2006年VOA标准英语-Egypt Investigating Dahab Bombings

By Challiss McDonough
Dahab, Egypt
25 April 2006
 

Egyptians march at the site where three bombs ripped through Egypt's Red Sea resort of Dahab  
  
The Egyptian resort town of Dahab is still reeling from the triple bombings that killed at least 23 people late Monday.  Most of the casualties are Egyptian, but some of the dead are reported to be foreign tourists, including a German child and a Russian.  Egyptian authorities are sifting¹ through the evidence to try to find the attackers.

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A band of young men started a spontaneous protest in the streets of Dahab as shopkeepers cleaned up after the deadly blasts. "We love everyone", they chanted, a testament² to Dahab's famously laid-back, bohemian atmosphere.

But the same main street was anything but relaxed and joyful³ late Monday after three bombs ripped though shops and restaurants. 

A café cook named Osama Abdel-Aziz was busy filling dinner orders when he heard the explosions, one of which was less than 200 meters from his kitchen.

"People were panicking, shouting for their children, and running madly away from the blasts," he said.  "A lot of them ran straight into the ocean with all their clothes on."

The man says he helped carry three wounded people, including a foreign tourist, to police cars because no ambulances were at the scene yet.  He points to his chef's jacket, which lies crumpled⁴ up in the corner, covered in blood.

Tourist holds her son as they walk past a damaged store at one of the sites of the bombings   
  
The bombs left shattered glass everywhere, and by Tuesday pools of blood were still drying on the sidewalks as the sun climbed higher.  Bloody⁵ footprints could be seen leading away from the blast sites.

"I am starting to realize how lucky I was," said one of the tourists.

The day after the attacks, the tiny resort town is still crawling with tourists and journalists.  The streets are filled with a mixture of Westerners in shorts and tank tops, Bedouins in traditional white robes and checkered⁶ headgear, and uniformed police in riot gear.

German tourist Brigette Kienli has visited Dahab many times, and befriended some local business people with shops near the blast sites.  She was walking through town with a friend, visibly distraught.

"We have friends inside, close to the place where the explosions hit," she said.  "And we would like to know if they are okay.  That is another reason we came."

Kienli and her friends calmly did not realize at first what had happened.  They thought cooking gas canisters had exploded.  She wipes a tear away from her eye as she describes how they calmly finished their dinner and asked for the check, only to find out from the waiter that people had been killed and wounded just a few-hundred meters away.

Down the street, Della Levanos is chalking a message of peace onto a blackboard outside her husband's bar and restaurant.  Over and over, she writes, "Egypt: a great place to live", and then the restaurant's slogan: "Peace and Party." 

Originally from Australia, Levanos has lived in Dahab for 20 years and has no intention of letting a few bombs chase her away.

"You know, Madrid, London, New York, Dahab.  It is a 21st century phenomenon, unfortunately," she noted⁷.  "But every person on this planet has to stand up and say to the governments, we need peace.  Violence breeds violence.  We need peace."

Outside, surrounded by yellow police tape, Egyptian officials are beginning their investigation⁸ into how the bombs were triggered.

Egypt's chief prosecutors⁹ and a team of other investigators¹⁰ inspect the site of the blast.  The charred¹¹ remains¹² of a bicycle are twisted around a mangled¹³ laptop computer.  A man picks the computer up and carries it away.  It is evidence.

The three bombs that exploded in Dahab appear to have been smaller than the ones used in an attack last year in Sharm el-Sheikh, 80 kilometers to the south. 

Initial evidence seems to point to remote detonation¹⁴, rather than suicide attacks.  But the bombs were placed in areas where they were likely to kill and wound many people, and they were timed to go off just after sunset, when the market area was most crowded.

1 sifting   

n.筛，过滤v.筛( sift的现在分词 )；筛滤；细查；详审

参考例句：

• He lay on the beach, sifting the sand through his fingers. 他躺在沙滩上用手筛砂子玩。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I was sifting the cinders when she came in. 她进来时，我正在筛煤渣。 来自辞典例句

2 testament   

n.遗嘱；证明

参考例句：

• This is his last will and testament.这是他的遗愿和遗嘱。
• It is a testament to the power of political mythology.这说明，编造政治神话可以产生多大的威力。

3 joyful   

adj.欢乐的，令人欢欣的

参考例句：

• She was joyful of her good result of the scientific experiments.她为自己的科学实验取得好成果而高兴。
• They were singing and dancing to celebrate this joyful occasion.他们唱着、跳着庆祝这令人欢乐的时刻。

4 crumpled   

adj. 弯扭的, 变皱的 动词crumple的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• She crumpled the letter up into a ball and threw it on the fire. 她把那封信揉成一团扔进了火里。
• She flattened out the crumpled letter on the desk. 她在写字台上把皱巴巴的信展平。

5 bloody   

adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染

参考例句：

• He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
• He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。

6 checkered   

adj.有方格图案的

参考例句：

• The ground under the trees was checkered with sunlight and shade.林地光影交错。
• He’d had a checkered past in the government.他过去在政界浮沉。

7 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

8 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

9 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

10 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》

11 charred   

v.把…烧成炭( char的过去式)；烧焦

参考例句：

• the charred remains of a burnt-out car 被烧焦的轿车残骸
• The intensity of the explosion is recorded on the charred tree trunks. 那些烧焦的树干表明爆炸的强烈。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

13 mangled   

vt.乱砍（mangle的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• His hand was mangled in the machine. 他的手卷到机器里轧烂了。
• He was off work because he'd mangled his hand in a machine. 他没上班，因为他的手给机器严重压伤了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 detonation   

n.爆炸；巨响

参考例句：

• A fearful detonation burst forth on the barricade.街垒传来一阵骇人的爆炸声。
• Within a few hundreds of microseconds,detonation is complete.在几百微秒之内，爆炸便完成了。