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每日跟讀#737: Be All That You Can Be: Protect Artworks

保護戰區文物 已至燃眉之急

· 每日跟讀單元 Daily English,國際時事跟讀Daily Shadowing

每日跟讀#737: Be All That You Can Be: Protect Artworks

It’s no secret that the war-ravaged nations where U.S. soldiers have been enmeshed in conflict for nearly two decades are home to many of civilization’s oldest and most prized antiquities and cultural treasures.

眾所皆知,美軍將近20年來捲入一些國家的衝突,而這些飽受戰爭蹂躪的國家,正是人類文明最古老且最珍貴的文物和文化寶藏所在之地。

But in the heat of battle in Afghanistan or Iraq, how are troops to know whether they are taking their positions behind mounds of insignificant rubble or inside the precious remains of a 3,000-year-old temple complex?

不過,軍隊在阿富汗或伊拉克激戰時,又怎麼能知道所在陣地是無關緊要的瓦礫堆後方,還是珍貴的3000年古廟遺跡之內?

The Pentagon’s answer is to take a page from one of World War II’s most storied military units, the teams of art experts known as the Monuments Men who recovered millions of European treasures looted by the Nazis.

美國國防部的因應之道,是取法於二次世界大戰中最有名的軍事單位之一,也就是由一群藝術專家組成團隊,去找回納粹劫掠的數以百萬計的歐洲珍寶,這些團隊被稱為「大尋寶家」。

The Army is forming a new group with a similar mandate to be composed of commissioned officers of the Army Reserve who are museum directors or curators, archivists, conservators and archaeologists in addition to new recruits with those qualifications. They will be based at the Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

美國陸軍正建立一個新團隊,職責與「大尋寶家」類似,除了新聘具備博物館館長或策展人、檔案專業人員、文物保存人員、考古學家等資格人才外,還徵召目前從事這些職務的陸軍預備役軍官。他們會駐守在北卡羅來納州布雷格堡的陸軍民事與心理作戰司令部。

“In conflict, the destruction of monuments and the looting of art are not only about the loss of material things, but also about the erasure of history, knowledge, and a people’s identity,” Richard Kurin, an anthropologist and Distinguished Scholar at the Smithsonian, said. “The cooperation between the Smithsonian and the U.S. Army aims to prevent this legal and moral crime of war.”

人類學家、美國史密森學會「傑出學者」庫林說:「在衝突中,破壞歷史遺跡和洗劫藝術品,不只造成物質損失,還抹滅了歷史、知識和民族認同。史密森學會和陸軍這項合作旨在防止這種法律和道德上的戰爭罪行。」

Scott DeJesse, a Texas painter and lecturer at the Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and an Army Reserve colonel who has served in Iraq and Afghanistan, said the new group’s mission is not to hunt down missing works of art in castles and salt mines, as the World War II force did. Instead it is to provide a scholarly liaison for military commanders and the local authorities to help secure the cultural heritage of the regions involved and rebuild civil society in war and disaster zones.

德傑斯是德州的畫家、賓州卡萊爾市美國陸軍戰爭學院的講師,也是陸軍預備役上校,曾在伊拉克與阿富汗服役,他說,新團隊的任務不像二戰的大尋寶家那樣,要在城堡和鹽礦場裡找到下落不明的藝術品,而是要為軍事指揮官和當地政府提供與學界溝通的管道,以保護相關地區的文化遺產,並在戰區和受害地區重建公民社會。

The new group will also aim to inform the U.S. military and allied forces of sites to avoid in airstrikes and ground fighting, and places where it should try to forestall looting. Those prevention and detection efforts conform to the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property, which the United States joined in 2009.

新團隊還有另一個任務,就是告知美軍和盟軍從事空襲及地面作戰時該避開哪些地方,還有該在哪些地方預防文物遭洗劫。這些預防和偵察措施與1954年「保護文化財產的海牙公約」精神一致。美國2009年加入公約。

The initiative comes at an urgent time for a region where human settlement dates back as far as 10,000 years and includes the remnants of Mesopotamian, Sumerian, Persian, Assyrian and Babylonian cultures. Afghanistan has been pillaged and desecrated by the Taliban for two decades; the Islamic State has wrought destruction and looted artifacts in Iraq, Syria and Libya; and rebel factions have sacked museums and mosques in Yemen.

新單位設立出現在對某一地區十分緊要的時刻。這地區一萬年前就有人類居住,有美索不達米亞、蘇美、波斯、亞述、巴比倫文化的遺跡。阿富汗文物被神學士組織搶劫和褻瀆已有20年;激進組織「伊斯蘭國」在伊拉克、敘利亞和利比亞大舉破壞和劫掠文物;葉門的博物館和清真寺亦遭叛軍洗劫。

Source article: https://paper.udn.com/udnpaper/POH0067/347108/web/

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