VOA常速英语:卡特中心利用社交媒体绘制叙利亚冲突地图

When the Syrian conflict began, one of the greatest needs was reliable information. “All we were seeing is propaganda.”
叙利亚冲突开始时，最大的需求之一就是可靠的信息。“我们只能看到宣传。”

But the conflict erupted in a part of the world that is well-connected, digitally.
但冲突发生在数字连接状况良好的世界一角。

Syrians, and actually people in the Middle East in general,are two to four times as likely to share information about politics, and religious views online."
“叙利亚人，实际上总的来说是中东地区的人们，两到四倍得更倾向于在网上分享政治信息和宗教观点。”

That was something Christopher McNaboe, then an intern at the Carter Center, identified as an asset.
当时在卡特中心实习的克里斯托弗.麦克纳布，将这种情况看作是一种有利条件。

“There are actually more minutes of video than of real time conflict.The Syrian conflict represents a major paradigm shift in the way in which conflict plays out.Previous conflicts did not take place and connected environments like Syria.”
“实际上，视频的时长比实际冲突持续的时间还要长。叙利亚冲突在其进行方式上，代表了一次主要的模式转移。之前的冲突不像叙利亚冲突这样发生，也没有叙利亚这样的连接环境。”

Using social media sites like Facebook, YouTube and Tweeter, McNaboe compiled information on the location of combatants,who they aligned with, and who was joining them.
利用如Facebook、YouTube和Tweeter这样的社交网站，麦克纳布在战士们聚集的地点收集信息，他们和谁结盟，谁加入了他们的阵营等。

Through this process,we’ve been able to document the formation of over 7,000 opposition armed groups in Syria since the beginning of this conflict.Not all of them remain active to this day."
“借助这种方法，我们能够记录从冲突开始之时起，叙利亚超过7000个反对派武装组织的形成。并非所有组织都依然活跃至今。”

Mapping the war in Syria is now McNaboe’s full-time job at the Carter Center,sharing detailed information with mediators and humanitarian organizations to help them understand the complexities of the conflict.
绘制叙利亚的战争地图是现在麦克纳布在卡特中心的全职工作，并向调停者们和各人道主义机构分享详细信息，以帮助他们了解冲突的复杂性。

So when the United Nations needs to find the best avenue to take in relief supplies, we can tell them which way to go.
“所以当联合国需要找到接收救灾物资的最佳路线时，我们可以给他们指路。”

The Carter Center shares some of its Syrian maps and reports publicly, available to news media, non-profits and governments alike.
卡特中心公开分享一些叙利亚的地图和报告，新闻媒体、非营利组织和类似的政府机构可以使用这些信息。

Former President Jimmy Carter says he provided this information to President Vladimir Putin when Russian forces entered Syria in 2015.
前总统吉米.卡特说，2015年俄罗斯军队入驻叙利亚时，他向弗拉基米尔.普京总统提供了这个信息。

When he got ready to join in, and bomb, factions within Syria,I wanted to make sure he would bomb the right ones or at least he knew what he was bombing.So I sent him a message through his embassy and said we have this capability in Syria to tell you where things are, people are located;do you want to have that? so the next day I got a response from him, ’Yes, I would like to have your maps.’So we sent our maps, on a current basis, to President Putin.So when he bombed in Syria, he knows from us where the different people in Syria are located."
“当他准备好进入叙利亚对其进行轰炸和分裂时，我想要确保他轰炸正确的人选，或者至少他知道要轰炸的是什么。因此，我通过他的大使馆向他发送了一条消息，我们有能力告诉你们在叙利亚境内，东西在哪，人在哪，你们想知道吗？第二天我就得到了他的回复：‘是的，我想要你的地图。’因此我们给普京总统发送了当时的地图。所以当他轰炸叙利亚时，他是从我们这里得知不同的人在叙利亚的位置的。”

McNaboe says the intention was to let the Russians know the Carter Center could monitor their targets in Syria.
麦克纳布说目的是让俄罗斯知道卡特中心能够在叙利亚监控他们的目标。

Despite perceived military advantages to having the maps and reports,McNaboe says they don’t share information that puts people at risk.
尽管拥有地图和报告可以带来这些军事优势，麦克纳布说他们不分享那些将人们置于危险之中的信息。

“If you are a combatant in the conflict and you don’t know where the front lines are,our information is, is not going to help you too much.Um, you’ve got bigger problems, um, and so we are careful of what we make totally public.We want our effort to pursue peace and support peace efforts,and do everything it can to reduce the risk to civilians and any participant in the conflict.”
“如果你是冲突中的一名战士，但你不知道前线在哪里，我们的信息是帮不了你太多的。你有更大的问题。因此我们对完全公之于众的内容非常谨慎。希望我们的努力能够致力于和平，支持和平努力，并且尽其所能地减少公民们和任何冲突参与者的危险。”

A conflict now entering its seventh year, at a time when more U.S. military forces are joining the fight on the ground, engaged in a war with no clear end in sight.
冲突进入第七个年头，美国一次要派出更多军队参加那里的战斗，加入一场看不见尽头的战争。

Kane farabaugh, VOA news, Atlanta.
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