VOA标准英语2013--Islamist Radicals React Online to Boston Attacks

 

Islamist Radicals¹ React Online to Boston Attacks

The bombings at the Boston Marathon not only caught U.S. intelligence services by surprise; on Jihadist websites, debate has raged over the motivations and implications, according to Shiraz Maher of the International Center for the Study of Radicalization located in London.

"In the most generic² and broadest sense, there was a sense of celebration on the Jihadi forums³. These guys are committed Jihadists. They hate the United States and the West,"  Maher said.

But, says Maher, some online users thought the Boston attacks had diminished their cause.

 "They felt that this might compromise more spectacular and larger scale attacks. And there was also a sense that the amateurishness⁴ of the attacks would also kind of detract from al-Qaida's modus operandi, which has traditionally focused on large scale, spectacular attacks," Maher said.

However Maher says there is a realization⁵ among Jihadists that their ability to stage such attacks causing mass casualties has been reduced by Western intelligence and security.

"Al-Qaida's developed a new tactic⁶ which is to essentially⁷ say, even if it can't take lives directly, it wants to inflict⁸ economic and financial losses on the United States and the West more generally," Maher said.

The chief suspects in the Boston attacks, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, appear to have planned the attacks without outside help.

Terror analyst⁹ Raffaello Pantucci of the Royal United Services Institute says al-Qaida cells based in the Middle East and Africa are encouraging radicalized individuals in the West through the internet.

"Open-source jihad as they call it, in which individuals are very much empowered or the emphasis is on them to launch attacks where they can on targets that they specifically identify using materials to hand," Pantucci said.

Pantucci says the challenge for intelligence services is that so-called 'lone¹⁰ wolves' may not be detected by traditional means like monitoring communications.

"They don't necessarily set these trip wires off. And so therefore intelligence agencies aren't able to rely on that," he said. "As a result this is a much harder prospect¹¹ to try to identify and prevent earlier. How can you tell that an individual like Tamerlan Tsarnaev is headed down the path that he was?"

Analysis by the International Centre for the Study of Radicalization suggests up to 600 foreign Jihadists from Europe alone have travelled to fight in Syria. Maher says the focus appears to have moved away from the West.

"Syria is almost certainly the number one priroty today for the online Jihadist community and for Jihadists on the ground. So in a sense there's a slight recalibration of priorities, where the Islamists and Jihadists think they have a real opportunity to shape events on the ground," Maher said.

The danger for the West, say analysts¹², comes when the Syrian conflict ends and the foreign Jihadists return home. 

1 radicals   

n.激进分子( radical的名词复数 )；根基；基本原理；[数学]根数

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals. 一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The worry is that the radicals will grow more intransigent. 现在人们担忧激进分子会变得更加不妥协。 来自辞典例句

2 generic   

adj.一般的，普通的，共有的

参考例句：

• I usually buy generic clothes instead of name brands.我通常买普通的衣服，不买名牌。
• The generic woman appears to have an extraordinary faculty for swallowing the individual.一般妇女在婚后似乎有特别突出的抑制个性的能力。

3 forums   

讨论会； 座谈会； 广播专题讲话节目； 集会的公共场所( forum的名词复数 )； 论坛，讨论会，专题讨论节目； 法庭

参考例句：

• A few of the forums were being closely monitored by the administrators. 有些论坛被管理员严密监控。
• It can cast a dark cloud over these forums. 它将是的论坛上空布满乌云。

4 amateurishness   

n.amateurish（业余的）的变形

参考例句：

• The greater the failures became, the more obstinately his incurable amateurishness came to the fore. 失败越大，他那种不可救药的“行家”习性就越顽固地显示出来。 来自辞典例句

5 realization   

n.实现；认识到，深刻了解

参考例句：

• We shall gladly lend every effort in our power toward its realization.我们将乐意为它的实现而竭尽全力。
• He came to the realization that he would never make a good teacher.他逐渐认识到自己永远不会成为好老师。

6 tactic   

n.战略，策略；adj.战术的，有策略的

参考例句：

• Reducing prices is a common sales tactic.降价是常用的销售策略。
• She had often used the tactic of threatening to resign.她惯用以辞职相威胁的手法。

7 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

8 inflict   

vt.(on)把…强加给，使遭受，使承担

参考例句：

• Don't inflict your ideas on me.不要把你的想法强加于我。
• Don't inflict damage on any person.不要伤害任何人。

9 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

10 lone   

adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的

参考例句：

• A lone sea gull flew across the sky.一只孤独的海鸥在空中飞过。
• She could see a lone figure on the deserted beach.她在空旷的海滩上能看到一个孤独的身影。

11 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

12 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。