of the images that bombard us all are aspirational. 轰击的图像，我们都期望最大。
• Analysts said self-help and aspirational reading could explain India's high figures. 分析师们指出，自助读书、热爱读书是印度人均读书时间超过别的国家的主要原因。

10 piecemeal   

adj.零碎的；n.片，块；adv.逐渐地；v.弄成碎块

参考例句：

• A lack of narrative drive leaves the reader with piecemeal vignettes.叙述缺乏吸引力，读者读到的只是一些支离破碎的片段。
• Let's settle the matter at one stroke,not piecemeal.把这事一气儿解决了吧，别零敲碎打了。

11 reconciliations   

和解( reconciliation的名词复数 )； 一致； 勉强接受； （争吵等的）止息

参考例句：

• You mean long-lost mother-son reconciliations in a restaurant? 你是说在餐厅调解分开多年的母子？
• Responsible for communications with financial institutions, daily cash processing and daily and monthly cash bank reconciliations. 负责与各财务机构的沟通，了解现金日流动状况，确认与银行往来的现金日对账单和月对账单。

12 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

13 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

14 outskirts   

n.郊外，郊区

参考例句：

• Our car broke down on the outskirts of the city.我们的汽车在市郊出了故障。
• They mostly live on the outskirts of a town.他们大多住在近郊。

15 coercion   

n.强制，高压统治

参考例句：

• Neither trickery nor coercion is used to secure confessions.既不诱供也不逼供。
• He paid the money under coercion.他被迫付钱。

16 negotiation   

n.谈判，协商

参考例句：

• They closed the deal in sugar after a week of negotiation.经过一星期的谈判，他们的食糖生意成交了。
• The negotiation dragged on until July.谈判一直拖到7月份。

17 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

18 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

19 doorway   

n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径

参考例句：

• They huddled in the shop doorway to shelter from the rain.他们挤在商店门口躲雨。
• Mary suddenly appeared in the doorway.玛丽突然出现在门口。

20 sanitation   

n.公共卫生，环境卫生，卫生设备

参考例句：

• The location is exceptionally poor,viewed from the sanitation point.从卫生角度来看，这个地段非常糟糕。
• Many illnesses are the result,f inadequate sanitation.许多疾病都来源于不健全的卫生设施。

21 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。