VOA常速英语2007年-Benazir Bhutto Lived Life of Tragedy

By Steve Herman
New Delhi
27 December 2007

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's assassination¹ following a political rally Thursday ended a life that was filled with great privilege and steeped in family tragedy. VOA Correspondent Steve Herman in our South Asia bureau in New Delhi has a look back at her remarkable² life.

Benazir Bhutto, twice prime minister of Pakistan, emerged as a public figure, in many ways because of tragedy, and, with her assassination, she will share a similar legacy³ with her father.

Ms. Bhutto was the daughter of the late Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Her mother was of Kurdish and Iranian origins. Her father was hanged after he was deposed⁴ in a 1977 military coup⁵ by General Zia al-Huq, which brought an end to one of Pakistan's few non-military governments.

Benazir Bhutto, born in Sindh province in 1953, enjoyed the advantages of being a daughter of one of Pakistan's wealthiest and most politically savvy⁶ dynasties. She was educated at Harvard's Radcliffe College in the United States and Oxford⁷ University in Britain.

At college in the United States, where she was known by her nickname of Pinkie, she participated in the movement against the Vietnam War. Classmates say she got a reputation as dynamic orator⁸ there, vociferously⁹ defending her father when he was criticized by professors.

Her friends say that, while the young Muslim woman took to wearing jeans, she did not have a boyfriend and would not smoke, drink or eat pork. Graduating from the elite¹⁰ American school, her thesis, on Muslim Separatism and the Origins of Pakistan, was reportedly submitted on pink paper.

After completing a Master's degree in the United States in 1977, she went home, taking the helm of her father's Pakistan Peoples' Party. After his ouster, she was initially¹¹ jailed while her father awaited execution.

Speaking recently to VOA, Ms. Bhutto remembered the words of her father at that time, saying he believed contesting elections, despite the barriers to fair elections, was better than boycotts¹².

"When my father was in prison under an earlier military dictatorship, he had still told the party to go ahead and fight, so we could keep my party political machinery¹³ well-oiled, and we could have an opportunity to meet the public, meet the voters, and communicate our message to them," she said. "So, we thought it was better to have a political process than to leave the field open."

She would spend five years in solitary¹⁴ confinement¹⁵ before exiling herself to London upon her release in 1984.

She returned home again two years later, vowing¹⁶ to help drive her father's successor from office.

Donning the veil, agreeing to an arranged marriage and quoting the Koran, she took on a new public image.

The transformation¹⁷ gave her greater legitimacy¹⁸, and helped to propel her twice to being elected prime minister, first in the late 1980s and then again in the mid¹⁹ 1990s.

That made her one of the few democratically elected female leaders in an Islamic country and one of the youngest heads of government, and, perhaps, the only one ever to give birth while in office. She would later have two other children.

She had remarked that she faced threats from the beginning of her political ascent²⁰, with some conservative Muslims calling for her to be killed because she had usurped²¹ a man's place.

She was forced from office both times she served as prime minister, amid corruption²² allegations tied to her controversial husband, Asif Zardari. Critics branded him a greedy businessman, who took advantage of his wife's position to allegedly drain Pakistan's treasury²³ of millions of dollars. Although he would be acquitted²⁴ of all such charges, he was jailed for years.

Ms. Bhutto spent much of her time in her second exile in Dubai and London, but remained a prominent figure, meeting government officials around the world.

Less than two and a half months before her assassination, she returned home when President Pervez Musharraf gave her amnesty from still-pending corruption charges. At that time, she chafed²⁵ at the image of Pakistan as being a global source of terrorism.

"It hurts us when people say, the terrorists who come, whether they are bombing tubes [subways] in London, or whether plotting plots in Germany or doing things in other countries, and have their trail leading back [to Pakistan]," she said. "That is not the real image of Pakistan."

In Karachi, in October, her convoy²⁶ was attacked by a suicide bomber²⁷, killing²⁸ more than 130 people, but narrowly missing her. Blaming the attack on pro-al-Qaida militants²⁹, Ms. Bhutto criticized President Musharraf for not checking the spread of extremism.

"The political process is under attack, political leaders are being bombed, political activists³⁰ are being bombed, our country is in danger," said Ms. Bhutto. "Our country is in danger from the extremism that has spread under dictatorship."

Bhutto had long known the dangers she faced personally by going home to make a third bid to become prime minister. She had concluded her autobiography³¹ with a promise to return to her country and in her words, "take the risk for all the children of Pakistan."

It is expected Ms. Bhutto will be laid to rest in her native Sindh province, where her father and her two brothers, who also both died tragically³², are buried.

1 assassination   

n.暗杀；暗杀事件

参考例句：

• The assassination of the president brought matters to a head.总统遭暗杀使事态到了严重关头。
• Lincoln's assassination in 1865 shocked the whole nation.1865年，林肯遇刺事件震惊全美国。

2 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

3 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

4 deposed   

v.罢免( depose的过去式和过去分词 )；（在法庭上）宣誓作证

参考例句：

• The president was deposed in a military coup. 总统在军事政变中被废黜。
• The head of state was deposed by the army. 国家元首被军队罢免了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 coup   

n.政变；突然而成功的行动

参考例句：

• The monarch was ousted by a military coup.那君主被军事政变者废黜了。
• That government was overthrown in a military coup three years ago.那个政府在3年前的军事政变中被推翻。

6 savvy   

v.知道，了解；n.理解能力，机智，悟性；adj.有见识的，懂实际知识的，通情达理的

参考例句：

• She was a pretty savvy woman.她是个见过世面的漂亮女人。
• Where's your savvy?你的常识到哪里去了？

7 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

8 orator   

n.演说者，演讲者，雄辩家

参考例句：

• He was so eloquent that he cut down the finest orator.他能言善辩，胜过最好的演说家。
• The orator gestured vigorously while speaking.这位演讲者讲话时用力地做手势。

9 vociferously   

adv.喊叫地，吵闹地

参考例句：

• They are arguing vociferously over who should pay the bill. 他们为谁该付账单大声争吵。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Annixter had cursed him so vociferously and tersely that even Osterman was cowed. 安尼克斯特骂了他的声音之大，语气之凶，连奥斯特曼也不禁吓了一跳。 来自辞典例句

10 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

11 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

12 boycotts   

（对某事物的）抵制( boycott的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Their methods included boycotts and court action, supplemented by'sit-ins". 他们的主要方法包括联合抵制、法庭起诉，还附带进行静坐抗议。
• Are boycotts for other purposes illegal? 至于用于其它目的的联合抵制行动是否也是非法的呢？

13 machinery   

n.(总称)机械，机器；机构

参考例句：

• Has the machinery been put up ready for the broadcast?广播器材安装完毕了吗？
• Machinery ought to be well maintained all the time.机器应该随时注意维护。

14 solitary   

adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士

参考例句：

• I am rather fond of a solitary stroll in the country.我颇喜欢在乡间独自徜徉。
• The castle rises in solitary splendour on the fringe of the desert.这座城堡巍然耸立在沙漠的边际，显得十分壮美。

15 confinement   

n.幽禁，拘留，监禁；分娩；限制，局限

参考例句：

• He spent eleven years in solitary confinement.他度过了11年的单独监禁。
• The date for my wife's confinement was approaching closer and closer.妻子分娩的日子越来越近了。

16 vowing   

起誓，发誓（vow的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• President Bush is vowing to help Minneapolis rebuild its collapsed bridge. 布什总统承诺将帮助明尼阿波利斯重建坍塌的大桥。
• President Bush is vowing to help Minneapolis rebuild this collapse bridge. 布什总统发誓要帮助明尼阿波利斯重建起这座坍塌的桥梁。

17 transformation   

n.变化；改造；转变

参考例句：

• Going to college brought about a dramatic transformation in her outlook.上大学使她的观念发生了巨大的变化。
• He was struggling to make the transformation from single man to responsible husband.他正在努力使自己由单身汉变为可靠的丈夫。

18 legitimacy   

n.合法，正当

参考例句：

• The newspaper was directly challenging the government's legitimacy.报纸直接质疑政府的合法性。
• Managing from the top down,we operate with full legitimacy.我们进行由上而下的管理有充分的合法性。

19 mid   

adj.中央的，中间的

参考例句：

• Our mid-term exam is pending.我们就要期中考试了。
• He switched over to teaching in mid-career.他在而立之年转入教学工作。

20 ascent   

n.(声望或地位)提高；上升，升高；登高

参考例句：

• His rapid ascent in the social scale was surprising.他的社会地位提高之迅速令人吃惊。
• Burke pushed the button and the elevator began its slow ascent.伯克按动电钮，电梯开始缓慢上升。

21 usurped   

篡夺，霸占( usurp的过去式和过去分词 )； 盗用； 篡夺，篡权

参考例句：

• That magazine usurped copyrighted material. 那杂志盗用了版权为他人所有的素材。
• The expression'social engineering'has been usurped by the Utopianist without a shadow of light. “社会工程”这个词已被乌托邦主义者毫无理由地盗用了。

22 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。

23 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

24 acquitted   

宣判…无罪( acquit的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（自己）作出某种表现

参考例句：

• The jury acquitted him of murder. 陪审团裁决他谋杀罪不成立。
• Five months ago she was acquitted on a shoplifting charge. 五个月前她被宣判未犯入店行窃罪。

25 chafed   

v.擦热（尤指皮肤）( chafe的过去式 )；擦痛；发怒；惹怒

参考例句：

• Her wrists chafed where the rope had been. 她的手腕上绳子勒过的地方都磨红了。
• She chafed her cold hands. 她揉搓冰冷的双手使之暖和。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

26 convoy   

vt.护送，护卫，护航；n.护送；护送队

参考例句：

• The convoy was snowed up on the main road.护送队被大雪困在干路上了。
• Warships will accompany the convoy across the Atlantic.战舰将护送该船队过大西洋。

27 bomber   

n.轰炸机，投弹手，投掷炸弹者

参考例句：

• He flew a bomber during the war.他在战时驾驶轰炸机。
• Detectives hunting the London bombers will be keen to interview him.追查伦敦爆炸案凶犯的侦探们急于对他进行讯问。

28 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。

29 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

30 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》

31 autobiography   

n.自传

参考例句：

• He published his autobiography last autumn.他去年秋天出版了自己的自传。
• His life story is recounted in two fascinating volumes of autobiography.这两卷引人入胜的自传小说详述了他的生平。

32 tragically   

adv. 悲剧地，悲惨地

参考例句：

• Their daughter was tragically killed in a road accident. 他们的女儿不幸死于车祸。
• Her father died tragically in a car crash. 她父亲在一场车祸中惨死。