PBS高端访谈:对于移民危机,不同的国家是如何应对的?

 　　ALISON STEWART, PBS NEWSHOUR WEEKEND ANCHOR: NewsHour special correspondent Malcolm Brabant is covering the surge of migrants into Northern Europe and how neighboring countries are treating the crisis differently.

　　This week, a Syrian refugee, now in Sweden, told him about his journey across the Mediterranean¹ Sea, leaving his family behind.

　　KHALED AL-HABASH, SYRIAN REFUGEE: How can I bring my children to here? I can't make — put him in this boat, dangerous boat. I can't do that. For, me maybe it's OK. But for my children, it's impossible.

　　ALISON STEWART: Malcolm Brabant joins me now via Skype from Copenhagen, Denmark.

　　And, Malcolm, in times of danger, the conventional wisdom is to get the children out, get them to a safer place, but from your reporting, the opposite seems true in this situation. Why is that?

　　MALCOLM BRABANT, NEWSHOUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think that parents are genuinely terrified of the dangers in the Mediterranean. As Mr. al-Habash was saying, it's absolutely a complete lottery². It's Russian roulette.

　　You don't know what sort of vessel³ you're getting into. There have been horrendous⁴ stories of traffickers beating people down into the holds of boats, and it just takes a small shift in the balance of a boat with people rushing to one side or the other for it to tip over, because they're all so heavily overcrowded.

　　And so, there are many parents taking the decision that it's just not worth risking their children's lives, and they're leaving them behind, and they're coming to country where's they hope there will be a good family reunification policy, as Sweden has. But Mr. al-Habash, he's waiting for 10 months.

　　ALISON STEWART: The war in Syria has been going on for years, but what's been the catalyst⁵ for all these people leaving now?

　　MALCOLM BRABANT: Well, I think there are two things, as far as we can see, really. Right now, it's the end of the summer, and the Mediterranean suddenly changes from being a fairly benevolent⁶ sea as it has been over the past three months into something that is very perilous⁷ indeed.

　　There's a wind called “Meltemi” that blows in September that creates winds of force 8 to 10, and it's extremely dangerous. Even just for the three miles that it takes you to get across from the Turkish coast to an island like Lesbos, for example, the waves can be incredibly high, so bad, that Greek ferries, for example, won't sail in this kind of weather.

　　So, there is a rush to get across before the weather really changes. But, also, people I have been speaking to on Lesbos, which is one of the main island that people come to in Greece, they're saying, what we're hearing from the Syrians is that the situation inside Damascus, the Syrian capital, is becoming very grave, indeed, and there is an imperative⁸ to get out.

　　So, maybe there is something happening on the various war fronts there that is driving people out.

　　But, certainly, I — the — all of the refugees that you talk to on the various stages of the route, they're all in touch with each other. They know which places are — you know, the ways to go.

　　They're getting messages backwards⁹ and forwards, and, you know, they must be sort of able to read the ruins to see that Europe is wavering at the moment. Countries don't want to be on the wrong side of history because this is a very emotional time for people, especially after the publication of that terrible picture of the little boy who drowned in Bodrum.

　　ALISON STEWART: From your reporting, you've talked to folks who were businessmen, and from other stories that I've read, there seems to be a middle-class and upper-middle-class movement here of people finally deciding to leave.

　　One, why are they finally deciding to leave? Why did they stay in place? And, two, what does this mean for people who don't have money to get out?

　　MALCOLM BRABANT: The one thing that's really quite noticeable, actually, on the road, the people who do seem to have money are Syrians. They all talk about having a fairly prosperous lifestyle.

　　But if you go on to social media and look at people — from Human Rights Watch, for example, they've been posting pictures saying, if you wonder why it is that people are leaving now, have a look at this photograph, and what they're doing is they're posting pictures of places like Kobani, which is the place on the Turkish-Syrian border where there was a massive battle between ISIS and the Kurds, and the place is completely flattened¹⁰.

　　They're also posting pictures of Homs, which is Syria's city, and the place is just absolutely devastated¹¹. I mean, it looks as though there's nothing left standing¹². And so, how people can stay there is beyond belief.

　　Some of the cooler heads in Europe would say, well, hang on a minute. Those people coming from Syria, you know, they're not coming directly from the war.

　　They have — once they've got out of the country, they've been in safer places like Turkey, like in Jordan, so they're not exactly running away from war. They want to get away from that particular area.

　　But then you talk to people in the refugee agencies and others who have been to that area and you say, you just cannot stay in these terrible conditions in the refugee camps on the front line state because temperatures are just absolutely appalling¹³.

　　The conditions are not great, and that's why there's this big shift towards Europe.

　　ALISON STEWART: Malcolm Brabant, thank you so much for sharing your reporting.

1 Mediterranean   

adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的

参考例句：

• The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
• Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。

2 lottery   

n.抽彩；碰运气的事，难于算计的事

参考例句：

• He won no less than ￡5000 in the lottery.他居然中了5000英镑的奖券。
• They thought themselves lucky in the lottery of life.他们认为自己是变幻莫测的人生中的幸运者。

3 vessel   

n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管

参考例句：

• The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
• You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。

4 horrendous   

adj.可怕的，令人惊惧的

参考例句：

• He described it as the most horrendous experience of his life.他形容这是自己一生中最可怕的经历。
• The mining industry in China has a horrendous safety record.中国的煤矿工业具有令人不安的安全记录。

5 catalyst   

n.催化剂，造成变化的人或事

参考例句：

• A catalyst is a substance which speeds up a chemical reaction.催化剂是一种能加速化学反应的物质。
• The workers'demand for better conditions was a catalyst for social change.工人们要求改善工作条件促进了社会变革。

6 benevolent   

adj.仁慈的，乐善好施的

参考例句：

• His benevolent nature prevented him from refusing any beggar who accosted him.他乐善好施的本性使他不会拒绝走上前向他行乞的任何一个乞丐。
• He was a benevolent old man and he wouldn't hurt a fly.他是一个仁慈的老人，连只苍蝇都不愿伤害。

7 perilous   

adj.危险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• The journey through the jungle was perilous.穿过丛林的旅行充满了危险。
• We have been carried in safety through a perilous crisis.历经一连串危机，我们如今已安然无恙。

8 imperative   

n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的

参考例句：

• He always speaks in an imperative tone of voice.他老是用命令的口吻讲话。
• The events of the past few days make it imperative for her to act.过去这几天发生的事迫使她不得不立即行动。

9 backwards   

adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地

参考例句：

• He turned on the light and began to pace backwards and forwards.他打开电灯并开始走来走去。
• All the girls fell over backwards to get the party ready.姑娘们迫不及待地为聚会做准备。

10 flattened   

[医]（水）平扁的，弄平的

参考例句：

• She flattened her nose and lips against the window. 她把鼻子和嘴唇紧贴着窗户。
• I flattened myself against the wall to let them pass. 我身体紧靠着墙让他们通过。

11 devastated   

v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的

参考例句：

• The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 这颗炸弹炸毁了旧城的一大片地方。
• His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。

12 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。

13 appalling   

adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的

参考例句：

• The search was hampered by appalling weather conditions.恶劣的天气妨碍了搜寻工作。
• Nothing can extenuate such appalling behaviour.这种骇人听闻的行径罪无可恕。