VOA标准英语2013--FBI Interviews Boston Area Chechens About Bombing Suspects

 

FBI Interviews Boston Area Chechens About Bombing Suspects

At a picnic with friends, Maryam Baieva and her brother Islam talked about coming to the Boston area as refugees¹ from their native Chechnya more than a decade ago.

They are about the same age as Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who along with his older brother Tamerlan, is accused of the terrorist² bombings at the Boston Marathon that killed three people and wounded more than 250 others.

Both Maryam and Islam were interviewed by the FBI, but Maryam says she only knew Dzhokhar for a brief time back when she was in second grade.

“He was a normal kid.  He is a very smart kid.  He would help me with my math homework all the time and he would tease³ me about me not knowing my math correctly, but he is a smart kid," she said.

Islam Baiev says he did not know the brothers at all and was stunned⁴ to learn that fellow Chechens stand accused of committing such horrific violence.

“My first initial⁵ reaction was, 'Please do not be a Muslim.  And not only was it a Muslim, it was a Chechen, so I was really shocked and [it] disappointed me.  I felt a little embarrassed," he said.

Maryam speculated⁶ that because the Tsarnaev brothers never lived in Chechnya during the war, as her family had, they likely did not appreciate the safety and support they received in America.

“In Chechnya thousands and thousands of people have gotten killed. We've seen buildings exploding. We have seen a lot of destruction.  But the kid that has never stepped a foot there, never seen that, I do not know what he was thinking.  Me and my brother, we feel very lucky to be in America, to be away from that," she said.

Since moving to the Boston area, Maryam and Islam say they have been embraced by the community and grateful for the opportunity to live normal lives. 

1 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。

2 terrorist   

n.恐怖主义者，恐怖分子

参考例句：

• Without the gun,I'm a sitting duck for any terrorist.没有这支枪，我就成了恐怖分子下手的目标了。
• The district was put on red alert during a terrorist's bomb scare.这个地区在得到恐怖分子炸弹恐吓后作了应急准备。

3 tease   

vt.戏弄，取笑，挑逗，撩拨；n.戏弄人者

参考例句：

• The other boys tease him because he is fat.因为他很胖，所以其他男生都取笑他。
• His friends used to tease him about his tatty clothes.他的朋友过去常常笑话他破旧的衣服。

4 stunned   

adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The fall stunned me for a moment. 那一下摔得我昏迷了片刻。
• The leaders of the Kopper Company were then stunned speechless. 科伯公司的领导们当时被惊得目瞪口呆。

5 initial   

adj.最初的，开始的，词首的；n.首字母，姓名的开头字母；vt.标注姓名的首字母于

参考例句：

• After she'd overcome her initial shyness,she became very friendly.她克服了起初的羞怯之后，变得十分友善。
• The experiments have given initial results eventually.那些试验总算初见成效了。

6 speculated   

思索，猜测，推测( speculate的过去式和过去分词 )； 投机

参考例句：

• We all speculated about the reasons for her resignation. 我们大家都推测过她辞职的原因。
• The philosopher speculated about the future of the human race. 那位哲学家考虑过人类的前途。