美国国家公共电台 NPR From Greece, A Message In A Bottle Reaches Isolated Gaza

From Greece, A Message In A Bottle Reaches Isolated¹ Gaza

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

And now, a twist on the old story of a message in a bottle washing up on a distant shore. It's usually a marooned² shipwreck³ victim who floats the bottle out to sea. But as NPR's Daniel Estrin tells us about a message sent off from an island that reached a place that feels even more cut off from the world.

(SOUNDBITE OF WAVES CRASHING)

DANIEL ESTRIN, BYLINE⁴: Jihad al-Soltan has worked as a fisherman for 25 years, but he's never caught anything like this.

JIHAD AL-SOLTAN: (Speaking Arabic).

ESTRIN: It was just another Tuesday on the shores of Gaza when he saw a bottle bobbing in the sea. He pulled it in with his fishing net. Here he is reading the letter he found inside.

SOLTAN: (Reading) Hello. Thank you for picking up this...

BETHANY WRIGHT: (Reading) ...Bottle. We are currently on holiday in Rhodes, and we would love to know how far this bottle got, even if it just got to the next beach. Please email me.

ESTRIN: That's Bethany Wright, a 22-year-old university student from the U.K. She and her boyfriend, Zac Marriner, were on a Greek island when they cast that message in a bottle into the sea. It traveled nearly 500 miles across the Mediterranean⁵ to Gaza, where Soltan, the 54-year-old fisherman, caught it a month later.

SOLTAN: (Through interpreter) I'm sure when they threw the bottle in the sea, they wanted to get an answer, and I wanted to make them happy.

ESTRIN: So he asked his son-in-law, an English teacher, to email the British couple on his behalf. The fisherman calls them his first foreign friends.

WRIGHT: The message that he sent just completely brought a tear to my eye.

SOLTAN: (Through interpreter) People think Palestinians are terrorists and primitive⁶. I wanted to show the real face of the Palestinian people in the besieged⁷ Gaza Strip - that we are hospitable⁸, civilized⁹ and educated people.

UNIDENTIFIED MUEZZIN: (Chanting in Arabic).

ESTRIN: For the past decade, ever since the Palestinian militant¹⁰ group Hamas took control of the territory, its neighbors Israel and Egypt have imposed a blockade, restricting who and what can go in and out. There is mail and, of course, email. But to Wright, the bottle's journey felt like fate. It connected her to a place she couldn't easily visit herself.

WRIGHT: This little bottle was carried by the sea, could have landed anywhere but landed there. And that shows the complete unity¹¹ in the world there is.

ESTRIN: She had hoped for one reply, but she ended up getting hundreds of emails from around the world because after NPR published this story online a week ago, it was picked up around the world, including on many Arabic websites. An Israeli military commander even wrote about it on Facebook. Many people in Gaza emailed her, saying they wish they had found her message in a bottle and wishing the couple a happy life.

Daniel Estrin, NPR News.

1 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

2 marooned   

adj.被围困的；孤立无援的；无法脱身的

参考例句：

• During the storm we were marooned in a cabin miles from town. 在风暴中我们被围困在离城数英里的小屋内。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Five couples were marooned in their caravans when the River Avon broke its banks. 埃文河决堤的时候，有5对夫妇被困在了他们的房车里。 来自辞典例句

3 shipwreck   

n.船舶失事，海难

参考例句：

• He walked away from the shipwreck.他船难中平安地脱险了。
• The shipwreck was a harrowing experience.那次船难是一个惨痛的经历。

4 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。

5 Mediterranean   

adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的

参考例句：

• The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
• Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。

6 primitive   

adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物

参考例句：

• It is a primitive instinct to flee a place of danger.逃离危险的地方是一种原始本能。
• His book describes the march of the civilization of a primitive society.他的著作描述了一个原始社会的开化过程。

7 besieged   

包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Paris was besieged for four months and forced to surrender. 巴黎被围困了四个月后被迫投降。
• The community besieged the newspaper with letters about its recent editorial. 公众纷纷来信对报社新近发表的社论提出诘问，弄得报社应接不暇。

8 hospitable   

adj.好客的；宽容的；有利的，适宜的

参考例句：

• The man is very hospitable.He keeps open house for his friends and fellow-workers.那人十分好客，无论是他的朋友还是同事，他都盛情接待。
• The locals are hospitable and welcoming.当地人热情好客。

9 civilized   

a.有教养的，文雅的

参考例句：

• Racism is abhorrent to a civilized society. 文明社会憎恶种族主义。
• rising crime in our so-called civilized societies 在我们所谓文明社会中日益增多的犯罪行为

10 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

11 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。