Confessions of A Sniper (1)

每日一看(1)---Confessions of A Sniper


好，這幾天就決定來看一則寫實的戰地故事吧！由TIME編輯，採訪一位無名、21歲的敘利亞狙擊手，與他同住在殘破不堪的廢墟公寓數天，貼身描寫。今天來看第一部份，也就是從他的背景開始看起吧！

Confessions Of A Sniper

一位狙擊手的自白

By Rania Abouzeid / Aleppo 

Monday, Dec. 17, 2012

Free Syrian Army's sniper position, in Al Qsair, on February 9, 2012.敘利亞自由軍一名狙擊手的射擊點，位於阿爾卡薩。攝於2012/2/9

To the other men in his Free Syrian Army unit, he's simply known as the Sniper, a 21-year-old army-trained sharpshooter who defected on Feb. 21 and joined their ranks. Few of his colleagues know his first name, let alone his surname--and that's the way he wants to keep it.

其他同在敘利亞自由軍的同袍，只知道他叫「狙擊手」，是一位21歲受過軍事訓練的槍手，今年2月21日脫離政府、加入自由軍。隊裡很少人知道他的名，只曉得他的姓---而這正是他所希望的。

He hails from a Sunni military family in a town on the outskirts of the capital, Damascus. His uncle is a general in President Bashar Assad's army. Several of his other relatives are also high-ranking military officers. Apart from his parents and siblings, however, his kinfolk all think he's dead--and that's the way he wants to keep it.

他誕生在一個遜尼派家族，位於首都大馬士革外圍的城鎮。他叔叔是總統巴薩爾‧阿薩德軍隊裡的將軍，其他幾位親戚也都是高階將領。不過，除了雙親和兄弟姐妹，其餘的親人都認為他已經死了---而這也是他所求的。

A trim young man with closely cropped black hair and beard, he looks intense but calm as he sits in complete silence for hours, finger on the trigger, peering through the telescopic sight of his Dragunov sniper rifle. He's careful not to let its barrel protrude through the double-fist-size peephole he has punched through an apartment wall, lest it give away his location to the regime's sharpshooters, some of whom are only about 165 ft (50 m) away.

他是一位削瘦的年輕人，有一頭理平的黑髮和鬍鬚，看似神情緊繃，實際上卻很冷靜，一如他默不作聲坐地數小時，手扣板機，透過德拉葛諾夫狙擊步槍的狙擊鏡檢視一切。他在一座公寓的牆上鑿了個孔，小心謹慎地不讓整把槍從兩個全頭大的孔中露出，以防鄰近區域的狙擊手發現他。而有些敵人，只離他165呎(50公尺)遠。

小解說：sniper (n) 狙擊手或放冷箭的人；defect (v) 叛變，投敵，脫離 (n)缺點，過失；sibling (n) 兄弟姐妹，手足； trim (a)整齊的，削瘦的 (v) 修剪(樹木等)，削減  (n) 修剪，整齊