美国国家公共电台 NPR 伦敦桥恐袭致2人死亡 路人用独角鲸牙反击(在线收听

The people who took down a man armed with a knife on London Bridge are being called heroes. One man grabbed a narwhal tusk; another man had a fire extinguisher. Two people were killed in the attack, and several others were injured, but it could have been much worse. NPR's Frank Langfitt has been following all of this from London. Hi, Frank.

FRANK LANGFITT, BYLINE: Hi. Good morning, Noel.

KING: So I know that this story is still developing, but tell me what we know happened.

LANGFITT: Sure. It's an extraordinary story, and every day, as details come out, it becomes more so. This all happened at a building right at the edge of London Bridge. It was an event for a prisoner rehabilitation program that was run by Cambridge Universities in which — University in which students and prisoners studied together in prison.

Now, the terrorist, a guy named Usman Khan, he had actually participated in the program. He'd spent time in prison earlier on terror charges. He went to the event and went on a rampage, effectively attacking those who tried to help him, killing two people, as you mentioned. Then there's this counterattack where people who are in the building — one guy grabs a narwhal tusk; another grabs the fire extinguisher. They chase Usman Khan out onto London Bridge, stabbing at him with the narwhal tusk, hitting him with the fire extinguisher, basically capturing him. Police come in and then killed Khan on the bridge.

KING: As you said, some really extraordinary details. How are just regular people in the U.K. responding to all this?

LANGFITT: You know, this is the fifth attack I've covered, at least, here in London in the last three years, terror attacks. And they're usually — there's not much — I mean, usually, it's just a lot of carnage. This is one where I think people have pride. They find it a bit reassuring, the way people stepped up like this. Also, this is a country that hasn't had a lot to celebrate. Brexit has been tearing the country apart in a lot of ways.

The guy who grabbed the tusk actually is a man named Lukasz from Poland. And so this has a lot of resonance because, if you remember, in the Brexit vote in 2016, a lot of people voted to actually push immigrants out. They didn't want more immigrants coming in, like this man. He's the one, indeed, who's one of the heroes, it seems. Poland wants to give him a medal for what he did. And today, London Mayor Sadiq Khan, he spoke at a vigil for the victims, and here's what he had to say.

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SADIQ KHAN: The best way to defeat this hatred is not by turning on one another, but it's by focusing on the values that bind us, to take hope from the heroism of ordinary Londoners who ran towards danger, risking their lives to help people they didn't even know.

KING: Well, let's talk about those people. Over the weekend, Frank, police did identify the victims. What do we know about them?

LANGFITT: Well, any stories like this is tragic, but this especially so because they were very young and promising. Two Cambridge University graduates in their 20s who were studying criminology — Saskia Jones, she volunteered at this event on Friday; and a man named Jack Merritt, the other victim, was helping to coordinate the event — both described as very thoughtful, compassionate and having bright futures. And the headline in the Cambridge News was, quote, "they tried to make the world a better place."

KING: Britain's holding national elections in 10 days. Has this attack become part of the campaigning?

LANGFITT: Inevitably, in this environment, it quickly became a political football. Usman Khan, he got out on early release because of this terror conviction we were — I was mentioning. So Prime Minister Boris Johnson, he says that Khan was released under policies under the rival government, the opposition Labour Party, which he's battling against to stay in the prime minister's office. And here is what Johnson said. He's going to get much tougher on crime. And here's what he said on Sky News.

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PRIME MINISTER BORIS JOHNSON: I have long said that this system simply isn't working. It does not make sense for us, as a society, to be putting terrorist — people convicted of terrorist offenses — of serious, violent offenses — out on early release.

LANGFITT: Family members of the victims said that they should not be politicized.

KING: NPR's Frank Langfitt in London. Frank, thanks so much.

LANGFITT: You're very welcome, Noel.

在伦敦桥上制服持刀男子的民众被誉为英雄。制服凶犯的民众中,一名男子拿着独角鲸牙,另一名男子手持灭火器。这起袭击造成两人死亡,另有多人受伤,而情况本可能更加糟糕。NPR新闻的弗兰克·朗菲特一直在伦敦追踪事件进展。你好,弗兰克。

弗兰克·朗菲特连线:你好。早上好,诺埃尔。

金:我知道这起事件还在不断发展,请你介绍一下目前我们了解到的情况。

朗菲特:好。这是一起非同寻常的事件,每天都有新的细节流出,这使该事件更加不同寻常。事情发生在伦敦桥一侧的大楼。案发时剑桥大学的囚犯康复计划正在进行活动,剑桥大学的学生会和囚犯在监狱中共同学习。

恐怖分子乌斯曼·汗曾参加过该项目。他此前曾因恐怖罪行在监狱中服刑。他实施了这一残暴行为,实际上他袭击了曾试图帮助他的学生,如你刚才所说,这起袭击致两人死亡。之后,大楼里的民众进行了反击,一名男子拿着独角鲸牙,另一名男子手持灭火器。他们将乌斯曼·汗追至伦敦桥上,用独角鲸牙捅他、用灭火器打他,最后制服了他。警方赶到现场后,在伦敦桥上击毙了汗。

金:如你所说,这真是令人震惊的细节。英国普通民众对此作何反应?

朗菲特:这至少是我报道的第五起袭击案,也就是说,伦敦在过去三年至少发生了五起恐怖袭击。通常这些袭击都是大屠杀。但我认为这起案件会令人们感到自豪。他们感到了宽慰,因为有人会像这样挺身而出。另外,英国没有太多值得庆祝的事情。从很多方面来说,英国脱欧一直在分裂这个国家。

用独角鲸牙反击的男子名为卢卡兹,他是波兰人。这实际上引发了很多反响,如果你还记得,2016年英国举行脱欧公投时,许多英国人投票支持将移民赶出英国。他们不希望更多像这名男子一样的移民进入英国。但这名移民却是奋起反击的英雄之一。波兰希望授予他一枚奖章以表彰他的勇敢行为。今天,伦敦市长萨迪克·汗在为遇害者守夜的活动上发表了讲话,下面是他所说。

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萨迪克·汗:战胜这种仇恨行为的最佳方式并不是互相攻击,而是关注使我们团结在一起的价值观,从普通伦敦市民的英勇行为中获得希望,他们冒着生命危险冲向危险情况,帮助那些他们甚至不认识的民众。

金:我们来谈谈遇害者。弗兰克,上周末警方并没有确认遇害者的身份。目前我们对他们有何了解?

朗菲特:这类事件都非常悲惨,但这起事件尤为如此,因为遇害者非常年轻而且前途无量。遇害者是两名剑桥大学犯罪学系的毕业生,二人都只有20来岁,萨斯基亚·琼斯是周五那场活动的志愿者;另一名受害者是杰克·梅里特,他当时在帮助协调活动,二人都被描述为“体贴、富有同情心而且前途一片光明的人”。剑桥新闻的头条标题是“他们曾试图让世界变得更加美好。”

金:英国将在10天后举行国家选举。这起袭击有没有成为竞选的部分议题?

朗菲特:在这种环境下,这一事件必然会迅速成为政治话题。乌斯曼·汗曾因恐怖罪行被定罪,但他得以提前获释。英国首相鲍里斯·约翰逊表示,汗因为反对党工党的政策而得以获释,约翰逊正在对抗工党以保住首相之位。下面我们来听听约翰逊有何表态。他说他计划对犯罪分子采取更严厉的措施。下面是他接受天空新闻的采访时所说。

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英国首相鲍里斯·约翰逊:长期以来,我一直认为这一系统根本没有任何作用。作为社会整体来说,让因恐怖主义和严重暴力罪行被定罪的罪犯提前获释完全不合理。

朗菲特:遇害者的家人表示,他们的遇害不应被政治化。

金:以上是NPR新闻的弗兰克·朗菲特从伦敦带来的报道。弗兰克,非常谢谢你。

朗菲特:不客气,诺埃尔。

  原文地址:http://www.tingroom.com/lesson/npr2019/12/494505.html