VOA慢速英语:Syrian ‘Citizen Journalists’ Use Social Media to Spread News Restricted by Government

Social media networks have come to play an important part in the political unrest in Syria. The Syrian government barred most media from the country after the unrest began almost one year ago. But that has not stopped Syrians from getting out information to the rest of the world. Many Syrians have turned to social media like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter to help spread reports about what is happening in the country.
社交媒体在叙利亚的政治动荡中扮演重要的角色。在这次动乱于近一年来，叙利亚政府禁止了来自该国的媒体。但这并不能阻止叙利亚人将信息传播到世界其他地方。许多叙利亚人已经转向社交媒体，例如YouTube、Facebook和Twitter，来协助传播叙利亚正发生的事情。

(SOUND - EXPLOSIONS FROM VIDEO OF HOMS SHELLING)
（声音）

That is the sound of explosions from a video on YouTube.  The video is said to show shells falling on the city of Homs.
这个爆炸的声音来自YouTube视频。据说该视频展示了炮弹落在霍姆斯市的情景。

This is one of hundreds, possibly thousands of similar videos placed on social media websites in the past few weeks. With few foreign reporters in Syria, social media have become a major tool for telling the world what is happening. Many news organizations have had to depend on reports and videos from people they call citizen journalists.
这是过去几个星期社交媒体网站上数百乃至数千个类似视频中的一个。在叙利亚的外国记者很少，社交媒体已经成为告诉世界叙利亚正在发生的事情的一个重要工具。许多新闻机构不得不依赖他们所谓的公民记者提供的报道和录像。

Emanuelle Esposti has been studying the use of such videos by foreign media. She operates a blog and lives in Britain.
Emanuelle Esposti一直在研究这类视频在外国媒体中的使用。她在运营一个博客并住在英国。

EMANUELLE ESPOSTI: “It’s very difficult to know where that video has actually come from, who’s behind it, why are they behind it… Because there’s nobody there on the ground, because there’s no reporter there that can say ‘oh yes, I’ve looked out of my window and I’ve seen this.’”
EMANUELLE ESPOSTI：“这很难知道这些视频实际上从何而来，谁拍摄了它，他们为何藏身背后...因为没人在现场，没有记者可以在那里说‘是的，我通过窗户看到了这些。’”

Last week, Syria’s deputy oil minister resigned his position to join the opposition. In a video on YouTube, Abdo Husameddine criticized the government of President Bashar al-Assad. He said the government had, in his words, “brought a year of sadness and misery to those you claim to be your people.” He also said the government had deprived its people of basic needs and humanity and brought the country to the edge of disaster.
上周，叙利亚石油部副部长Abdo Husameddine辞去他的职务加入反对派。在YouTube的一个视频中，Abdo Husameddine批评了阿萨德总统的政府。用他的话来说，叙利亚政府“给声称是自己人民的那些人带来了一年的悲伤和痛苦。”他还表示，政府夺去了人们的基本需求和人性，并把国家带到了灾难的边缘。

Abdo Husameddine is the highest official to leave the government since the unrest began. In his video, he urged other Syrian officials to resign.
Abdo Husameddine是动乱以来离开叙利亚政府的最高官员。在他的视频中，他督促其他叙利亚官员辞职。

Syrian opposition activist Abdi Hakim Ijburi also knows about the importance of social media. He used social media to contact other opponents of the government. He says many of them wanted to hold protests similar to earlier ones held in Egypt and Tunisia.
叙利亚反对派活动家Abdi Hakim Ijburi也知道社交媒体的重要性。他使用社交媒体联络其他反政府人士。他说，他们中的许多人希望举行类似早些时候埃及和突尼斯的抗议活动。

ABDI HAKIM IJBURI - IN ARABIC WITH ENGLISH: “At first, we started using Facebook, YouTube and Twitter to get a group of young people and activists together,” he says. “And from that group we started organizing. In Talkalakh where I come from, we started writing anti-government graffiti on walls.”
ABDI HAKIM IJBURI - IN ARABIC WITH ENGLISH：“刚开始，我们开始使用Facebook、YouTube和Twitter将一群年轻人和活动人士聚到一起，我们从那群体开始组织工作。我来自Talkalakh，我们开始在那里的墙上涂写反政府涂鸦。”
Abdi Hakim Ijburi says that, as the protests grew in strength, he was captured and tortured. Like thousands of Syrians, he escaped to Lebanon, where he continues to help organize the online opposition.
Abdi Hakim Ijburi称，随着抗议活动力量的增长，他被逮捕并遭受折磨。正如成千上万的叙利亚人一样，他逃到黎巴嫩，在那里他继续帮助组织网上反对派。

ABDI HAKIM IJBURI - IN ARABIC WITH ENGLISH: “There were lots of people in my hometown of Talkalakh that I didn’t even know were part of the opposition movement, or were sympathetic with the movement,” he says. “And if it hadn’t been for the social media we wouldn’t have become united.”
ABDI HAKIM IJBURI - IN ARABIC WITH ENGLISH：“我甚至不知道我家乡Talkalakh很多人都是反对运动或同情运动的一份子，他说，要是没有社交媒体，我们不可能变得团结起来。”