美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Not A Textbook Case': Barcelona Attackers' Hometown Wonders How It Bred Terrorists

 

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

We'll have more on Hurricane Irma in a few minutes. But first, an update on last month's terrorist attacks in and around Barcelona. Spanish police say the suspects don't fit the usual ISIS profile. And this might have been a deliberate strategy. Lauren Frayer reports from the terrorists' hometown in the mountains north of Barcelona.

LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE¹: Teenagers chain-smoke in the village square, trying to process what happened over summer vacation. This village of Ripoll is a tidy place where everyone knows everyone. About 10,000 residents, a Benedictine monastery², window boxes bursting with geraniums and almost zero crime. But this was the home of 12 terrorists who attacked Barcelona last month. Most of them were killed. Two are in jail.

PAULA LOPEZ: (Speaking Spanish).

FRAYER: "A week before, we were hanging out with them on this same square," says Paula Lopez. She shows me a cellphone photo of herself and one of the terrorists at a school dance last year. They're beaming, their cheeks pressed together. They were in their teens and early 20s from Moroccan immigrant families and seemed to thrive in small-town Spain. In recent months, two of them, brothers, had started wearing flashy clothes and bought a new car, says another childhood friend, Maria Garcia. She thought maybe the money came from dealing³ drugs.

MARIA GARCIA: (Through interpreter) Smoking pot isn't a sign of terrorism. In fact, it's the opposite. People who are radicalized don't do drugs. They're religious. Our friends never went to the mosque⁵, so we didn't think anything of it.

FRAYER: Investigators⁶ are looking into whether a radical⁴ imam who moved here two years ago plied⁷ the young men with gifts in secret. Either they led double lives, or they were radicalized so recently that no one noticed.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELLS RINGING)

FRAYER: In her office at the town hall, social worker Nuria Perpinya counsels the terrorists' ashamed and grieving families. She knew all of the young men.

NURIA PERPINYA: (Through interpreter) I think ISIS chose them because they were so integral and smart in such a small town. We need an expert in cults⁸ to come explain to us how young brains can change so quickly.

FRAYER: One such expert is Lorenzo Vidino, director of the Program on Extremism at the George Washington University. He says the Ripoll suspects may have espoused⁹ the ideas of a now-defunct group from 1970s Egypt called Takfir wal-Hijra.

LORENZO VIDINO: Takfir wal-Hijra was of the extreme fringe of jihadism. And they basically advocated it's legitimate¹⁰ to act like non-pious Muslims, which was drinking or smoking or dating, to hide their true intentions.

FRAYER: Spanish police are looking into that theory. Police Inspector¹¹ Albert Oliva says they've dismantled¹² many terror cells before acting¹³ on tips.

ALBERT OLIVA: (Through interpreter) Someone's behavior changes drastically, or they start posting extremist things online. But this was not a textbook case. We have to go deeper with the community's help. Police cannot be inside every living room, every mosque and every friendship.

FRAYER: He says the textbooks have to change. Let the picturesque¹⁴ Spanish village of Ripoll, he says, be a lesson to everyone. For NPR News, I'm Lauren Frayer in Ripoll, Spain.

1 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。

2 monastery   

n.修道院，僧院，寺院

参考例句：

• They found an icon in the monastery.他们在修道院中发现了一个圣像。
• She was appointed the superior of the monastery two years ago.两年前她被任命为这个修道院的院长。

3 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

4 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。

5 mosque   

n.清真寺

参考例句：

• The mosque is a activity site and culture center of Muslim religion.清真寺为穆斯林宗教活动场所和文化中心。
• Some years ago the clock in the tower of the mosque got out of order.几年前，清真寺钟楼里的大钟失灵了。

6 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 plied   

v.使用（工具）( ply的过去式和过去分词 )；经常供应（食物、饮料）；固定往来；经营生意

参考例句：

• They plied me with questions about my visit to England. 他们不断地询问我的英国之行。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They plied us with tea and cakes. 他们一个劲儿地让我们喝茶、吃糕饼。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 cults   

n.迷信( cult的名词复数 )；狂热的崇拜；（有极端宗教信仰的）异教团体

参考例句：

• Religious cults and priesthoods are sectarian by nature. 宗教崇拜和僧侣界天然就有派性。 来自辞典例句
• All these religions were flourishing side by side with many less prominent cults. 所有这些宗教和许多次要的教派一起，共同繁荣。 来自英汉非文学 - 历史

9 espoused   

v.（决定）支持，拥护（目标、主张等）( espouse的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They espoused the notion of equal opportunity for all in education. 他们赞同在教育方面人人机会均等的观念。
• The ideas she espoused were incomprehensible to me. 她所支持的意见令我难以理解。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 legitimate   

adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法

参考例句：

• Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。
• That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。

11 inspector   

n.检查员，监察员，视察员

参考例句：

• The inspector was interested in everything pertaining to the school.视察员对有关学校的一切都感兴趣。
• The inspector was shining a flashlight onto the tickets.查票员打着手电筒查看车票。

12 dismantled   

拆开( dismantle的过去式和过去分词 )； 拆卸； 废除； 取消

参考例句：

• The plant was dismantled of all its equipment and furniture. 这家工厂的设备和家具全被拆除了。
• The Japanese empire was quickly dismantled. 日本帝国很快被打垮了。

13 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

14 picturesque   

adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的

参考例句：

• You can see the picturesque shores beside the river.在河边你可以看到景色如画的两岸。
• That was a picturesque phrase.那是一个形象化的说法。