双语时事：千禧一代是怎样改变了中东

2014-09-04 15:51:55来源：可可英语

　　To be sure, Cole affirms that online networks dramatically amplified the reach and resonanceof protesters’ demands for state accountability. Take the iconic story of Mohamed Bouazizi.Ripped off and slapped by a government employee, the young Tunisian self-immolated in frontof his local city hall, igniting the first of the uprisings. Internet buzz propagated the myth thatBouazizi had graduated from college, making an educated underclass think of him as one oftheir own and thus take up his cause. In fact, because of poverty, Bouazizi had not evenfinished high school. Nor was his name Mohamed; it was Tarek. Ah, the baptismal power ofsocial media.

　　科尔认为，抗议者们要求政府更有责任感，而网络也确实极大地扩展了他们的影响力，为他们带来更多共鸣。就拿已经成为典型的穆罕默德·布瓦吉吉(Mohamed Bouazizi)的故事来说吧。这个突尼斯年轻人被政府官员敲诈和掌掴，于是在当地市政厅门前自焚，成为起义的导火线。互联网迅速放大了布瓦吉吉的神话，说他是大学毕业生，这会令一个受过教育的下层社会成员觉得他是自己人，想继承他的事业。事实上，由于贫穷，布瓦吉吉连中学都没念完。他的名字也不是穆罕默德，而是塔里克(Tarek)。啊，这就是社交媒体的洗脑力量。

　　Still, the Internet is only one strand of a much broader web that Cole weaves. His is a hugechallenge: to map the outbreaks of tumult that have crisscrossed Tunisia, Egypt and Libyaover the past decade. Strikes, bread shortages, lack of water, inflation, unemployment — allon top of a generational thirst for personal autonomy and political liberty. It makes for chaoticreading. Policy wonks get their fill. The rest of us need patience.

　　不过，科尔编织了一张更大的网络，互联网只是其中一环。他的网络是一个巨大的挑战——要描绘出过去十年内突尼斯、埃及和利比亚爆发的各种骚乱。罢工、面包短缺、缺水、通货膨胀、失业——这一切都落在渴望个人自治与政治自由的一代人头上。这些事件令这本书充满混乱。热衷政治的读者会心满意足，而其他读者则需要耐心。

　　Yet Cole does eventually deliver. In a particularly vivid section, he describes the breathtakingpluralism of those who put themselves on the front lines to protect Egyptian demonstrators.Coptic Christian youths served as bodyguards for their Muslim peers. They knew that asMuslims prostrated during Friday prayer — the prelude to pouring into the streets — theirbowed heads would invite attack. Soccer thugs found new purpose as bouncers around TahrirSquare. Muslim Brothers, too, shielded secular friends, especially on the day some jobless tourguides rode camels straight into crowds of activists.

　　但是科尔最终还是做到了。他描述了那些站在最前列去保护埃及抗议者的人们，这是激动人心的多元主义，这个部分也格外生动。埃及信奉基督教的年轻人为他们的穆斯林伙伴充当保镖，因为他们知道穆斯林在周五要匍匐礼拜——这是他们走上街头抗议的序曲——而穆斯林们都低着头，军警会攻击他们。足球流氓们有了新的的活动：在塔里尔广场附近保护抗议者。穆斯林兄弟会也去保护他们世俗的朋友，特别是在有些失去工作的导游骑着骆驼径直冲进行动分子人群的那一天。

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