VOA慢速英语2014 加沙战争从现实烧到网络

 

AS IT IS 2014-08-05 War in Gaza is Also on the Internet 加沙战争从现实烧到网络

The war in the Gaza Strip is being fought as much on the Internet as it is on the ground.  Some people say the increased use of social media is changing the way people look at the conflict.

Palestinian activists¹ recently put a video on the YouTube website.  The video shows rescue workers trying to help a Palestinian boy look for his family.  Suddenly, the boy is seen lying on the ground.  The video claims he was shot by Israeli gunmen.  A second bullet appears to kill him.  

The video is now being shared on social media.  VOA could not independently confirm whether the video came from a pro-Palestinian group called the International Solidarity² Movement.

The current fighting in Gaza is not the first time the Palestinian people have seen war.  But this is the first time Palestinians get to tell their stories to the world as the direct source of information.  Lisa Goldman is with the New America Foundation, a non-profit group.  She spoke³ to VOA on Skype.

“Before, there were a lot of Israelis on Twitter, and this time, there are a lot of Palestinians on Twitter, and this is new; this is really new.  It’s something that happened in the last year.”

Yousef Munayyer heads the Jerusalem Fund, a pro-Palestinian group.  He says that earlier news reports about the Middle East were generally pro-Israel.  But he says active social media work by the Palestinians is changing how traditional media report the news.

“Because the mainstream⁴ is trying to put out what they believe is the truth, but when you have this marketplace of information that is showing different ideas, different images, different realities, they too have to then adjust their coverage⁵ to become closer to that democratized sort of space of information.”

The Israeli government understands the power of this new technology.

“Social media is on the same par⁶ as traditional media in our broader public diplomacy⁷ efforts and strategy.”

Jed Shein is the social media director at Israel's embassy⁸ in Washington.  He warns against thinking that social media truly show how the public feels about issues.

“The people willing to comment and react on social media are the people that maybe are on the broader ends of each spectrum⁹.”

Use of social media to spread the news is not limited to the Palestinian territories.  The Islamic group ISIL has also used the Internet to spread its message to the world.  Recently, Syria blocked Internet access for two hours across the entire country.  Some people believe the Syrian action was an effort to stop ISIL from using social media networks.

Social media websites like YouTube and Facebook remain popular.  But experts say there is little scientific evidence to prove how effective they are in the Gaza conflict.  Lisa Goldman notes the importance of having news media employees report from conflict areas.

“People like Ayman Mohyeldin from NBC News in the States, people like Sherine Tadros for Sky News, Ben Wedeman from CNN.  These are Arabic speakers, people who’ve been in the Middle East for a long time and who know Gaza very well.”

1 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 solidarity   

n.团结；休戚相关

参考例句：

• They must preserve their solidarity.他们必须维护他们的团结。
• The solidarity among China's various nationalities is as firm as a rock.中国各族人民之间的团结坚如磐石。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

5 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

6 par   

n.标准，票面价值，平均数量；adj.票面的，平常的，标准的

参考例句：

• Sales of nylon have been below par in recent years.近年来尼龙织品的销售额一直不及以往。
• I don't think his ability is on a par with yours.我认为他的能力不能与你的能力相媲美。

7 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。

8 embassy   

n.大使馆，大使及其随员

参考例句：

• Large crowd demonstrated outside the British Embassy.很多群众在英国大使馆外面示威。
• He's a U.S. diplomat assigned to the embassy in London.他是美国驻伦敦大使馆的一名外交官。

9 spectrum   

n.谱，光谱，频谱；范围，幅度，系列

参考例句：

• This is a kind of atomic spectrum.这是一种原子光谱。
• We have known much of the constitution of the solar spectrum.关于太阳光谱的构成，我们已了解不少。