Damascus, the Lonely City
大馬士革 寂寞之城
By Somini Sengupta

On a cool evening in early November, in a backroom of the Damascus Opera House, a women’s choir was rehearsing an old favorite, a sunny ballad from a childhood cartoon. When they reached the chorus – “How sweet it is to live in one house, how sweet to live in one hometown” – one of the singers, Safana Baqleh, began to weep into her hands.
11月初某個涼爽的夜晚，一個女聲合唱團正在大馬士革歌劇院後台練唱一首最受喜愛的老歌，一首在童年卡通片中就聽到的快樂歌謠。當他們唱到合唱句「住在同一個屋子裡有多甜蜜，住在同一個家鄉裡有多甜蜜」時，其中一位歌手莎法娜．巴克雷開始掩面而泣。

The song reminded her of all that she had lost. Her closest friends had either left Syria or blocked her on Facebook over political disagreements. Sometimes, the solitude felt crushing. “I want to take my baby for a walk, but I have no one to visit,” Baqleh said. “No one. Absolutely no one.”
這首歌讓她想起她失去的一切。她最親密的朋友不是離開了敘利亞，就是因為政治上的分歧而在臉書上把她給封鎖了。這種孤獨有時讓人無法承受。巴克雷說：「我想帶我的貝比出去走走，可是我沒有任何人可以拜訪。沒人，完完全全沒人。」

After more than six years of war, nearly a fourth of all Syrians live in exile. The loneliness of those who remain hangs like thick fog over Damascus, the capital. Lifelong Damascenes wonder why they are still here, when so many friends and family have packed up, died or disappeared. Newcomers, displaced by the war, move cautiously, unsure about their fate, or who is who.
經歷過六年多的戰爭後，將近四分之一的敘利亞人流亡異鄉。那些留在大馬士革的人們的孤獨感，則如濃霧般壟罩著這個首都。眼見這麼多的朋友和家人收拾行李離去、死亡或失踪，終其一生住在大馬士革的人們不免納悶，為何自己仍留在此地。因戰爭而流離失所的新來者小心翼翼，對於自身命運或者誰是誰都感到茫然。

I traveled to Damascus recently on a rare visa issued to a U.S. journalist. I was almost always accompanied by a government-registered escort, which seemed to make some people reticent, and there were parts of the city I wasn’t allowed to visit.
我最近因獲得難得發給美國記者的簽證而去了大馬士革一趟，有個政府註冊的護衛幾乎一直陪在我身旁，這似乎讓一些民眾變得沉默，而城市內某些地方我也不准參觀。

Still, it was impossible not to notice how Damascus had been altered since pro-democracy protests erupted nearly seven years ago, only to be crushed by President Bashar Assad and then morph into a civil war that scattered Syrians across the world and turned their country into a chessboard for more powerful countries.
儘管如此，若想不注意到大馬士革近7年前爆發民主抗議活動以來的改變，是不可能的，那些抗議活動遭阿塞德總統鎮壓，然後變成一場內戰，使敘利亞人分散至世界各地，並把這個國家變成更強大國家較勁的棋盤。

In recent months, Assad’s forces, helped by Iran and Russia, have reclaimed much of the country from insurgents. There are fewer checkpoints in Damascus than before, the streets are bustling later into the evenings and electricity has been completely restored. Still, some afternoons, government forces blast artillery into rebel enclaves on the city’s edge; in retaliation, rebels fire shells into the narrow lanes of the old section of the city, not long ago killing a shopkeeper playing backgammon with his neighbor.
阿塞德的部隊近幾個月在伊朗和俄羅斯的幫助下，已經從叛亂分子手中收復該國大片地區。大馬士革的檢查站比以前少了，街道晚上熱鬧的時間更長了，電力也已完全恢復。然而仍有幾天下午，政府軍向城市邊緣的叛軍占據區發射砲彈，而叛軍也進行還擊，向這座城市的老城區內窄巷發射砲彈，不久前才殺害了一名在跟鄰居玩西洋棋的店主。

In a park in the city’s center, families who fled the latest war zones sit with plastic bags and babies. A soldier sits in the bushes, keeping a close eye on everything and everyone.
在市中心一座公園內，從最新交戰區域逃離的幾家人坐在那兒，帶著塑膠袋和嬰兒。一名士兵坐在灌木叢內，緊盯著每件事和每個人。

On the main highway, shiny new restaurants cater to people who have enriched themselves during the war. In the middle of the workday, you walk in to find men in track suits silently smoking water pipes, watching everyone.
而在主要幹道上，閃亮的新餐廳接待著在戰爭期間致富的人，你在上班日的中午走進餐廳，會發現穿著運動裝的人靜靜地抽著水煙，監視著每一個人。

原文參照：
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/21/world/middleeast/syria-damascus-war.html

2017-12-17．聯合報．D4．紐約時報賞析 陳韋廷

說文解字看新聞 陳韋廷

2011年開始的敘國內戰，加上極端組織「伊斯蘭國」（IS）的侵襲，古城大馬士革景觀徹底改變，而聯合國自去年初為解決敘利亞內戰在日內瓦舉行的共八輪和談，迄今仍因政府與反對派的嚴重分歧而幾無進展，這也證實巴克雷文中所言非假，敘國政治分歧之深撕裂了社會，更嚴重到加深民眾的孤獨感與無力感。

soliude意指孤獨，由具有單一、獨自意思的字根sol和代表性質之名詞字尾tude組合而成，形容詞為solitudinous，而同字根單字還有sole（唯一的）、solo（獨唱/獨奏）、soliloquy（自言自語）、solitary（孤獨的）、solitaire（單人紙牌遊戲）、desolate（荒蕪；孤寂）等等。

而文中片語morph into則指的是「演變」、「轉變」之意，意同於另個片語transform into，兩者介係詞後均加上改變後之事物。

Too Many Children in California Can’t Read, Lawsuit Claims
加州學童識字差 政府挨告
By Christine Hauser

Parents and educators at struggling schools in California say students there are not reading well, and lawyers last week sued the state, arguing that it had failed to provide the children with the resources they needed to learn.
美國加州一些學校學業表現甚差，家長和老師直言學生閱讀能力不強，上周委請律師狀告州政府未能提供兒童必要的學習資源。

The lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court on behalf of parents, teachers and students at three schools – La Salle Avenue Elementary School in Los Angeles; Van Buren Elementary School in Stockton; and Children of Promise Preparatory Academy, a charter school in Inglewood.
律師代表三所學校的家長、老師和學生向洛杉磯郡的加州高院提告：這三校是洛杉磯市喇沙大道小學，史塔克頓市范布倫小學，與英格伍德市的特許學校「前途兒童預備學院」。

It said California had failed to follow up on its own report by state literacy experts that found there was a “critical need” to address the skills and development of students, particularly those who are learning English, have disabilities, are economically disadvantaged, or are African-American or Hispanic.
訴訟文件控訴加州政府未依該州讀寫教育專家撰寫的報告採取進一步行動。該報告指出，加州「亟需」解決學生技能與發展的問題，尤其是正在學英文、有身心障礙、經濟弱勢、非裔或西語裔的學生。

The suit, announced in a statement, is the first in the United States to seek recognition of the constitutional right to literacy, the lawyers said. It alleges that the state failed to intervene when students achieved low proficiency rates in reading and fell behind at the three schools, which are among the lowest performing in the state.
提告的律師說，這起透過聲明宣布的訴訟，是美國第一個尋求承認憲法「讀寫權」的案例。訟狀指控州政府，在這三所學校的學生閱讀能力低落且落後他校時沒有介入輔導。這三所學校學業表現在加州敬陪末座。

“It has been five years since the state identified urgent literacy issues and their remedies, but it is yet to implement a plan to address these issues,” said Michael Jacobs, a partner at Morrison & Foerster, which filed the suit along with the nonprofit law firm Public Counsel.
告訴由美富律師事務所與非營利法律事務所「公共顧問團」共同提出。美富合夥人雅各布斯說：「州政府認識到緊急的讀寫教育問題及其補救辦法已有五年，卻迄未執行任何計畫以因應問題。」

“In the meantime, children in underserved districts fall further behind and lack even the most basic literacy skills,” he said. “It’s time for the state to be held accountable for the success of every student.”
雅各布斯說：「在這段期間，資源不足學區的兒童表現進一步惡化，甚至缺乏最基本的識字技能。州政府該為每個學生的成功負起責任了。」

The state of California, its Education Department and board, and the superintendent of public instruction, Tom Torlakson, were named as defendants in the lawsuit.
加州政府、州教育廳與治理董事會與公共教育局長托勒森，都被列為本案被告。

A spokesman for the Education Department, Bill Ainsworth, had no comment on the lawsuit. But he said that California had one of the nation’s “most ambitious” programs to serve low-income students, and that it was investing more than $10 billion annually to help underserved students.
州教育廳發言人安斯沃思未對本案發表評論，不過他說，加州照顧低收入戶學生的方案是全美「最宏大」者之一，而且加州已每年撥出100多億美元協助資源不足的學生。

The state also collects data to help educators figure out where to target resources, he said, adding that 228 districts will receive additional support next year, including the three schools named in the suit.
安斯沃思說，加州還蒐集資料，幫助教學人員找出哪裡最需要投注資源，明年有228個學區會受到更大幫助，包括本案涉及的三所學校。

原文參照：
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/06/us/california-literacy-lawsuit.html

2017-12-17．聯合報．D4．紐約時報賞析 李京倫