美国国家公共电台 NPR--The dangers for planes at Beirut international airport: guns and gulls

The dangers for planes at Beirut international airport: guns and gulls¹

Transcript²

Trash near Beirut's airport attracts so many seagulls that one proposal would bring in hunters to shoot them down. But stray bullets, from celebratory gunfire, are already a problem at the airport.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

If flying makes you nervous, consider flying in and out of Beirut, Lebanon's international airport. The runway is beside a polluted beach and a landfill on one side and densely³ populated areas on the other. NPR's Ruth Sherlock had a look.

RUTH SHERLOCK, BYLINE⁴: What are the dangers for planes flying out of Beirut airport? They are seagulls and live bullets. I'm standing⁵ on a beach which runs parallel to the runway in Beirut airport, and the sea is brown with raw sewage. And behind me is an enormous landfill site. This attracts seagulls.

(SOUNDBITE OF PLANE FLYING)

SHERLOCK: On the other side of the airport runway are residential⁶ suburbs of Beirut, and in these areas, it's traditional to fire your gun in celebration or in anger. So when people pass their exams or when a political leader gives a speech, people fire into the air.

MOHAMMED AZIZ: Bullets will travel...

SHERLOCK: In the fuselage, or...

AZIZ: In the fuselage.

SHERLOCK: And one bullet can make a hole in the...

AZIZ: It'll make a hole, of course, because the bullet that goes up has to come down. That's Newton's law. Everything that goes up has to come down.

SHERLOCK: That's Mohammed Aziz. He's a retired⁷ pilot and advises Lebanon's national carrier, Middle East Airlines, on security. As he says, this New Year's Eve alone, the company had to ground two of its planes because they were pierced by falling bullets.

AZIZ: So we have it as a part of our checklist now. Whenever we check aircraft, we check for bullets when an aircraft is parked.

SHERLOCK: Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport remains⁸ busy with people coming for tourism, business and family visits daily. So far, no one is believed to have been injured, but Lebanese media recently reported that a stray bullet hit a passenger's iPhone as he walked out of the terminal, and disease was on a plane that aborted⁹ its takeoff when it collided with birds.

AZIZ: We went back to the gate. I could see the aircraft. All the windshield on both side were full of blood from the birds.

SHERLOCK: There are seagulls attracted to the nearby landfill and coastal¹⁰ sewer¹¹, and there are also flocks of domesticated¹² pigeons owned by people living in buildings that overlook the runway. In 2017, in an act of desperation, as he says, Middle East Airlines invited some 125 hunters to come and shoot the seagulls. They killed thousands of birds.

AZIZ: Either you shoot the bird or let the bird harm an aircraft. So harming an aircraft with 150 or 250 people on board is not really a choice.

SHERLOCK: Officials with the airport did not provide a comment on the situation. And government officials now say most of the landfill is covered, but some is still exposed, and there are still sewers¹³ nearby. Paula Yacoubian, an independent member of Parliament, has campaigned for the landfill to be removed. And she was on the plane that was hit by gunfire after landing.

PAULA YACOUBIAN: And it was really scary. The bullet was 20 centimeter above my head.

SHERLOCK: Yacoubian says politicians have repeatedly appealed to citizens not to fire their weapons, but this is rarely enforced. Lebanon is in an economic crisis that the World Bank has blamed on mismanagement and corruption¹⁴.

YACOUBIAN: Again, you go back to this inefficient¹⁵ mafia that is ruling the country, and all crises that we live are somehow the result of this mafia.

SHERLOCK: Yacoubian says the story of the gulls, the garbage and the guns at Beirut airport is symptomatic of the failure of Lebanon as a state.

Ruth Sherlock, NPR News, Beirut.

1 gulls   

n.鸥( gull的名词复数 )v.欺骗某人( gull的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• A flock of sea gulls are hovering over the deck. 一群海鸥在甲板上空飞翔。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The gulls which haunted the outlying rocks in a prodigious number. 数不清的海鸥在遥远的岩石上栖息。 来自辞典例句

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 densely   

ad.密集地；浓厚地

参考例句：

• A grove of trees shadowed the house densely. 树丛把这幢房子遮蔽得很密实。
• We passed through miles of densely wooded country. 我们穿过好几英里茂密的林地。

4 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。

5 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。

6 residential   

adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的

参考例句：

• The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
• The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。

7 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

8 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

9 aborted   

adj.流产的，失败的v.（使）流产( abort的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）（某事物）中止；（因故障等而）（使）（飞机、宇宙飞船、导弹等）中断飞行；（使）（飞行任务等）中途失败

参考例句：

• The rocket flight had to be aborted because of difficulties with computer. 因电脑出故障，这次火箭飞行只好中辍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They aborted the space flight finally. 他们最后中止了这次宇航飞行。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

11 sewer   

n.排水沟，下水道

参考例句：

• They are tearing up the street to repair a sewer. 他们正挖开马路修下水道。
• The boy kicked a stone into the sewer. 那个男孩把一石子踢进了下水道。

12 domesticated   

adj.喜欢家庭生活的；（指动物）被驯养了的v.驯化( domesticate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He is thoroughly domesticated and cooks a delicious chicken casserole. 他精于家务，烹制的砂锅炖小鸡非常可口。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The donkey is a domesticated form of the African wild ass. 驴是非洲野驴的一种已驯化的品种。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 sewers   

n.阴沟，污水管，下水道( sewer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sewers discharge out at sea. 下水道的污水排入海里。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Another municipal waste problem is street runoff into storm sewers. 有关都市废水的另外一个问题是进入雨水沟的街道雨水。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

14 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

15 inefficient   

adj.效率低的，无效的

参考例句：

• The inefficient operation cost the firm a lot of money.低效率的运作使该公司损失了许多钱。
• Their communication systems are inefficient in the extreme.他们的通讯系统效率非常差。