2007年VOA标准英语-Zimbabwe Police Seize Opposition Leader's Passp

By Peta Thornycroft
Southern Africa
16 June 2007

Hours before the first South African-mediated talks between Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF and the opposition² Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) were due to begin in Pretoria, police in Harare seized the passport of Arthur Mutambara, one of two MDC presidents.  For VOA, Peta Thornycroft reports that Mutambara and founding MDC president Morgan Tsvangirai were due to fly to London later on Saturday for their first joint³ mission to brief European leaders on the crisis in Zimbabwe.

Arthur Mutambara has been attending the World Economic Forum⁴ gathering⁵ this week in Cape⁶ Town.

At the forum, during a debate on Zimbabwe, he told delegates that the future of Zimbabwe could not remain in the hands of the ruling ZANU-PF as the party was responsible for creating the humanitarian⁷ and economic crisis in Zimbabwe.

Among the leaders and delegates at the forum was a former ZANU-PF finance minister, Simba Makoni, sometimes tipped as a successor to President Robert Mugabe.

While Mutambara was at the forum in Cape Town, MDC officials in Harare were working to secure visas for him to travel to Europe for the talks with EU leaders.

However, Gabriel Chaibva, Mutambara's spokesman in Harare, said after the MDC officials had obtained the necessary travel papers from the British Embassy, they were arrested by members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police and Mutambara's passport was confiscated⁸.

The MDC leader was due to fly out of Johannesburg late Saturday to join Morgan Tsvangirai to brief leaders in London and elsewhere in the European Union.

The MDC split into two factions¹⁰ in late 2005, but the factions are making efforts to forge a cooperation agreement to fight the next national elections in March 2008.

Harare lawyer Harrison Nkomo is looking for a judge of the High Court to hear an urgent application for the return of Mutambara's passport and the release of the four officials who were arrested.

faction9 leader Arthur Mutambara(c) chairman of the National Constitutional Assembly Lovemore Madhuku(l) and Tendai Biti(r) Secretary General of the main opposition faction vowed11 to forge an alliance against Mugabe's government " hspace="2" width="210" vspace="2" border="0" src="/upimg/allimg/070628/1413150.jpg" />

Opposition MDC faction leader Arthur Mutambara (c), chairman of the National Constitutional Assembly Lovemore Madhuku (l), and Tendai Biti (r), Secretary General of the main opposition faction vowed to forge an alliance against Mugabe's government (file photo)

Mutambara, now stuck in South Africa without travel documents, said Saturday that ZANU-PF knew it could never win a fully¹² free and fair election and was determined¹³ to try and prevent the two factions of the MDC from uniting to fight the polls.

Meanwhile in Pretoria, Zimbabwe's justice minister, Patrick Chinamasa, and labor¹⁴ minister, Nicholas Goche, are scheduled to begin talks Saturday with the two secretaries general of the MDC, Tendai Biti and Welshman Ncube.

The talks are hosted by South African president Thabo Mbeki who is appointed by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to mediate¹ an end to the ever-worsening political and economic crisis.

1 mediate   

vi.调解，斡旋；vt.经调解解决；经斡旋促成

参考例句：

• The state must mediate the struggle for water resources.政府必须通过调解来解决对水资源的争夺。
• They may be able to mediate between parties with different interests.他们也许能在不同利益政党之间进行斡旋。

2 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。

3 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

4 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

5 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。

6 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。

7 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

8 confiscated   

没收，充公( confiscate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Their land was confiscated after the war. 他们的土地在战后被没收。
• The customs officer confiscated the smuggled goods. 海关官员没收了走私品。

9 faction   

n.宗派，小集团；派别；派系斗争

参考例句：

• Faction and self-interest appear to be the norm.派系之争和自私自利看来非常普遍。
• I now understood clearly that I was caught between the king and the Bunam's faction.我现在完全明白自己已陷入困境，在国王与布纳姆集团之间左右为难。

10 factions   

组织中的小派别，派系( faction的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The gens also lives on in the "factions." 氏族此外还继续存在于“factions〔“帮”〕中。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源
• rival factions within the administration 政府中的对立派别

11 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。

12 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

13 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

14 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。