美国国家公共电台 NPR Will Ethiopia's Democratic Awakening Catch On Next Door In Eritrea?

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

This week, we've been hearing about the changes underway in Ethiopia. One is that two traditional enemies - Ethiopia and Eritrea - have officially declared peace after decades of conflict. There is now free movement of people and goods between the two countries. But a question still hangs - will the change in Ethiopia, where there is more personal freedom these days, have an impact in Eritrea, which is often referred to as the North Korea of Africa? NPR's Eyder Peralta reports.

EYDER PERALTA, BYLINE¹: About a mile from the Eritrean border in Zalambessa, there's a small building made of corrugated² metal.

(CROSSTALK)

PERALTA: Inside, there are sleeping mats, clay pots for coffee, and dozens of Eritreans who had just crossed the newly open border wait there for the Red Cross to pick them up and take them to a refugee camp.

(SOUNDBITE OF INFANT SQUEALING)

PERALTA: Whole families mill around. I meet Sirak, who's 17. He says he and his family fled Eritrea because their house was demolished³ by the government. He says police wanted to know why they had built the house without permission.

SIRAK: (Through interpreter) The police were coming every day, so everyone was hiding in the bush.

PERALTA: Human rights groups call Eritrea one of the most repressive countries in the world. Forced evictions and the demolition⁴ of homes have been well-documented forms of political retribution. I ask Sirak if he has any hope that things will change back home.

SIRAK: (Through interpreter) It is impossible. It won't change.

PERALTA: These Eritreans appear meek⁵ and fearful compared to today's Ethiopians, who are celebrating their new-found freedoms with swagger. Now they can gather to talk freely. Many I spoke⁶ to say Eritrea has to change also. They say when Eritreans come to Ethiopia, they will experience a freer society. And they will demand the same at home.

SALEM SOLOMON: It's not fair to make that comparison because they have two different - completely different political systems.

PERALTA: That's Salem Solomon, an Eritrean journalist for Voice of America. She went through military training and worked for the information ministry⁷ until she left the country in 2007. In Eritrea, says Salem, the government is omnipresent. They have a command economy. And compulsory⁸ military service means they can literally⁹ control people's lives. Salem says they also create intense fear by being unpredictable.

SOLOMON: The level of unpredictability about repercussions¹⁰ is very important to understand. Even those who feel like they are so loyal and vocal¹¹ to support the government doesn't mean that they're safe.

PERALTA: Eritreans have been leaving their country by the thousands since it gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993. Scholars estimate that a third of Eritreans live outside the country. And since the borders with Ethiopia reopened in September, more than 10,000 Eritreans have sought asylum¹² in Ethiopia.

AWET WELDEMICHAEL: And so in light of that, and also in light of the almost two decade of youth hemorrhaging out of the country, the agents of change are not there.

PERALTA: That's Awet Weldemichael, who studies Eritrea at Queen's University in Canada. He says if change is to come, it likely won't happen like in Ethiopia. Instead, change will likely come from the top. But he warns that Eritrea is such a closed country it's hard to make predictions.

WELDEMICHAEL: But what I can tell you confidently is that the current course is unsustainable for Eritrea.

PERALTA: At another border post in Ethiopia, I meet an Eritrean mother and her 9-year-old boy. She's too afraid of the government to share her name. But she says seven months ago, when she was cooking, this little boy fled to Ethiopia. Now that she could, she came to find him.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Speaking Tigrinya).

PERALTA: She says, her boy was not the only kid fleeing. They're too young, she says, to know anything about the government or democracy. But what they know is that there is a better life outside Eritrea. Eyder Peralta, NPR News, along the Eritrean border in Ethiopia.

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 corrugated   

adj.波纹的；缩成皱纹的；波纹面的；波纹状的v.（使某物）起皱褶(corrugate的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• a corrugated iron roof 波纹铁屋顶
• His brow corrugated with the effort of thinking. 他皱着眉头用心地思考。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 demolished   

v.摧毁( demolish的过去式和过去分词 )；推翻；拆毁（尤指大建筑物）；吃光

参考例句：

• The factory is due to be demolished next year. 这个工厂定于明年拆除。
• They have been fighting a rearguard action for two years to stop their house being demolished. 两年来，为了不让拆除他们的房子，他们一直在进行最后的努力。

4 demolition   

n.破坏,毁坏,毁坏之遗迹

参考例句：

• The church has been threatened with demolition for years. 这座教堂多年来一直面临拆毀的威胁。
• The project required the total demolition of the old bridge. 该项目要求将老桥完全拆毁。

5 meek   

adj.温顺的，逆来顺受的

参考例句：

• He expects his wife to be meek and submissive.他期望妻子温顺而且听他摆布。
• The little girl is as meek as a lamb.那个小姑娘像羔羊一般温顺。

6 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

7 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

8 compulsory   

n.强制的，必修的；规定的，义务的

参考例句：

• Is English a compulsory subject?英语是必修课吗？
• Compulsory schooling ends at sixteen.义务教育至16岁为止。

9 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

10 repercussions   

n.后果，反响( repercussion的名词复数 )；余波

参考例句：

• The collapse of the company will have repercussions for the whole industry. 这家公司的垮台将会给整个行业造成间接的负面影响。
• Human acts have repercussions far beyond the frontiers of the human world. 人类行为所产生的影响远远超出人类世界的范围。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 vocal   

adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目

参考例句：

• The tongue is a vocal organ.舌头是一个发音器官。
• Public opinion at last became vocal.终于舆论哗然。

12 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。