时间:2019-01-13 作者:英语课 分类:VOA标准英语2010年(四)月


英语课

Journalist Hugh Pope takes readers beyond customary impressions of Arabs, Islam


Mohamed Elshinnawi | Washington, DC 23 April 2010


Titling his book "Dining with Al-Qaeda" was no publishing gimmick 1 for Hugh Pope.


The author actually did dine with a member of the terrorist group shortly after its September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. Pope — then a foreign correspondent for The Wall Street Journal newspaper — had travelled to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to learn more about the Saudi hijackers. He met with a young militant 2 who had helped to prepare most of them for their deadly mission.


'Dining with Al Qaeda'


"I did meet a da'ia; a missionary 3 from the camp in Afghanistan, where the Saudi young men had been before going on the mission to America, and he told me about them," says Pope. "He knew more than half of them and he called them wonderful boys because he thought they were great, of course."




Hugh Pope, author of 'Dining with Al-Qaeda'


The rather uncomfortable interview — during which Pope says he had to quote the Koran to persuade the missionary not to kill him — ended with a rather cordial dinner and a renewed desire on Pope's part to introduce the American public to the many worlds of the Middle East he had come to know.


"The main thing I am trying to tell them is that most journalists are honest and what you read in the newspaper is mostly right, but it is not the whole story," says Pope. "You do have to search for other sources of information to compare and think about what you are hearing and take a variety of points of view."


No one 'Islamic World'


Pope has spent more than three decades in the Middle East as a traveler, journalist and student of Arabic, Persian and Turkish languages. He says one of the most important things his experience in the region has taught him is that the Middle East is not a monolithic 4 "Islamic World."


"I find it very bad to lump everyone together anywhere. One of my things in the book is for instance, the question of Islam. I try to avoid even using the word, because I think everybody understands something different when you say 'Islam.' I tried to show that one can't just label a country as being one thing or even the Islamic world as being one thing."




In 'Dining with Al-Qaeda,' journalist Hugh Pope takes readers beyond the customary impressions of Arabs and Islam.




Pope points to countries that have adopted Islamic law as the basis for their legal system, but have implemented 5 it in very different ways.


He notes, for example, that while Iran is run by a fundamentalist Islamic regime, the Iranian people he met yearn 6 for a closer relationship with the U.S.


He also observes how secular 7 governments in two majority Muslim countries — Egypt and Turkey — have gone in very different directions.


Unrealistic picture


"Turkey has had the great fortune of having a window to Europe and not being right next to Israel. Israel, for sure, has disrupted the progress of Egypt. I mean why did Colonel Nasser in 1952 take power in Egypt? Because of his personal experience of defeat at the hands of the Israelis (during the 1948 war) and the national sense of dislocation because of what happened with Israel," says Pope. "Unfortunately, the authoritarian 8 streak 9 in Egypt has not allowed the full blossoming of what Egyptians can achieve."


 


Author Hugh Pope signs copies of his book at the New America Foundation in Washington, D.C..




The author says the typical academic approach to studying the Middle East and news reports from the region are giving Americans an unrealistic and largely negative picture of its people.


"I feel that people have to stop looking at the Middle East like it is some zoo, a collection of completely incomprehensible wild animals, because we are all people. We all share the same things. The boys like fast cars and girls. It is the same everywhere. That is so missing in how the Middle East is treated in the media with all their focus on unusually horrible stories."


Social media bridge


Still, Pope is optimistic that the growing number of educated Middle Easterners using social media can convey a more accurate account of the region to the American public.


He is also pleased that President Obama is helping 10 Americans distinguish among the many facets 11 of the Middle East by opening the door to improved Western dialogues with the Islamic world.


A year ago, in a speech in Turkey, the president said the U.S. is not at war with Islam, and called for a greater partnership 12 with the Muslim world. Two months later, President Obama was in Cairo, where he pledged to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims. Pope notes that the president has also publicly reached out to Iran for engagement.


The Middle East scholar and veteran journalist says he's hopeful that Western readers of his new book will come to see the countries of the Middle East in a new, less confrontational 13 light, and hear more clearly the voices of its people.


"So I really hope that my book will be a source of some ideas and different points of view about what the Middle East can be."


 



n.(为引人注意而搞的)小革新,小发明
  • He dismissed the event as just a publicity gimmick.他不理会这件事,只当它是一种宣传手法。
  • It is just a public relations gimmick.这只不过是一种公关伎俩。
adj.激进的,好斗的;n.激进分子,斗士
  • Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
  • He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。
adj.教会的,传教(士)的;n.传教士
  • She taught in a missionary school for a couple of years.她在一所教会学校教了两年书。
  • I hope every member understands the value of missionary work. 我希望教友都了解传教工作的价值。
adj.似独块巨石的;整体的
  • Don't think this gang is monolithic.不要以为这帮人是铁板一块。
  • Mathematics is not a single monolithic structure of absolute truth.数学并不是绝对真理的单一整体结构。
v.实现( implement的过去式和过去分词 );执行;贯彻;使生效
  • This agreement, if not implemented, is a mere scrap of paper. 这个协定如不执行只不过是一纸空文。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • The economy is in danger of collapse unless far-reaching reforms are implemented. 如果不实施影响深远的改革,经济就面临崩溃的危险。 来自辞典例句
v.想念;怀念;渴望
  • We yearn to surrender our entire being.我们渴望着放纵我们整个的生命。
  • Many people living in big cities yearn for an idyllic country life.现在的很多都市人向往那种田园化的生活。
n.牧师,凡人;adj.世俗的,现世的,不朽的
  • We live in an increasingly secular society.我们生活在一个日益非宗教的社会。
  • Britain is a plural society in which the secular predominates.英国是个世俗主导的多元社会。
n./adj.专制(的),专制主义者,独裁主义者
  • Foreign diplomats suspect him of authoritarian tendencies.各国外交官怀疑他有着独裁主义倾向。
  • The authoritarian policy wasn't proved to be a success.独裁主义的政策证明并不成功。
n.条理,斑纹,倾向,少许,痕迹;v.加条纹,变成条纹,奔驰,快速移动
  • The Indians used to streak their faces with paint.印第安人过去常用颜料在脸上涂条纹。
  • Why did you streak the tree?你为什么在树上刻条纹?
n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的,辅助的
  • 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。
n.(宝石或首饰的)小平面( facet的名词复数 );(事物的)面;方面
  • The question had many facets. 这个问题是多方面的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • A fully cut brilliant diamond has 68 facets. 经过充分切刻的光彩夺目的钻石有68个小平面。 来自《简明英汉词典》
n.合作关系,伙伴关系
  • The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
  • Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。
adj.挑衅的;对抗的
  • Fans love rappers partly because they strike such a confrontational pose. 乐迷热爱这些饶舌艺人一定程度上是因为他们所采取的那种战斗姿态。 来自互联网
  • You prefer a non confrontational approach when it comes to resolving disputes. 面对争端,你不喜欢采用对抗性的手段来解决。 来自互联网
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