美国国家公共电台 NPR A Syrian Teen, Forced To Flee 'A Land Of Permanent Goodbyes'

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Atia Abawi is used to looking at war as a journalist. She covered war in Iraq and in Afghanistan, which is the country her own family fled in the early 1980s. But when the stories she wanted to tell pushed up against the limits of a news cycle, she found fiction.

ATIA ABAWI: It was a way for me as a journalist to go beyond those 700 words or that two-minute clip¹ to give insight², to give the full story a depth that the reader could take in and find a way to empathize more with the people who are struggling.

MARTIN: The people struggling in Abawi's novels are young. These books are written with teens in mind. In her newest novel, she dares readers to look beyond the headlines of one of the biggest news stories in recent years, the story of Syrian refugees⁴. Abawi researches her fiction like a journalist. She went to refugee³ camps in Turkey. She sat down and heard the stories from refugees. The culmination⁵ of all that research is a novel about a Syrian teenage boy named Tareq who lives with his family in an unnamed Syrian city. We meet him on a normal day.

ABAWI: His mom was cooking in the kitchen. His grandmother was enjoying a small glass of tea. His little brothers and sisters were playing and watching TV. Then that typical day is destroyed by an airstrike.

MARTIN: The book, "A Land Of Permanent Goodbyes," details Tareq's excruciating journey from the moment the bomb hits his family's home.

ABAWI: He's sent to the hospital, where he does get some good news that his little sister is alive. But then a doctor takes him to a room and he sees his two 6-month-old little brothers dead on a gurney. And it seems very dark, but it's a situation that happens all the time. And really, it's based on real characters, including those twins. I've seen pictures of the twins laying on the gurney, and it's the sad truth.

MARTIN: Tareq's story - we just described how we meet him. He has endured this inconceivable loss. And then that's just the beginning, right? Like, those are just the opening pages. And he eventually makes it to Turkey, and then he's beset⁶ by a whole other set of challenges that are just inconceivable. Presumably⁷, you heard those stories too of people making it one step. Talk about what it's like for people who get only so far and then are again faced with other decisions about, how can we go on?

ABAWI: What really motivated me to write the story, in fact, I was researching a completely different book when I, myself, was captivated with what I was seeing on my own television screen. When I was seeing those families who were making that first step out of Syria, I thought about my own parents and what they went through and what they continue to really go through, despite them leaving Afghanistan in 1981.

It's not an issue of, oh, I want to leave for a better life. Yes, you want to leave for that better life, but you're also leaving behind your whole existence, really. My mom was pregnant⁸ with me when they escaped. I was born a refugee in Germany in our first stop, and then we came to America when I was 1.

MARTIN: Your parents fled the Soviet⁹ invasion in Afghanistan?

ABAWI: Yes. So when I was watching these refugees making their journey and I saw what they were going through, I knew that this was just their first step. And for Tareq, the character in my book, he goes to Turkey. He's a second-class citizen there. He's going to go to Europe. He's going to be a second-class citizen there. There are people who don't want him. There are people who fear him, despite him being the one who's really afraid.

MARTIN: Can you tell me about the experience of hearing all these stories and what I imagine would be a profound¹⁰ responsibility to make sure that you were paying tribute¹¹ to those stories that people entrusted¹² to you and doing right by those people and those stories? And at the same time, you only have one narrative¹³ to tell. You only got so many characters with whom to imbue¹⁴ with all these experiences. Did that feel like a burden or a responsibility to get it right?

ABAWI: Absolutely. And you're absolutely right in saying that there are many narratives¹⁵. There's not just one refugee with one story. There are those who left with a lot of money. There are those who left dirt poor from a village. There are those who come from Syria, those who come from Afghanistan, those who come from Somalia or Sudan. But I did take the responsibility very seriously. In fact, I internalized it a lot. And it makes it much more difficult because you are shedding those tears as you're doing your research - not in front of the person that you're interviewing, but later, you come home, and you think about it.

You look at your child or your family, and you're just so grateful for what you have. And then you're wondering why you have that and they don't anymore. And then you also think about the fact that tomorrow, this could be taken from us as well. But I did take it very seriously. And I kept in touch with some of the people that I interviewed, the ones that I could keep in touch with because I could never go to Raqqa because it was under ISIS's control. I was directly in contact, calling a Syrian from Raqqa on WhatsApp. I would send him my chapters. And he would tell me, well, this seems a little unrealistic. It's more like this. And then I would tweak my story to whatever he told me. Luckily, he was able to get out. He's in Europe right now. But it was something that I did take to heart.

MARTIN: Is there someone you met who you you're worried about right now?

ABAWI: All of them, every single one of them. Many of them made it to Europe, but there are many that are being pushed out and being sent back to places like Afghanistan. So I do think about every single one almost on a daily basis.

MARTIN: There is a paragraph that stood out to me as crystallizing a lot of what this book is about and what you referenced¹⁶ earlier, the idea of empathy. And this is a paragraph near the end. It's when Tareq is kind of pushing back the horrors that he sees in the water because he has spent so much of his journey in the water trying to get to safety, if you don't mind sharing this with us.

ABAWI: Absolutely, love to.

(Reading) The sea kept tormenting¹⁷ him. No matter how much he rattled¹⁸ his head, the memories were far stronger. They were all he could see. And the truth is they will never fully¹⁹ fade. He will continue to have flashbacks and nightmares²⁰ throughout his life. The memories will fill him, making him anxious. Some humans can shrug²¹ off stress better than others. But when your soul feels too much, that trauma²² makes a home in your heart. But it's not a weakness or even an illness. To feel so much means you can find empathy. When you can sense the pain of others, that is a power to hold onto. That is a power that can change the world you live in.

MARTIN: The book is called "A Land Of Permanent Goodbyes." It is a novel written by Atia Abawi. Thank you so much for talking with us.

ABAWI: Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it.

(SOUNDBITE OF ABAJI'S "KADIKOY")

1 clip   

n.夹子，别针，弹夹，片断；vt.夹住，修剪

参考例句：

• May I clip out the report on my performance?我能把报道我的文章剪下来吗？
• She fastened the papers together with a paper clip.她用曲别针把文件别在一起。

2 insight   

n.洞察力，洞悉，深刻的见解

参考例句：

• Good teachers have insight into the problems of students.好的教师能洞察学生的问题。
• The research will provide direct insight into molecular mechanisms.这项研究将使人能够直接地了解分子的机理。

3 refugee   

n.难民，流亡者

参考例句：

• The refugee was condemned to a life of wandering.这个难民注定要过流浪的生活。
• The refugee is suffering for want of food and medical supplies.难民苦于缺少食物和医药用品。

4 refugees   

n.避难者，难民( refugee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The UN has begun making airdrops of food to refugees. 联合国已开始向难民空投食物。
• They claimed they were political refugees and not economic migrants. 他们宣称自己是政治难民，不是经济移民。

5 culmination   

n.顶点；最高潮

参考例句：

• The space race reached its culmination in the first moon walk.太空竞争以第一次在月球行走而达到顶峰。
• It may truly be regarded as the culmination of classical Greek geometry.这确实可以看成是古典希腊几何的登峰造级之作。

6 beset   

v.镶嵌；困扰，包围

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• The plan was beset with difficulties from the beginning.这项计划自开始就困难重重。

7 presumably   

adv.据推测，大概，可能

参考例句：

• No reply from him yet,presumably he hasn't received my letter.他没有回信，想必没有收到我的信。
• Presumably she could be trusted to find a safe place.或许满可以相信她，找得到安全的所在。

8 pregnant   

adj.怀孕的，怀胎的

参考例句：

• She is a pregnant woman.她是一名孕妇。
• She is pregnant with her first child.她怀了第一胎。

9 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

10 profound   

adj.深奥的，造诣深的；深度的，极度的

参考例句：

• I give you my profound thanks for saving my life.我对您的救命之恩深表谢意。
• He has a profound knowledge of mathematics.他数学知识渊博。

11 tribute   

n.颂词，称赞，(表示敬意的)礼物；贡品

参考例句：

• She accepted their tribute graciously.她慈祥地接受了他们的致意。
• Many conquered nations had to pay tribute to the rulers of ancient Rome.许多被征服的国家必须向古罗马的统治者朝贡。

12 entrusted   

v.委托，托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He entrusted the task to his nephew. 他把这任务托付给了他的侄儿。
• She was entrusted with the direction of the project. 她受委托负责这项计划。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

14 imbue   

v.灌输(某种强烈的情感或意见)，感染

参考例句：

• He managed to imbue his employees with team spirit.他成功激发起雇员的团队精神。
• Kass is trying to imbue physics into simulated worlds.凯斯想要尝试的就是把物理学引入模拟世界。

15 narratives   

记叙文( narrative的名词复数 )； 故事； 叙述； 叙述部分

参考例句：

• Marriage, which has been the bourne of so many narratives, is still a great beginning. 结婚一向是许多小说的终点，然而也是一个伟大的开始。
• This is one of the narratives that children are fond of. 这是孩子们喜欢的故事之一。

16 referenced   

adj.参考的，引用的

参考例句：

• The reader is cross-referenced to the entry "center". 读者可参见center词条。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Each new volume is thoroughly referenced. 每本新书都有详细的附注。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

17 tormenting   

使痛苦的，使苦恼的

参考例句：

• He took too much pleasure in tormenting an ugly monster called Caliban. 他喜欢一味捉弄一个名叫凯列班的丑妖怪。
• The children were scolded for tormenting animals. 孩子们因折磨动物而受到责骂。

18 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。

19 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

20 nightmares   

n.噩梦( nightmare的名词复数 )；可怕的事情，无法摆脱的恐惧

参考例句：

• He still has nightmares about the accident. 他仍然做噩梦梦见这场事故。
• Art thou not afraid of nightmares and hideous dreams?\" 你难道不怕睡魇和凶梦吗？” 来自英汉文学 - 红字

21 shrug   

v.耸肩(表示怀疑、冷漠、不知等)

参考例句：

• With a shrug,he went out of the room.他耸一下肩，走出了房间。
• I admire the way she is able to shrug off unfair criticism.我很佩服她能对错误的批评意见不予理会。

22 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。