VOA常速英语2008年-Zimbabwe Opposition Says Lawmaker Among Support

By Delia Robertson
Johannesburg
16 April 2008

Zimbabwe's opposition¹ Movement for Democratic Change says 50 supporters have been arrested since Tuesday. The police say the number is fewer than 40.  VOA's Delia Robertson reports from our southern Africa bureau in Johannesburg.

The MDC says a newly elected lawmaker is among the dozens of opposition supporters arrested by police since the party called a national strike.  The MDC named the lawmaker as Marvelous Khumalo, elected in Chitungwiza in North East Zimbabwe.

Police say those arrested are suspected of barricading² roads, stoning vehicles and preventing people from going to work. The MDC said its call was for people to say home and indoors. But there were independent reports of at least one burnt-out vehicle Wednesday along with remnants of makeshift barricades³ set up at the start of the strike.

The MDC asked Zimbabweans to strike in protest at the failure of the country's Electoral Commission to release the result of the presidential election, held more than two weeks ago.  But most people ignored the call to stay at home.  By Wednesday, riot police were no longer on the streets of the capital, Harare.

Members of the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights say that since the elections, held at the end of March, members of the group have treated about 160 people for injuries caused in organized violence and torture.
 
Independent lawmaker Jonathan Moyo says what he calls Zimbabwe's democratic forces should use whatever means they have to confront the government and the ruling ZANU-PF party over the current political crisis.

"In these circumstances, the progressive democratic forces must throw everything at their disposal against the government and ZANU-PF," Moyo said.

Many Zimbabweans are looking to regional leaders, particularly South African President Thabo Mbeki, to help find a way out of their worsening political and economic woes⁴.  Mr. Mbeki's comments last week - that there is no political crisis in Zimbabwe - caused outrage⁵ among some Zimbabweans.

This person wished to remain anonymous⁶.

"President Mbeki is lying. It's crazy in Zimbabwe because rural areas (inaudible) beating people, some of them being admitted to hospitals," the person said.

Hundreds of Zimbabweans demonstrated in Pretoria at the Zimbabwe embassy demanding the release of the tally⁷ in the president poll. One protester told South African radio Zimbabweans want what they voted for.

"We are here, we want them to open the gate for us, so that we go inside and claim what belongs to us and declare our own ambassador so that the world can see that the people of Zimbabwe are not just talking, but we mean what we talking, but we mean what we [are] voting for," the protester said.

Meanwhile South Africa's ruling African National Congress issued its strongest statement yet on the situation in Zimbabwe.  In an address to the South African Chambers⁸ of Commerce, ANC President Jacob Zuma said his party is increasingly anxious about the delay in the verification process and the release of the tally in Zimbabwe's presidential poll.

Zuma added that reports of violence have made the situation ever more worrying.

1 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。

2 barricading   

设路障于，以障碍物阻塞( barricade的现在分词 )； 设路障[防御工事]保卫或固守

参考例句：

• He was barricading himself against possibilities. 他严阵以待可能发生的事。
• As he had anticipated, a thundering iron gate fell nearby, barricading the entrance to the suite. 果然不出馆长所料，附近的一扇铁门轰然倒下，封住了通往画廊的入口。

3 barricades   

路障，障碍物( barricade的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The police stormed the barricades the demonstrators had put up. 警察冲破了示威者筑起的街垒。
• Others died young, in prison or on the barricades. 另一些人年轻时就死在监牢里或街垒旁。

4 woes   

困境( woe的名词复数 )； 悲伤； 我好苦哇； 某人就要倒霉

参考例句：

• Thanks for listening to my woes. 谢谢您听我诉说不幸的遭遇。
• She has cried the blues about its financial woes. 对于经济的困难她叫苦不迭。

5 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。

6 anonymous   

adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的

参考例句：

• Sending anonymous letters is a cowardly act.寄匿名信是懦夫的行为。
• The author wishes to remain anonymous.作者希望姓名不公开。

7 tally   

n.计数器，记分，一致，测量；vt.计算，记录，使一致；vi.计算，记分，一致

参考例句：

• Don't forget to keep a careful tally of what you spend.别忘了仔细记下你的开支账目。
• The facts mentioned in the report tally to every detail.报告中所提到的事实都丝毫不差。

8 chambers   

n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅

参考例句：

• The body will be removed into one of the cold storage chambers. 尸体将被移到一个冷冻间里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Mr Chambers's readable book concentrates on the middle passage: the time Ransome spent in Russia. Chambers先生的这本值得一看的书重点在中间：Ransome在俄国的那几年。 来自互联网