纽约时报 斯里兰卡发生连环自杀式爆炸案(1)（在线收听）

Bomb Attacks Rock Sri Lanka

斯里兰卡发生连环自杀式爆炸案

The clock hands on the steeple of St. Anthony’s Shrine were stuck at 8:45 a.m.,

圣安东尼教堂尖顶上的时钟指针停在了上午8点45分的位置，

the exact moment when the first suicide bomber’s explosion ripped through the wooden pews as Easter Sunday worshipers were praying.

也就是在那一刻，第一起自杀式炸弹袭击炸穿了教堂里的木头长椅，当时，礼拜人群正在参加复活节礼拜。

Minutes later, a second suicide blast shattered the Sunday brunch tranquillity at the Shangri-La Hotel’s Table One Restaurant, a favorite of foreign tourists.

几分钟后，第二起自杀式爆炸又打破了深受外国游客喜爱的香格里拉酒店一号餐厅周日早午餐的宁静时光。

Within a few hours on Sunday,

短短几个小时之内，

suicide bombings hit three Catholic churches and three upscale hotels in the Indian Ocean island nation of Sri Lanka,

斯里兰卡这个印度洋岛国就有三座天主教堂和三家高档酒店遇袭，

still recovering from a quarter-century civil war in which the suicide bomb was pioneered.

而这种袭击方式首创于那场持续了四分之一个世纪，直到现在他们都没能从中恢复过来的内战。

The death toll in the attacks rose to 290, with about 500 people wounded, a police spokesman, Ruwan Gunasekera, said,

据警方发言人鲁万·古纳塞克拉透露，袭击造成的死亡人数已上升至290人，另有近500人受伤，

although he would not give a breakdown of where the fatalities occurred.

不过他不愿透露具体的事故地点。

The finance minister, Mangala Samaraweera, called the attacks “a well-coordinated attempt to create murder, mayhem and anarchy.”

财政部长曼加拉·萨马拉维拉称这些袭击是“一起精心策划的谋杀、破坏和制造混乱的活动”。

By day’s end, the police said at least 13 people had been arrested

截至当天傍晚，警方表示，至少有13人

in connection with the attacks in the capital, Colombo, and the cities of Negombo and Batticaloa.

因涉嫌在首都科伦坡以及尼贡博和巴蒂卡洛亚两座城市发动袭击被捕。

Seven of them were seized at a hide-out after one suspect blew himself up, killing three officers.

其中有7人是继一名嫌疑人引爆身上的炸弹，炸死了3名警察后，在一个藏身处被抓获的。

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

目前还没有人承认对此事负有直接责任。

The police said they believed the bombings were the work of one group but declined to identify it.

警方表示，他们认为此次连环爆炸案是某个组织所为，但拒绝透露其具体身份。

At least 36 of the victims were believed to be foreigners, including several Americans.

据说，至少有36名遇难者是外国人，其中还包括几名美国人。

For years, as Sri Lanka has climbed away from war, it has been building a robust tourism industry.

多年来，已经逐步摆脱战争阴影的斯里兰卡一直在努力强大其旅游业。

The bombings were the deadliest attack on Christians in South Asia in recent memory

这次的连环爆炸事件是近年来发生在南亚地区的针对基督徒的袭击中最致命的一次，

and punctuated a rising trend of religious-based violence in the region.

凸显了该地区宗教暴力活动正在不断上升的趋势。

The St. Anthony’s Shrine blast left a scene of broken bodies, billowing black smoke and splintered wood.

圣安东尼教堂爆炸案留下的是一幅满目是残缺的尸体，滚滚的黑烟和破碎的木头的景象。

“It was a river of blood,” said N. A. Sumanapala, a shopkeeper near the church who said he had run inside to help.

“血都流成河了，”教堂附近的一位店主，称自己曾冲进教堂救人的N.A.苏马纳帕拉说道。

“Ash was falling like snow,” he said. “I saw limbs and heads. There were children, too.”

“烧焦的灰烬像雪一样飘落下来，”他说。“我看到了被炸飞的胳膊，腿还有头。里面还有孩子。”

The shock of the bombings and the anger they generated

在某高级警官10天前就警告安全官员，

was compounded by news that a top police official had alerted security officials 10 days earlier

伊斯兰极端组织“全国伊斯兰祈祷者”已经对教堂构成威胁这一消息传出后，

about a threat to churches from a radical Islamist group, National Thowheeth Jama’ath.

爆炸案带来的民众的震惊和愤怒情绪变得更加强烈。

It was unclear what precautions, if any, had been taken,

目前尚不清楚他们采取了怎样的预防措施(如果真有采取的话)，

or whether that group had played any role in the assaults.

也不清楚该组织是否真的参与到了袭击之中。

Sri Lanka’s prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, pointedly said he and other ministers had not been warned,

斯里兰卡总理拉尼尔·维克勒马辛哈明确表示，他和其他部长都没有收到警告信息，

in what appeared to be a sign of the recent frictions within the government hierarchy.

这似乎也是斯里兰卡政府领导层最近在发生摩擦的一个迹象。

“We must look into why adequate precautions were not taken,” he said at a news conference.

“我们必须调查清楚有关方没有采取足够的预防措施的原因，”他在新闻发布会上说。

For now, he said, “the priority is to apprehend the attackers.”

他还说，但目前的“首要任务是缉拿那些袭击者。”