2006年VOA标准英语-Guantanamo Detainees Single Out Female Gua

By Al Pessin
Guantanamo
01 February 2006

At the U.S. military detention¹ center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba nearly 500 detainees, most of them captured during the Afghanistan war, await release or trial.  Many of them have been held for more than four years, and are suspected of being key figures in the al-Qaida terrorist network or the Taleban movement that gave the terrorists sanctuary² when it ruled Afghanistan.  Officials say most of the detainees are fairly cooperative with guards and interrogators, but sometimes the frustration³ of being incarcerated⁴ for so long boils over.

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Sign at entrance of Camp Delta⁵ 
  

The Guantanamo detainees live behind fences and razor wire, the uncooperative ones restricted to a small cell for most of the day.  Aside from each other, and occasional meetings with lawyers or interrogators, the only people they interact with are their unarmed guards, mostly young U.S. Navy seamen⁶ with special training.

And some of them are women.

"I've noticed that as I walk, a lot of them will look away from me, and a lot of them won't want me to do anything for them because I'm a female.  But then there's some that actually want me to do whatever, and will actually holler for me instead of one of the males," said Cassandra Wiggins

Seaman⁷ Wiggins, 20, is petite with just over one year in the Navy.  Her blonde hair is tied into a bun under her camouflage⁸ cap.  She says some of the detainees who are willing to interact with her at all seem to delight in singling her out for verbal abuse.

"I've been called quite a few names, some pretty bad names that I've never been called before," she added.  "I've had people tell me that they've never heard anybody cursed out or talked bad to as bad as I have when I've been on the blocks.  Not all of them do it, because most of them won't talk to me, but the ones that do, if I don't do what they say they'll call me a name.  They'll call me, like, a whore or, I mean, just anything that they think is going to make me mad."

Camp Delta cell block for uncooperative detainees  
  
Seaman Wiggins says many of the detainees speak English well enough to insult her in her own language.  But others launch diatribes⁹ in their languages such as Arabic, Pashto or Persian.

"I've had a detainee yelling at me in their language.  The interpreter would look at me and go, like, 'Whoa, he's really cursing you out,'" she said.

But not all of the interaction is vulgar.  Aside from everyday requests, Seaman Wiggins says sometimes the detainees try to get her and other guards to discuss world politics.

"If we mess something up or they just feel like they're having a bad day, they'll sit there and talk to us about 9/11 and about Osama bin¹⁰ Laden¹¹ and say this and that and blah, blah, blah.  I don't respond," she explained.  "If they start talking about it I just, I'll walk away.  I mean, we're told not to respond.  And if we walk away and we keep a straight face, like a poker¹² face or whatever, they'll stop eventually."
 
 
Camp Delta Quarters for cooperative detainees
  
That is Seaman Wiggins' main strategy for dealing¹³ with outbursts from the detainees at Guantanamo.

But how did a young woman who looks like she belongs on a university campus or at shopping at a mall back home in the Midwestern state of Ohio end up guarding alleged¹⁴ global terrorists?  She decided¹⁵ to join the Navy after high school, and trained as a Master at Arms, the Navy's term for military police who guard Navy installations.  But when she finished her training, she says she was sort of asked, and sort of told she would be going to Guantanamo.

"I was kind of 'volun-told.'  But, you know, you've got to do what you've got to do," she said.

Seaman Wiggins acknowledges that she never expected any duty like this when she joined the Navy.

Guard tower at Camp Delta   
  
Pessin:  Did it give you any second thought?

Wiggins: No.  No, not really.

Pessin:  What did you think you'd be doing?

Wiggins:  Well, I thought I'd be like just guarding gates, standing¹⁶ gate duty.  But this is what our rate [job classification] is going to, so, I mean, we kind of all have to expect to do this now.

After four months guarding detainees at Guantanamo, Seaman Cassandra Wiggins says while some of the experience is not pleasant, she doesn't mind all that much.

"Some of it, just, I'm like, wow, how can people actually call you stuff like that, and things.  But, I mean, for the most part it's not as bad as we all thought it was going to be," she said.

Indeed, with eight months to go in her Guantanamo deployment¹⁷, she says she might even volunteer to return someday, particularly if that would enable a married colleague to stay home with his or her family.

1 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

2 sanctuary   

n.圣所，圣堂，寺庙；禁猎区，保护区

参考例句：

• There was a sanctuary of political refugees behind the hospital.医院后面有一个政治难民的避难所。
• Most countries refuse to give sanctuary to people who hijack aeroplanes.大多数国家拒绝对劫机者提供庇护。

3 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

4 incarcerated   

钳闭的

参考例句：

• They were incarcerated for the duration of the war. 战争期间，他们被关在狱中。 来自辞典例句
• I don't want to worry them by being incarcerated. 我不想让他们知道我被拘禁的事情。 来自电影对白

5 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。

6 seamen   

n.海员

参考例句：

• Experienced seamen will advise you about sailing in this weather. 有经验的海员会告诉你在这种天气下的航行情况。
• In the storm, many seamen wished they were on shore. 在暴风雨中，许多海员想，要是他们在陆地上就好了。

7 seaman   

n.海员，水手，水兵

参考例句：

• That young man is a experienced seaman.那个年轻人是一个经验丰富的水手。
• The Greek seaman went to the hospital five times.这位希腊海员到该医院去过五次。

8 camouflage   

n./v.掩饰，伪装

参考例句：

• The white fur of the polar bear is a natural camouflage.北极熊身上的白色的浓密软毛是一种天然的伪装。
• The animal's markings provide effective camouflage.这种动物身上的斑纹是很有效的伪装。

9 diatribes   

n.谩骂，讽刺( diatribe的名词复数 )

参考例句：

10 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

11 laden   

adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的

参考例句：

• He is laden with heavy responsibility.他肩负重任。
• Dragging the fully laden boat across the sand dunes was no mean feat.将满载货物的船拖过沙丘是一件了不起的事。

12 poker   

n.扑克；vt.烙制

参考例句：

• He was cleared out in the poker game.他打扑克牌，把钱都输光了。
• I'm old enough to play poker and do something with it.我打扑克是老手了，可以玩些花样。

13 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

14 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

15 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

16 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。

17 deployment   

n. 部署,展开

参考例句：

• He has inquired out the deployment of the enemy troops. 他已查出敌军的兵力部署情况。
• Quality function deployment (QFD) is a widely used customer-driven quality, design and manufacturing management tool. 质量功能展开(quality function deployment,QFD)是一个广泛应用的顾客需求驱动的设计、制造和质量管理工具。