词汇大师(Wordmaster)--Language of Terror, Part 1

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster -- language and the impact of the September eleventh terrorist attacks on the United States.

RS: Start with something as simple as the date. September eleventh, or 9-11 as Americans write it in shorthand. Even before the attacks, nine-one-one already had special significance to Americans. It is the telephone number we dial in case of an emergency.

AA: So it is easy to see the double meaning in the various "9-11 emergency funds," as they are called. These charitable funds have been set up to raise money for the victims of the suicide hijackers in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

RS: But other terms, even the words we use to describe what happened on the eleventh of September, were not so clear.

TAPE: CUT ONE -- WOODS 4)

"You wind up hearing people talk about 'bombings' and there were of course no bombs that day."

AA: Keith Woods is a journalist now on the ethics² faculty³ at the Poynter Institute in Saint Petersburg, Florida. In the words of its literature, the Poynter Institute is a "school dedicated⁴ to teaching and inspiring journalists and media leaders."

TAPE: CUT TWO -- WOODS

"Because the language was deficient⁵ in a lot of ways, our cultural understanding of what happened on September 11th was created on September 11th. We did not have a situation where people were flying commercial airlines filled with fuel into large, densely⁶ populated buildings. So to a certain extent the struggle has been over something as simple as that, to the bigger issues which have to do with what you call not only the people who are dead and guilty by all accounts of what happened on the eleventh of September, but also the people who assisted them, the people who are being held in detention⁷ centers around this country right now, who are of Middle Eastern descent, the people like bin¹ Laden⁸ and the Taleban."

RS: In fact, even the use of the word "terrorist" has not been clear cut. Some news organizations, fearful of appearing biased⁹ or inflammatory, are reminding their reporters to be careful about whom they call a terrorist, especially when not quoting a newsmaker. After all, as the saying goes, one person's "terrorist" is another person's "freedom fighter."

AA: Still, on September thirtieth, CNN television posted a note on its Web page saying, quote, "There have been false reports that CNN has not used the word 'terrorist' to refer to those who attacked the World Trade Center and Pentagon. In fact, CNN has consistently and repeatedly referred to the attackers and hijackers as terrorists, and it will continue to do so."

RS: Keith Woods at the Poynter Institute says it's a struggle on the part of the media to find the right language to be accurate, and also as precise and descriptive as possible. And when it comes to using the word "terrorism," he says, there is also a practical consideration -- since none of the hijackers is still alive to interview, there is no way to know their objective beyond what they did on September eleventh.

TAPE: CUT THREE -- WOODS

"What we know for sure is that a group of people conspired¹⁰ to kill the people on those airplanes and anybody else who they could kill when they crashed them. So we know that they are murderers. The rest of the motivation for terrorism, as I understand it at the very least, has to do with the impact that the act has on the people who are still alive -- the terror part of terrorism."

AA: Keith Woods on the media ethics faculty at the Poynter Institute in Florida, talking about language in America post-September eleventh. Now in case you're wondering about the origin of the word "terrorism," we checked the Oxford¹¹ English Dictionary, Second Edition, which defines it as a "system of terror" and gives this as the origin: "Government by intimidation¹² as directed and carried out by the party in power in France during the Revolution of 1789 to 1794."

RS: Send us your thoughts. We'd like to hear from you. Our address is [email protected] or write to VOA Wordmaster, Washington DC two-zero-two-three-seven U-S-A. With Avi Arditti, I'm Rosanne Skirble.

1 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

2 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。

3 faculty   

n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员

参考例句：

• He has a great faculty for learning foreign languages.他有学习外语的天赋。
• He has the faculty of saying the right thing at the right time.他有在恰当的时候说恰当的话的才智。

4 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

5 deficient   

adj.不足的，不充份的，有缺陷的

参考例句：

• The crops are suffering from deficient rain.庄稼因雨量不足而遭受损害。
• I always have been deficient in selfconfidence and decision.我向来缺乏自信和果断。

6 densely   

ad.密集地；浓厚地

参考例句：

• A grove of trees shadowed the house densely. 树丛把这幢房子遮蔽得很密实。
• We passed through miles of densely wooded country. 我们穿过好几英里茂密的林地。

7 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

8 laden   

adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的

参考例句：

• He is laden with heavy responsibility.他肩负重任。
• Dragging the fully laden boat across the sand dunes was no mean feat.将满载货物的船拖过沙丘是一件了不起的事。

9 biased   

a.有偏见的

参考例句：

• a school biased towards music and art 一所偏重音乐和艺术的学校
• The Methods: They employed were heavily biased in the gentry's favour. 他们采用的方法严重偏袒中上阶级。

10 conspired   

密谋( conspire的过去式和过去分词 )； 搞阴谋； （事件等）巧合； 共同导致

参考例句：

• They conspired to bring about the meeting of the two people. 他们共同促成了两人的会面。
• Bad weather and car trouble conspired to ruin our vacation. 恶劣的气候连同汽车故障断送了我们的假日。

11 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

12 intimidation   

n.恐吓，威胁

参考例句：

• The Opposition alleged voter intimidation by the army.反对党声称投票者受到军方的恐吓。
• The gang silenced witnesses by intimidation.恶帮用恐吓的手段使得证人不敢说话。