VOA慢速英语2013 俄罗斯穆斯林问题的影响

 

 

AS IT IS 2013-10-21 Russians Question Muslim Influence 俄罗斯穆斯林问题的影响

Hi again! Nice to have you with us on As It Is. I’m Mario Ritter.

Last week Muslims around the world celebrated¹ Eid al-Adha. In English, the four-day celebration is called the Feast of Sacrifice. It recognizes the willingness of the Prophet Ibrahim to sacrifice his son for God. In the end, God told Ibrahim to sacrifice an animal instead.

Most Muslims celebrate the holiday with a feast. They often share a meal with friends or family. They may also sacrifice a sheep or cow, and give the meat to people who are poor or hungry.

Today we visit some Muslims in Moscow. Russia now has two million Muslims. That is more than any city in Europe. VOA reporter James Brooke looked at how the Muslim population is affecting the Russian capital. Steve Ember has his story.

Last Tuesday, thousands of Muslims began the Eid al-Adha holiday by praying on the streets of Moscow. Some prayer mats were spread below the 100-year-old Moscow Cathedral Mosque².

There are only three other mosques³ in the city.

Abdul Bari Sultanov is a Russian Muslim from the republic of Tatarstan. He says every neighborhood should have a mosque and a Muslim religious school.

But new mosque projects never seem to win building permits. Geydar Bzhemal says Russia’s central government is blocking new Islamic centers in the city.

“They understand the politics of suppression -- direct suppression. And they don't understand that this will create problems for themselves much worse than those they are trying to solve now.”

Sergei Sobyanin is the mayor of Moscow. He was re-elected last month. He says the city will not approve any new mosques. He says the Muslims praying in streets on holidays are not Russian citizens. He says they are mainly Central Asians, guest workers who will return to their own countries.

Voters seem to agree with Mr. Sobyanin. Some Russians have expressed anger against Central Asians and Caucasians who live in Russia. Earlier this month one Slavic neighborhood rioted against those immigrants, many of whom are Muslim.

“Russia forward! Russia forward!”

The riots started because a Slavic Russian man was stabbed to death. An immigrant from Azerbaijan is accused of killing⁴ him.

In addition to the riots, police detained about 2,000 migrant workers. Some politicians called for a law banning apartment sales to foreigners. They also want to restrict visas on migrants from Muslim nations along Russia’s southern border. Not long ago, those nations were part of the Soviet⁵ Union.

Isolda Kukushkina moved to Moscow from Ukraine in the early 1980s. She was near the Cathedral Mosque on Tuesday, looking at all the Muslim men praying in the street.

She says she is worried that Moscow will turn Muslim. The city, she says, must keep its Slavic identity. 

I’m Steve Ember.

Muslim customs in Libya have also been in the news recently. Most people in that country are Sunni Muslims.

Recently, Libya’s top religious official, the Grand Mufti, declared that all women teachers must cover their faces when teaching young men. Sheikh Sadik Al-Ghariani did not say that unrelated men and women should never be in the same room together. But, he said the best idea would be to separate men and women at schools and universities.

His comments angered activists⁷. One woman, named Nareen, says the Grand Mufti’s ideas take the country backwards⁸.

“Well, I’m very upset. I think it’s, it’s a huge step back. It’s very sad to see that this is the way our education system is going. That they’re looking back into segregating⁹ women and men and children.”

Sheikh Sadik Al-Ghariani served as grand mufti when Moammar Gadhafi was Libya’s leader. Rebels re-appointed him to keep the position after Mr. Gadhafi was killed.

Traditionally, the Grand Mufti’s decisions do not have the force of law. But, they can shape government policies. And reformers like Nareen are worried that the Grand Mufti is helping¹⁰ make Libya more conservative.

“It’s a long-term political agenda, yes, of course. Because if you start with the education … When you want to change a nation you target education because you’re breeding the future generations. And so you target education because that then will… that’s when you are ingraining what the future will be. So by them targeting the schools, they’re sowing the seeds of the future they want.”

Another activist⁶, a woman named Leila, says Islamists in Libya are moving little by little.

“They are waiting for the reaction, how it’s going to be. So that’s their way of trying to take over.”

She says many activists are afraid to speak out. When they do, she says, they receive threats or warnings.

“They target the family. They target your family just to silence you, shut you up. What they are doing is, is much,  much more… it’s like octopus¹¹. Their hands are everywhere, here and here and here and there.”

In his recent remarks, the Grand Mufti said male and female students must be separate during break times. In other words, boys and girls cannot be together on the playground or in the hallway. And, he said boys and girls should use separate doors. Girls also should not wear make-up or use perfume, he said.

Earlier in the year the Grand Mufti sent a letter to Libyan politicians. In it, he warned that Allah would be angry unless males and females were strictly¹² separated at schools, universities, and even in government offices.

The Ministry¹³ of Education will now have to decide what to tell schools about separating boys and girls.

And that’s As It Is. I’m Mario Ritter. Thanks for listening. If you would like reach us, send an email to [email protected]. Or go to our website at learningenglish.voanews.com and click on “Contact Us.”

We leave you with the music of American musician Dizzy Gillespie. Mr. Gillespie was a trumpet¹⁴ player, composer and founder¹⁵ of modern jazz. He was born on October 21, 1917.

 

1 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

2 mosque   

n.清真寺

参考例句：

• The mosque is a activity site and culture center of Muslim religion.清真寺为穆斯林宗教活动场所和文化中心。
• Some years ago the clock in the tower of the mosque got out of order.几年前，清真寺钟楼里的大钟失灵了。

3 mosques   

清真寺； 伊斯兰教寺院，清真寺； 清真寺，伊斯兰教寺院( mosque的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Why make us believe that this tunnel runs underneath the mosques? 为什么要让我们相信这条隧洞是在清真寺下？
• The city's three biggest mosques, long fallen into disrepair, have been renovated. 城里最大的三座清真寺，过去年久失修，现在已经修复。

4 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

5 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

6 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

7 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》

8 backwards   

adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地

参考例句：

• He turned on the light and began to pace backwards and forwards.他打开电灯并开始走来走去。
• All the girls fell over backwards to get the party ready.姑娘们迫不及待地为聚会做准备。

9 segregating   

（使）分开( segregate的现在分词 )； 分离； 隔离； 隔离并区别对待（不同种族、宗教或性别的人）

参考例句：

• The government has just repealed the law segregating the public facilities. 这个政府已经撤销了分离公共设施的法律。
• Siblings and dizygotic twins share only 50% of their segregating genes. 同卵双生双胞胎和双卵双生双胞胎分享仅50%的基因。

10 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

11 octopus   

n.章鱼

参考例句：

• He experienced nausea after eating octopus.吃了章鱼后他感到恶心。
• One octopus has eight tentacles.一条章鱼有八根触角。

12 strictly   

adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地

参考例句：

• His doctor is dieting him strictly.他的医生严格规定他的饮食。
• The guests were seated strictly in order of precedence.客人严格按照地位高低就座。

13 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。

14 trumpet   

n.喇叭，喇叭声；v.吹喇叭，吹嘘

参考例句：

• He plays the violin, but I play the trumpet.他拉提琴，我吹喇叭。
• The trumpet sounded for battle.战斗的号角吹响了。

15 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。