【英语语言学习】在战争废墟中建立起来的友谊

Last month I was in Sarajevo reporting on the 100th anniversary¹ of the assassination² that started the first world war. Although I'd shown up to talk about World War I, I was surrounded by scars³ from the Balkan war and World War II, layers of tragedy⁴ piled on top of each other. Late one afternoon my translator and I walked into the old building where I had rented an apartment. There were three people in the stairwell speaking a mixture of Bosnian and Hebrew. An 85-year-old woman was slowly, slowly climbing the stairs with the help of her son and her daughter-in-law. When they told me why they were there I invited them in to see the apartment. The man introduced himself as Yosi Pinto. He'd come to visit Sarajevo with his wife and his mother from Israel where they all live now.

YOSI PINTO: My father was born here it was the building of all this family. His mother and father were Simone and Donna Kotton. And you can see the entrance of the building on the - just above the entrance they signed S.K.D.

SHAPIRO: In stone just above the front door it says S.K.D 1916. The ground floor used to be his grandfather's stationary⁶ shop.

Y. PINTO: He was very successful. During the time there were a lot of soldiers here from the Austrogarian period and they used to send the postcard home.

SHAPIRO: Yosi Pinto shows me a collection of postcards from a century ago. They're from his grandfather's shop. He has picked them up on eBay over the years. On his iPad he shows me photos of what this dingy⁷ old building looked like back then. It was a beautiful home with a grand⁵ piano and opulent furnishings. His mother, Ella Pinto, grew up across the street.

ELLA PINTO: (Through translator) Not easy for me to come back here. Since then entire family was taken away from here to the camps.

SHAPIRO: She and her husband both survived the Holocaust⁸. They lost almost every one else in their family.

E. PINTO: (Through translator) I was afraid I would not even be able to find their graves⁹ because of the last war here in Sarajevo. And I heard that many graves and places were destroyed. And today I went there and I found their graves.

SHAPIRO: And what did you do there?

E. PINTO: (Through Translator) And I kiss the graves when I saw them.

SHAPIRO: When we finished the interview 85-year-old Ella Pinto kept talking with my translator Nidzara Ahmetasevic. It didn't look like small-talk, they were deep in conversation. At a cafe later I asked Nidzara, what did the two of you talk about? Nidzara explained that she's a war survivor¹⁰, too. She lived through the siege¹¹ of Sarajevo 20 years ago.

NIDZARA AHMETASEVIC: She asked me were I in Sarajevo during the war and I said, yes. And then she asked if I lost any family members, any friends. And I told her, yes. And she even touched my hand and she told me, I know how does it feel. And at the end she told me that, people like she and I, that we survived, in order to be able to talk about what we survived. And she told me, that we are the people who know what the war is and we know what the peace is. And we know that we should talk about the peace.

SHAPIRO: Ella Pinto told Nidzara Ahmetasevic, we need to let them know what we lived through so they will understand why peace is important.

1 anniversary   

n.周年(纪念日)

参考例句：

• They celebrate their wedding anniversary annually.他们每年庆祝一番结婚纪念日。
• Today is my parents'30th wedding anniversary.今天是我父母结婚30周年纪念日。

2 assassination   

n.暗杀；暗杀事件

参考例句：

• The assassination of the president brought matters to a head.总统遭暗杀使事态到了严重关头。
• Lincoln's assassination in 1865 shocked the whole nation.1865年，林肯遇刺事件震惊全美国。

3 scars   

n.伤痕( scar的名词复数 )；精神上的创伤；有损外观的地方；裸岩

参考例句：

• Slowly the war scars faded. 战争的创伤慢慢地消失了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• I've got scars from head to toe in tribute to my courage. 为了嘉奖我的胆量，我得到浑身的伤疤。 来自辞典例句

4 tragedy   

n.悲剧；惨事，惨案，灾难

参考例句：

• The news of the tragedy really knocked us out.关于这一惨案的消息确实使我们感到震惊。
• The play was a tragedy,but the acting was laughable.戏是悲剧，可是演得却令人发笑。

5 grand   

adj.豪华的，宏伟的，壮丽的，主要的，重大的；n.(美俚)一千美元

参考例句：

• The pianist played several pieces of music on a grand piano.钢琴家在一架大钢琴上弹了几首乐曲。
• Come on,I'll give you the grand tour of the backyard.跟我来，我带你去后院来一次盛大的旅游。

6 stationary   

adj.固定的，静止不动的

参考例句：

• A stationary object is easy to be aimed at.一个静止不动的物体是容易瞄准的。
• Wait until the bus is stationary before you get off.你要等公共汽车停稳了再下车。

7 dingy   

adj.昏暗的，肮脏的

参考例句：

• It was a street of dingy houses huddled together. 这是一条挤满了破旧房子的街巷。
• The dingy cottage was converted into a neat tasteful residence.那间脏黑的小屋已变成一个整洁雅致的住宅。

8 holocaust   

n.大破坏；大屠杀

参考例句：

• The Auschwitz concentration camp always remind the world of the holocaust.奥辛威茨集中营总是让世人想起大屠杀。
• Ahmadinejad is denying the holocaust because he's as brutal as Hitler was.内贾德否认大屠杀，因为他像希特勒一样残忍。

9 graves   

n.（法国）格拉芙葡萄酒；坟墓( grave的名词复数 )；死亡；钝重音符；沉音符v.坟墓( grave的第三人称单数 )；死亡；钝重音符；沉音符

参考例句：

• He went to visit the graves of his forefathers. 他去拜谒他祖先的墓地。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They were eating themselves into their graves. 他们吃喝过度，在自找死路。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 survivor   

n.生存者，残存者，幸存者

参考例句：

• The sole survivor of the crash was an infant.这次撞车的惟一幸存者是一个婴儿。
• There was only one survivor of the plane crash.这次飞机失事中只有一名幸存者。

11 siege   

n.包围，围攻，围困

参考例句：

• The city was thrown down during the siege.在围城过程中，这座城市被摧毁了。
• The enemy lay siege to the town in attempt to starve the people to death.敌人围城，企图将人们饿死。