Jennifer’s Photo Stories (26) 曾錚的圖片故事（26）
The Question I Ask & The Question I Fail to Ask 那個我問出的及那個我未能問出的問題
In September 2007, leaders from 21 Asia-Pacific nations and thousands of delegates and journalists gathered in Sydney for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. Sydney had thus become the focal point of the world's attention.
2007年9月，來自二十一個國家的領導及數千名各國記者及代表團成員齊聚悉尼，參加或報導那一年的亞太經合會議 (APEC) 。悉尼一下成了世界注目的焦點。
On September 6, 2007, Alexander Downer, the then Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, was going to host the first large-scale press conference about APEC; and I was going to attend the conference as a reporter of New Tang Dynasty Television.
9月6日，是當時的澳洲外長唐納（Alexander Downer）召開亞太經合會以來第一次大型新聞發布會。我作爲新唐人電視臺記者要去參加發布會。
I was not sure how the press conference would be like, or whether I would have the opportunity to ask any questions. I knew that there must be hundreds of journalists at the conference; and everyone would want to ask questions.
我不太清楚新聞發布會將以怎樣的形勢舉行，亦不清楚自己是否能有發問的機會。我想像，那天的發布會一定是會異常「火爆」，在場的記者人人都會搶著提問的。
But I did have prepared a question though, a question which I believed was very important to ask. Fearing that I would be too nervous to speak in English, which is only my second language, I wrote down my question and managed to memorize it on the train to the press conference at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre.
不管怎樣，我還是準備了一個問題，一個我認爲很重要的、必須要問出來的問題。因爲擔心在那麼多人面前用英文提問自己會太緊張，我在坐火車去發布會的路上，把問題寫在紙上，並背了下來。
Upon arriving at the venue for the conference, I found it was a fairly large hall, which could hold hundreds of people. As I had arrived very early, I had the freedom to choose where to sit.
當我到達發布會現場——悉尼會展中心時，我發現發布會會場很大，能裝好幾百人吧。由於我到得很早，座位都還空著，我可以想坐哪兒就坐哪兒。
I assumed that Mr. Downer would be the one who would decide which journalists could ask questions by directly pointing to the journalists who had questions, so I sat on the central seat of the first row. I believed that was the closest seat to Mr. Downer, who was going to speak from the center of the stage. When he looked down at the journalists, it was very easy for him to see me who would be closest to him.
我想，既然是唐納的發布會，肯定會由他指定誰可以提問。於是我選擇坐在第一排的最中間，這是離他最近的位置。當他從主席臺上向下往記者席看時，應該最容易看到我，這樣我得到提問的機率能大些。
Many other journalists soon arrived one by one; and the hall became almost full.
我坐定後，其他記者也陸陸續續到了，大廳很快就坐滿了。
And then arrived Mr. Downer and Australian Trade Minister Warren Truss. They sat behind the desk on the stage; and Mr. Downer gave a very short speech, briefing the journalists about what had happened at the APEC so far.
然後唐納和澳洲貿易部長Warren Truss也到了。他們坐在主席臺上的桌子後面。唐納做了很簡短的發言，介紹了經合會的總體情況。
Then he asked, "Questions?"
然後他問：「有提問的嗎？」
Immediately a forest of arms shot up into the air. Almost every journalist raised his or her arm. I looked behind me and saw a very young female conference staff member standing in the middle of one of the aisles in the hall with a wireless microphone in her hand, totally at loss as to whom she should give the microphone to. It only became obvious to me then that whoever was given the microphone would be the one who could ask a question. So it was that young lady who would decide who was going to ask a question, not Mr. Downer himself.
話聲剛落，一百多條胳膊立刻齊刷刷地舉起來，看上去蔚為壯觀。我轉頭向後望去，看見一位很年輕的工作人員手裏拿著一個無線話筒，不知所措的站在大廳過道中間，好像有點受到「驚嚇」。我意識到：原來提問的機會掌握在這位年輕女士手中：她將話筒遞給誰，誰就將得到提問的機會。我之前的猜測是錯的。
Then I realized that I had made a big mistake by choosing the central seat of the front row. For the young lady who was standing in the middle of the large hall, I was too far, at least 100-130 feet (or 30-40 meters) away from her. And there were at least several dozens of erected arms between us.
然後我立刻意識到我犯了個大錯。我坐在第一排，雖說離唐納最近，可以離這位坐在大廳中央的女士，少說也有30-40米遠。就算她沿過道走到第一排來，由於我在最中間，我和她之間，依然隔著好多個人呢。
Seeing that she was obviously overwhelmed by the forest of arms and was still hesitating as to whom she should hand her microphone, I looked at her and firmly speak to her in my mind, "Give your mic to me." I don't know whether she received my mind "signal" or not, but she really started walking down towards the front; and stopped at the first row. Then she made a very big effort to lean over to get across all the raised arms between her and me, and really handed the mic into my hand.
眼看那位女孩子望著一百多條高高舉起的手臂，還在猶豫著不知該將話筒給誰，我果斷地、定定地看著她，並在心裏「命令」她：「話筒給我。」
我不知她是否真的接受到了我的「命令」。但她真的就開始向前走了，走到第一排時停了下來，並使勁將身體傾向我這邊，以便越過所有那些高舉著的手臂，將話筒遞到我的手裏。
Thus, to the envy of every journalist in the hall, I became the "chosen" one who could ask the first question. It was very lucky that I had prepared myself; and therefore I wasn't overwhelmed by the tense situation.
然後，在衆目睽睽之下，我得到了第一個提問的機會，成了在場其他所有記者的羨慕對像。我暗自慶幸自己早有準備，不至於被這大「陣勢」嚇倒。
Holding the "precious" mic in my hand, I turned around to face Mr. Downer, and asked my question with very a loud and clear voice:
於是我手持「寶貴」的話筒，從座位中站起，轉過身體面向唐納，以洪亮而清晰的語調緩緩發問：
"Last year, when Mr. David Kilgour, former Secretary of State for Canada and the co-author of the 'Report into Allegations of Organ Harvesting of Falun Gong Practitioners in China,' visited Australia, the Australian government agreed that an international investigation into the allegations of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s organ harvesting should be conducted. Mr. Kilgour has now come here again, to call on APEC leaders to pay attention to this issue. My question is, during the past year, what has the Australian government done regarding the investigation?"
「去年，當前加拿大亞太司司長、《活摘法輪功學員器官調查報告》作者之一大衛·喬高訪問澳大利亞時，澳大利亞政府曾表示，應該就中共活摘法輪功學員器官的指控展開國際調查。現在大衛·喬高再次來到澳大利亞，呼籲參加亞太經合會的各國領導重視此事。我的問題是，在過去一年中，澳大利亞政府就活摘法輪功學員器官的指控做了何種調查？」
It seemed as if my question had set off a bomb in the hall, everybody was so shocked, with Mr. Downer's facing turning pale and then red and then pale again.
當時的感覺，我的問題似乎像一個炸彈一樣，在大廳中爆響，把所有人都「震暈」了。唐納的臉上紅一陣又白一陣的，似乎尷尬異常。
The "background" situation of the "bomb blast" was: The allegation of CCP's mass live organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners had just been broken for about one year. The majority of the "mainstream" media had been too "scared" or too "cautious" to cover this issue, so many of the journalists in the hall might have never heard about it then.
爲何一個「簡單」的問題，聽起來會像一個「炸彈」呢？那是因爲，在當時，器官活摘的報導剛出來一年多。大部分主流媒體要麼不敢報，要麼不願報，所以在場的許多記者可能從來還從來沒聽過有這回事兒呢。
And for Mr Downer, he had just virtually lost a lawsuit brought against him by Australian Falun Gong practitioners for depriving their right to peacefully protest in front of the Chinese Embassy. Before the lawsuit, Mr. Downer had been issuing certificates to restrict Falun Gong practitioners' rights to protest, obviously under the pressure of the CCP. So for him, my question could be a very difficult one to respond.
而對唐納來說，他的心情更複雜。當時澳洲法輪功學員正在跟他打官司，狀告他迫於中共壓力限制法輪功學員在堪培拉中共大使館前抗議的權利。所以對他來說，被我問到這樣的問題，心中一定是五味雜陳。
After some awkward silence, he said something along the lines that Australian government did have made some investigation and had not found any evidence to prove that the allegations were true.
尷尬地沉默片刻後，唐納嘟噥著回答了幾句套話，好像是說澳洲政府確實調查了一下，不過沒發現什麼證據。
I didn't have a chance ask how they made the investigation, whether it was just a phone call to the Chinese Embassy in Canberra, as the conference quickly moved on to other questions.
我沒機會再補問他們是怎樣調查的，是不是就是往中共大使館打了個電話問有沒有活摘這事兒，因爲他很快就轉到下一個問題了。
Three days later, John Howard, Prime Minister of Australia, was going to host another press conference at the same place. This time I also arrived very early. To my surprise, and to every journalist's surprise, we heard an announcement from the audio system inside the Convention and Exhibition Centre that all journalists needed to write down their questions and submit them to the conference staff BEFORE Prime Minister's press conference. Then somebody would choose which questions to answer.
三天後，澳大利亞總理霍華德也要在同樣的地點召開新聞發布會。這次我也早早到了。讓我和所有記者都非常吃驚的是，我們從會展中心的大喇叭中聽到通知說，所有要問問題的記者，需要在新聞發布會開始前，把問題事先寫在紙條上遞交上去，由工作人員挑選回答哪些，不回答哪些。
I heard many journalists were cursing and expressing their outrage for this new "rule". Some felt puzzled why they suddenly changed the way for journalists to ask questions; some worried that their questions would surely not be selected...And I thought to myself, "It must be because of that 'awkward' question I asked at Mr. Downer's press conference. They didn't want to have similar things to happen again."
我聽到許多記者都在罵罵咧咧地對這個新「規則」表示強烈不滿。有的還非常不理解爲何突然改了規則，也擔心自己的問題不會得到回答……而我則猜想：一定是因爲三天前我的問題讓唐納十分難堪和爲難了吧，所以他們不想同樣的事情再次發生。
Feeling that this time my question would surely not be selected, I chose to sit in the middle of the hall. When the Prime Minister was answering the pre-screened and chosen questions, I suddenly found an emotional young lady was sitting next to me, weeping and trembling, obviously very, very upset. She whispered to me that she was Sarah Matheson, a photographer from the New Zealand Office of the English Epoch Times and that she had just been physically removed by the security guards from a group photo event although she did have media accreditation to cover that event. She learned that it was because the CCP leader didn't want her to be there.
雖然我也好歹寫了張條子交上去，但我預感到：我的問題不會被選中。所以這次我選了一個大廳中間的位置坐下。新聞會進行到一半，當霍華德正在回答被事先挑出來的「問題」時，我突然發現身邊多了一個人，是個年輕女性。她正在拼命壓住自己不哭出聲，同時渾身上下都忍不住在哆嗦。
她一邊抽泣一邊低聲對我說，她是從新西蘭來的英文大紀元攝影記者Sarah Matheson，她剛才去各國領導人合影的場所準備拍照，卻被現場保安驅趕，他們用強把她弄了出來。
Sarah Matheson: "I'm upset they put media freedom behind the wishes of the Chinese government." （Photo credit: The Epoch Times ）新西蘭大記者攝影記者Sarah Matheson爲自己被驅趕一事接受媒體採訪。（圖片來源：大紀元）
I could see how badly she was feeling for being treated in such a way. As a timid young lady growing up in a free country, she found very hard to handle this kind of situation. She then asked me whether I could help her to ask the Prime Minister why they treated a journalist in this way.
我看得出來，她被這事兒嚇壞了，完全不知道該怎樣應對。對於一個從小生長在自由和平國度的靦腆的年輕女性，她哪見過這種陣仗？
說完事情經過，她低聲問我，可不可以幫她質問一下霍華德，爲何澳洲保安要屈從於中共壓力，如此對待一名記者？她自己因爲憤怒和害怕，情緒已基本失控，無法正常說話了……
But...as all the questions had already been submitted before the press conference, how could I ask the question unless I shouted out? But shouting out loudly was obviously "out of the place" at that occasion, shall I shout or not?
然而……當天的「規矩」是，問題都必須事先以書面形式提交，我怎麼幫她問呢？除非我不顧「規矩」大聲把問題喊出來。可是，我該不該去「破壞」這個規矩呢？
While I was stilling trying to figure this out, the Prime Minister had finished his very short Q & A section and then quickly walked out from a side door beside the stage. Thus I had lost the chance forever.
我這廂正做著激烈的思想鬥爭呢，霍華德那廂已宣佈新聞發布會結束。他快步走向主席臺邊上的那個旁門，一眨眼間就不見了。
To this day I still don't know whether I should or should out shout out loudly to the Prime Minister to ask the question on behalf of Sarah Matheson. However, I still feel proud that I have asked that "bomb blast" question at Mr. Downer's press conference.
就這樣，我也失去了大聲質問他的機會。直到今天，我仍然想不好：我當時是叫出來好呢，還是不叫出來的好？親愛的朋友們，你們的看法呢？
For me, a journalist with conscience should have the courage to ask difficult questions, especially when anti-humanity crimes, such as killing people on demand for their organs, were involved.
當然，我對於自己在唐納的新聞發布會上扔出那個「爆炸式」的問題，一直是很自豪的。記者的使命之一，不就是在重大時刻提出重要問題嗎？
Dear readers, could you tell me whether I should have shouted my un-asked question regarding Sarah Matheson's removal or not?
5/11/2019 *
Related reports 附相關報導：
CCP's Live Organ Harvesting Becomes Media Focus during APEC Summit (Photo)
NZ scribe 'barred from Chinese photo op'
Alexander Downer listening to my "bomb blast" question during the first press conference of APEC. （Photo credit: The Epoch Times.）曾錚面向唐納提出一個「爆炸式」問題。（圖片來源：大紀元/吳坎）
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