美国国家公共电台 NPR DHS To Help Jewish Community Centers Enhance Security Protocols

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

American Jewish institutions have received more than 120 bomb threats in the last two months. Now the Department of Homeland Security is increasing its support. As NPR's Tovia Smith reports, Jewish community centers have been pressing for the help as they've been targeted by waves of threatening calls and vandalism.

TOVIA SMITH, BYLINE¹: Ever since January, the calls coming in to Jewish community centers have been both vivid and unnerving, much like the three that came into the JCC in Birmingham, Ala., where Betzy Lynch is executive director.

BETZY LYNCH: It is a very disguised sort of digitized voice that indicates that there's a bomb in the building, and then there's some pretty horrific rhetoric² about hurting Jewish people.

SMITH: The calls have thrust JCCs around the nation into repeated evacuations. Elderly women doing water aerobics³ and babies in day care have been rushed out to the streets, leaving whole communities rattled⁴.

JEREMY BURTON: Everybody's no more than one or two degrees of separation from someone whose kids ended up on a sidewalk in front of a JCC over the last couple of weeks.

SMITH: Jeremy Burton, head of Boston's Jewish Community Relations Council, says it's particularly disconcerting to younger Jews.

BURTON: Frankly⁵, it's a bit of a shock. And maybe we are a bit naive⁶, but we sort of maybe assumed that it was something we had mostly left behind.

SMITH: Community leaders across the nation who've been frustrated⁷ that the threats have gone on so long have been calling on the federal government to do more to help protect Jewish institutions. Two hundred of them joined a conference call yesterday with Department of Homeland Security officials that ended with the promises of more support. That will include assessing where JCCs are vulnerable and helping⁸ them improve - for example, says DHS's Bob Kolasky, how to deal with an active shooter or how to manage these current threats that seem to be intended to cause fear more than harm.

BOB KOLASKY: The advice that we will give is, how do you deal with something that you think is probably not likely to come to fruition? We're not going to tell an organization not to evacuate⁹, but we are going to teach them some of the telltale signs that may help them make that decision.

LYNCH: This outreach is unprecedented¹⁰, and it's much, much appreciated.

SMITH: Betzy Lynch says the federal expertise¹¹ will go a long way to help secure JCCs like hers in Alabama, and she hopes it'll also reassure¹² members and persuade some families who've left in fear to return.

LYNCH: And I think that feeling of knowing that this really is not OK with people reassures¹³ us that while we're in a difficult period, the federal government has decided¹⁴ that they're standing¹⁵ with us as well.

SMITH: But others were more circumspect¹⁶. The Anti-Defamation League calls the federal support an important step forward but insists more must be done. For starters, Mark Sokoll of the Greater Boston JCC says authorities should expand efforts to find the perpetrators.

MARK SOKOLL: In the end, the only response that's going to be adequate for us is catching¹⁷ these guys, that these people who are filled with hate can be brought to justice and this can stop.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Security right over here and then IDs and registration¹⁸.

SMITH: Meantime, security is tight at Jewish institutions, like at this Boston event last night.

HELENE WEITZENKORN: I mean look at this synagogue. They are checking people going in here. I've never seen them even have a metal detector¹⁹.

SMITH: Helene Weitzenkorn calls the current climate of anti-Semitism palpable.

WEITZENKORN: I mean I'm almost 64, and I have just never felt this scared.

SMITH: Others took a longer view, noting anti-Semitism's long history. The echoes are disturbing, as one put it, but they're also a reminder²⁰ that this, too, shall pass. Tovia Smith, NPR News, Boston.

(SOUNDBITE OF PUNCH BROTHERS SONG, "JULEP")

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

3 aerobics   

n.健身操，健美操，韵律操

参考例句：

• Doing aerobics is a good way to improve one's health.做有氧健身操是改善健康状况的一个好方法。
• Aren't you going to the aerobics class this morning?今天上午你不是去上有氧运动课吗？

4 rattled   

慌乱的，恼火的

参考例句：

• The truck jolted and rattled over the rough ground. 卡车嘎吱嘎吱地在凹凸不平的地面上颠簸而行。
• Every time a bus went past, the windows rattled. 每逢公共汽车经过这里，窗户都格格作响。

5 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

6 naive   

adj.幼稚的，轻信的；天真的

参考例句：

• It's naive of you to believe he'll do what he says.相信他会言行一致，你未免太单纯了。
• Don't be naive.The matter is not so simple.你别傻乎乎的。事情没有那么简单。

7 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

9 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。

10 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

11 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。

12 reassure   

v.使放心，使消除疑虑

参考例句：

• This seemed to reassure him and he continued more confidently.这似乎使他放心一点，于是他更有信心地继续说了下去。
• The airline tried to reassure the customers that the planes were safe.航空公司尽力让乘客相信飞机是安全的。

13 reassures   

v.消除恐惧或疑虑，恢复信心( reassure的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• A significant benefit of Undo is purely psychological: It reassures users. 撤销的一个很大好处纯粹是心理上的，它让用户宽心。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Direct eye contact reassures the person that you are confident and honest. 直接的目光接触让人相信你的自信和诚实。 来自口语例句

14 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

15 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

16 circumspect   

adj.慎重的，谨慎的

参考例句：

• She is very circumspect when dealing with strangers.她与陌生人打交道时十分谨慎。
• He was very circumspect in his financial affairs.他对于自己的财务十分细心。

17 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

18 registration   

n.登记，注册，挂号

参考例句：

• Marriage without registration is not recognized by law.法律不承认未登记的婚姻。
• What's your registration number?你挂的是几号？

19 detector   

n.发觉者，探测器

参考例句：

• The detector is housed in a streamlined cylindrical container.探测器安装在流线型圆柱形容器内。
• Please walk through the metal detector.请走过金属检测器。

20 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。