VOA慢速英语2014 AS IT IS 2014-01-27 Nigeria’s Ruling Party Faces Challenges in 2014 2014年尼日利亚执政党面临着挑战

 

AS IT IS 2014-01-27 Nigeria’s Ruling Party Faces Challenges in 2014 2014年尼日利亚执政党面临着挑战

Hello, and welcome to As It Is from VOA Learning English.

I’m Christopher Cruise in Washington.

Today on the program, we report on a new opera about a hero in the fight against slavery in the United States. 

“There are elements of gospel, jazz, blues¹, and then you hear a ‘field holler,’ you hear ragtime², work songs.”

But we begin today with a look at the difficulties facing Nigeria’s ruling political party in 2014 -- especially from the main opposition³ party.

“And that change, whereas the way we have seen it, is inevitable⁴.  It is coming -- and it will come very soon.  Politics is a game of number(s) and we are increasing by the day.”

A look ahead to Nigerian politics in 2014, and a new American opera about slavery, written by a Nigerian-American: today on As It Is. 

Growth of Nigerian Opposition Expected to Continue

There were major political changes in Nigeria in 2013.  Different opposition parties joined, and many governors and members of parliament who were members of the ruling party left the party to join the opposition.

 

Experts say President Goodluck Jonathan and his party face major challenges this year as the country prepares for presidential elections in 2015. 

Nigeria’s united opposition is now stronger than at any time since military rule ended in the country in 1999.

This opposition is called the All Progressive’s Congress, or APC.  Powerful members of other opposition parties and the ruling People’s Democratic Party have joined the APC since July.

APC politicians like Hajiya Hafsat Mohammed Baba in Kaduna say people want change.

“And that change, whereas the way we have seen it, is inevitable.  It is coming -- and it will come very soon.  Politics is a game of number(s) and we are increasing by the day.”

Five of Nigeria’s powerful state governors recently left the ruling party and joined the APC.  Among the five were the governors of the heavily-populated states of Kano and Rivers.

And 37 members of the National Assembly’s lower house have moved from the PDP to APC.  Now, the PDP no longer has a majority there.

APC politicians and political observers tell VOA that as many as seven more governors will leave the PDP for the APC.  They say members of the National Assembly’s upper house -- the Senate -- will do the same early this year.

Political expert Abubakar Sufiyan Osa Idu Al Siddiq says the loss of the governors’ support for the PDP hurts the chances for President Jonathan to be reelected.

“Definitely, People’s Democratic Party has never had it so bad because to be elected president of this country even if you have the majority of the votes, the law says that you must have 24 states out of 36 -- two-thirds of them.”

Ruling party member Saidu Usman Gombe says he does not believe the APC will be successful.

“This opposition party, they are deceiving themselves.  Even in the party, that opposition, there is a lot of clash.  And they will crack.  They will break down completely before (the end of) 2014.”

The People’s Democratic Party has governed Nigeria since 1999.  It is the only party to hold the highest positions in the central government and have representatives in the country’s 774 local governments.

But many members have been leaving the party because they are unhappy with President Jonathan.  Some do not support his efforts to fight corruption⁵.  Some are unhappy that he did not follow a party custom that is designed to balance the presidency⁶ between leaders from the north and from the south.

President Jonathan reportedly has the lowest level of support of his rule.  Experts say his opponents may try to remove him from office this year as they gain new members in the National Assembly.

I’m Caty Weaver⁷.

You are listening to As It Is, a program designed to help you learn to speak, read and write American English.

Now back to Christopher Cruise.  He reports on a new opera written by a Nigerian-American woman about slavery in the United States. 

Thanks Caty.

Nigerian-American Writes Opera About American Slavery

The opera is called “Harriet Tubman: When I Crossed That Line To Freedom.”  Harriet Tubman is an American hero who escaped from slavery and led others to freedom. 

Nigerian-American composer Nkeiru Okoye wrote the opera.  She says she has been interested in Harriet Tubman all her life.

“I don’t remember ever not knowing about Harriet Tubman.  My mother used to love to read my sister and me stories, so my mother probably told me about her even before I learned about Harriet in school.”

The American Opera Projects produced the opera.  The U.S. National Endowment for the Arts helped finance it.

Harriet Tubman was born into slavery in the state of Maryland around 1820.  In 1849, she escaped slavery by fleeing to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania -- the northern states did not permit slavery.  Harriet Tubman immediately began her anti-slavery work.

“But she became famous because she went back down to rescue the rest of her family and anyone else that would go with her.”

?Ms. Tubman led the creation of a series of hiding places that came to be called The Underground Railroad.  Slaves who escaped used the places to travel toward freedom.  The people who ran the Railroad were called “conductors.”

“Harriet, who became known as ‘Moses,’ was the most famous conductor in the U.S.”

There are many stories about Harriet Tubman’s life.  Some of them are not true.  Ms. Okoye says when she began to write the opera, she had planned to add to those stories.

“When I started this process, I wanted to pay tribute to Harriet Tubman by writing a highly fictionalized account of her.”

But she decided⁸ to try to get the facts instead.

“I spent three years getting to know Harriet’s world.”

Using that research, Ms. Okoye wrote what is called a “folk opera.”

“Which is slightly different from regular opera.  Most of the music in Harriet Tubman is rooted in traditional African-American folk idioms.  So, there are elements of gospel, jazz, blues, and then you hear a ‘field holler,’ you hear ragtime, work songs and there are things that sound like spirituals throughout the opera.”

Ms. Okoye says she wanted people who saw the opera to learn about the complete life of Harriet Tubman -- not just her heroism⁹.

“The first act is called ‘In slavery’ and the second act of the opera is called ‘In Freedom.’  And I did that because I thought it was very important for viewers to experience Harriet as a full person.  I think most people like to think of Harriet as a born liberator¹⁰, and it robs them of an important part of the story.  It’s kind of like hero worship.  We don’t get that there’s this vulnerable person who’s there -- we don’t get the full picture.”

“Harriet Tubman: When I Crossed That Line To Freedom” opens next month at the Irondale Center in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York.  Fort Greene was one of the stops along The Underground Railroad.

Thank you for spending some of your time with us today.

I’m Christopher Cruise reporting from VOA Learning English headquarters in Washington.

1 blues   

n.抑郁，沮丧；布鲁斯音乐

参考例句：

• She was in the back of a smoky bar singing the blues.她在烟雾弥漫的酒吧深处唱着布鲁斯歌曲。
• He was in the blues on account of his failure in business.他因事业失败而意志消沉。

2 ragtime   

n.拉格泰姆音乐

参考例句：

• The most popular music back then was called ragtime.那时最流行的音乐叫拉格泰姆音乐。
• African-American piano player Scott Joplin wrote many ragtime songs.非裔美国钢琴家ScottJoplin写了许多拉格泰姆歌曲。

3 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

4 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

5 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

6 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

7 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

8 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

9 heroism   

n.大无畏精神，英勇

参考例句：

• He received a medal for his heroism.他由于英勇而获得一枚奖章。
• Stories of his heroism resounded through the country.他的英雄故事传遍全国。

10 liberator   

解放者

参考例句：

• The best integrated turf quality was recorded in Ram I、Midnight、America、Connie、Liberator, which could be adopted in Shanxi. RamI、Midnight、America、Connie、Liberator综合质量表现均衡且分值较高，是山西省推广应用的重点品种。
• It is the story of a new world that became a friend and liberator of the old. 这是一部新世界的发展史，是一部后浪推前浪的历史。