VOA慢速英语2012 Chinese Patriotism Classes Fuel Protest in Hong Kong

 

Chinese Patriotism¹ Classes Fuel Protest in Hong Kong

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

Thousands of protesters -- including teachers, students, parents and pro-democracy activists² -- marched in Hong Kong last Sunday. They were protesting a plan to teach Chinese patriotism classes in Hong Kong schools.

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"We don't want brainwashing. We want the truth," these girls say.

Organizers said ninety thousand people marched to the government headquarters. But police gave a lower estimate of thirty-two thousand.

The Hong Kong government says the classes are meant to build Chinese national pride. The government plans to require the classes in elementary schools, starting in twenty-fifteen. But the government is urging schools to voluntarily launch the program when schools reopen this September. 

The curriculum includes a teaching booklet called "The China Model." It praises the one-party rule of the Communist Party. It says nothing, for example, about the crushing of pro-democracy protests in Beijing in nineteen eighty-nine.

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Ting Kwing-chan has been teaching primary school for thirty-eight years. He says he was not persuaded by the booklet. "I don't even believe the content myself, so it's difficult to teach my students," he says.

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Chan Yip-Long, a nine-year-old student in the march, said: "China wants to unify³ Hong Kong. Our next generation only knows how great China is, but not the bad stuff."

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Protester Paul Yeung, a parent of two children, says he worries that too much "one-sided education is not good for the mental development of young people."

The protest was another sign of public concern about what critics see as the Chinese government's interference in the former British colony. Britain returned Hong Kong to China on July first, nineteen ninety-seven. China promised to let the territory largely govern itself.

Last month, more than one hundred thousand people joined a pro-democracy march on July first. It was the largest such gathering⁴ in eight years. Many of the protesters demanded that the city's new leader resign. Leung Chun-ying took office earlier that day. He was chosen by a mostly pro-Beijing committee.

Willy Lam is a China specialist in Hong Kong.

WILLY LAM: "People in Hong Kong -- including teachers and parents -- have lost trust in the disinterested⁵ or neutral nature of the Hong Kong government regarding education, regarding the media and so forth⁶. So they are afraid that the C.Y Leung administration is enforcing orders by Beijing to try to promote loyalty⁷ to the Communist Party, loyalty to the Chinese administration, instead of trying to impart knowledge about China in a fair and open-minded manner."

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report. I'm Steve Ember.

1 patriotism   

n.爱国精神，爱国心，爱国主义

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• They obtained money under the false pretenses of patriotism.他们以虚伪的爱国主义为借口获得金钱。

2 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 unify   

vt.使联合，统一；使相同，使一致

参考例句：

• How can we unify such scattered islands into a nation?我们怎么才能把如此分散的岛屿统一成一个国家呢？
• It is difficult to imagine how the North and South could ever agree on a formula to unify the divided peninsula.很难想象南北双方在统一半岛的方案上究竟怎样才能达成一致。

4 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

5 disinterested   

adj.不关心的，不感兴趣的

参考例句：

• He is impartial and disinterested.他公正无私。
• He's always on the make,I have never known him do a disinterested action.他这个人一贯都是唯利是图，我从来不知道他有什么无私的行动。

6 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

7 loyalty   

n.忠诚，忠心

参考例句：

• She told him the truth from a sense of loyalty.她告诉他真相是出于忠诚。
• His loyalty to his friends was never in doubt.他对朋友的一片忠心从来没受到怀疑。