VOA标准英语2011--War Photographers in Harm's Way

War Photographers in Harm's Way

War correspondents often place themselves in harm's way and, unavoidably, some die doing their jobs. Five have perished just this year in Libya, all of them photographers. Some wonder why photojournalists place their lives on the line.
These are images from Restrepo, a film about a U.S. Army platoon in Afghanistan's deadly Korengal Valley. Shot over the course of a year, the documentary was nominated for an Academy Award this year. Co-director Tim Hetherington said in February he wanted people to connect with the war.
"It's not necessarily about moral outrage," he said. "It's about trying to understand that we're at war and try to understand the emotional terrain¹ of what being at war means."
Hetherington was killed in April in Libya. His colleague and Restrepo co-director, Sebastian Junger, said Hetherington's death shocked him, but he also accepts the risks.
"We don't have a chance of having an equitable² society or an equitable world without the free flow of information," said Junger. "And journalists play an indispensable role in that, and it's a principle that I'm willing to some degree to risk my life for."
Associated Press Photo Director Santiago Lyon agreed that war reporting - without believing it contributes to a free society - is a waste of time. But he said some journalists may have other motivations.
"The experience of going to war or going to conflict is very compelling, because one's life is in danger, and as Winston Churchill once famously said, ‘There is nothing so exhilarating in life as to be shot at without result.'"
This, said Lyon, offers a thrill and adrenaline rush for those photographers who seek excitement.
Photojournalists have witnessed combat since the 1850s, when they brought their photo labs to battlefields during the Crimean War. The pictured image from the U.S. Civil War is by Mathew Brady, a pioneer of American war photography. Motion pictures captured World War I, and today's compact equipment allows journalists to work side-by-side with soldiers exchanging gunfire.
Graphic³ images hardly put an end to war. But Lyon said they can help to turn public opinion against it, as certain iconic images did during the U.S. war in Vietnam.
"But on another level, I think it's a belief that if your picture can influence just one person and change their way of thinking, then in some way the exercise has been worthwhile," he said.
Junger said it is easy to describe a firefight. He characterizes it as a weird⁴ sort of football game with guns, drama and logic⁵ - kill them before they kill you. The difficulty, he said, is describing the moral intangibles. Junger related what an American military veteran once told him.
"'Those guys were trying to kill my brothers, and I killed them first.' There's also this other level - why were any of us doing any of it at all, including them? What's God going to say?' And [the veteran] doesn't even believe in God, and it still troubled him," said Junger.
Junger noted⁶ that images alone cannot fully⁷ describe combat, so he wrote the book War as a complement⁸ to his documentary. Santiago Lyon agrees. He says words add nuance⁹ to photography, and vice¹⁰ versa. And whether with camera or a pen, war correspondents risk their lives to tell the story of war.

1 terrain   

n.地面，地形，地图

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• He knows the terrain of this locality like the back of his hand.他对这一带的地形了如指掌。

2 equitable   

adj.公平的；公正的

参考例句：

• This is an equitable solution to the dispute. 这是对该项争议的公正解决。
• Paying a person what he has earned is equitable. 酬其应得,乃公平之事。

3 graphic   

adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的

参考例句：

• The book gave a graphic description of the war.这本书生动地描述了战争的情况。
• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons.用图标来区分重要的文本项。

4 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

5 logic   

n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性

参考例句：

• What sort of logic is that?这是什么逻辑？
• I don't follow the logic of your argument.我不明白你的论点逻辑性何在。

6 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。

7 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

8 complement   

n.补足物，船上的定员；补语；vt.补充，补足

参考例句：

• The two suggestions complement each other.这两条建议相互补充。
• They oppose each other also complement each other.它们相辅相成。

9 nuance   

n.(意义、意见、颜色)细微差别

参考例句：

• These users will easily learn each nuance of the applications they use.这些用户会很快了解他们所使用程序的每一细微差别。
• I wish I hadn't become so conscious of every little nuance.我希望我不要变得这样去思索一切琐碎之事。

10 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。