Young People Driving Middle East Protests

The popular revolts roiling¹ Egypt and other Arab countries are being driven by young people clamoring to oust² autocratic governments they have known all their lives. The hardscrabble Tunis neighborhood of Ettadhamen provides a representative look at the hardships, and aspirations³, of some of the young people behind Tunisia's so-called Jasmine Revolution.

Cite Ettadhamen, on the edges of Tunisia's capital, is considered one of the poorest places in this small north-African country. Accurate statistics are hard to get, but it is safe to say that many young people here are just scraping by. Twenty-nine-year old Bessam is luckier than most - he has a job as an engineer for a French company.
But Bessam said his brother, who has a masters' degree, was unable to find a job in Tunisia. He now works in Qatar, washing dishes in a hotel.
Another Ettadham resident, 17-year-old Selim, is still in high school. He hopes the changes afoot in Tunisia, where weeks of protests overthrew⁴ authoritarian⁵ president Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, will bring a brighter future. "Maybe this new government could change my future, my job, all my dreams. Because the last government of Ben Ali is not good."
It was literally⁶ a spark that ignited what Tunisians call their Jasmine Revolution, the self immolation⁷ of a young man who was prevented from selling vegetables. His story struck a chord with many young people who became the driving force in ousting⁸ Ben Ali on January 14th. Ettadhamen was one of the first neighborhoods to revolt.
Mansouria Mokhefi, head of North African and Middle East programs at the Paris-based French Institute of International Relations, said the frustrations⁹ of Tunisia's youth - their lack of jobs, free expression, dignity and power - are mirrored across the Arab world, where 70 percent of the population is under 30 years of age.
Mokhefi said this young population is making history. She believes the Arab world is witnessing its first real independence movements. Youths are beginning to take control of their destiny.
Just about everywhere you go in Tunisia, people will say they are proud, proud of toppling the Ben Ali government they hated. Proud, especially, of their young people.
It was the young people who changed things, one woman in Ettadhamen said.
The editor in chief of the Tunisian news magazine Realites, Zyed Krichen, said he was astonished at the younger generation. Krichen said older adults like himself thought Tunisia's youth were uninterested in politics, that they lived in their own world.
Tunisia's revolt is now inspiring uprisings across the Arab world. There have been a string of reported self immolations - in Algeria, Sudan, Yemen and Morocco. Eyes are now focused on Egypt, where tens of thousands of protesters are calling for 82-year-old President Hosni Mubarak to step down.
Analyst¹⁰ Mokhefi said Tunisia's revolution reflects a maturity¹¹, even an elegance¹², of those who led it. She does not see it being replicated¹³ in Egypt, where the younger generation is poorer, less educated and more frustrated¹⁴.
Tunisia's revolution is far from over. The interim¹⁵ government has promised elections six months from now. The youthful leadership on the country's streets, however, is not reflected in politics, where many known figures are middle aged¹⁶ or elderly, including opposition¹⁷ heads.
But Mokhefi, for one, is upbeat about Tunisia's future. Tunisians living overseas are heading back home to help rebuild their country. She said she is confident a new, younger leadership will emerge to steer¹⁸ it.

1 roiling   

v.搅混（液体）( roil的现在分词 )；使烦恼；使不安；使生气

参考例句：

• Now, all that could be seen was the roiling, lead--coloured sea, with its thunderously heaving waves. 狂风挟着暴雨如同弥漫大雾，排挞呼号，在海上恣意奔驶。 来自汉英文学 - 现代散文
• Rather, it is a roiling, seething cauldron of evanescent particles. 相反，它是一个不断翻滚、剧烈沸腾的大锅，内有逐渐消失的粒子。 来自互联网

2 oust   

vt.剥夺，取代，驱逐

参考例句：

• The committee wanted to oust him from the union.委员会想把他从工会中驱逐出去。
• The leaders have been ousted from power by nationalists.这些领导人被民族主义者赶下了台。

3 aspirations   

强烈的愿望( aspiration的名词复数 )； 志向； 发送气音； 发 h 音

参考例句：

• I didn't realize you had political aspirations. 我没有意识到你有政治上的抱负。
• The new treaty embodies the aspirations of most nonaligned countries. 新条约体现了大多数不结盟国家的愿望。

4 overthrew   

overthrow的过去式

参考例句：

• The people finally rose up and overthrew the reactionary regime. 人们终于起来把反动的政权推翻了。
• They overthrew their King. 他们推翻了国王。

5 authoritarian   

n./adj.专制(的)，专制主义者，独裁主义者

参考例句：

• Foreign diplomats suspect him of authoritarian tendencies.各国外交官怀疑他有着独裁主义倾向。
• The authoritarian policy wasn't proved to be a success.独裁主义的政策证明并不成功。

6 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

7 immolation   

n.牺牲品

参考例句：

• We still do;living in a world in which underclared aggression, war,hypocrisy,chicanery,anarchy and impending immolation are part of our daily lives, we all want a code to live by. 我们仍然有这种感觉；生活在一个不宣而战的侵略、战争、虚伪、诈骗、混乱以及迫在眉睫的杀戮充斥着我们日常生活的世界里，我们都想有一种能赖以生存的准则。
• The Emperor had these clay figures made instead of burying slave-workers alive as immolation. 秦始皇用泥塑造了这批俑，没有活埋奴隶作为殉葬。

8 ousting   

驱逐( oust的现在分词 )； 革职； 罢黜； 剥夺

参考例句：

• The resulting financial chaos led to the ousting of Bristol-Myers' s boss. 随后引发的财政混乱导致了百时美施贵宝的总裁下台。
• The ousting of the president has drawn widespread criticism across Latin America and the wider world. 洪都拉斯总统被驱逐时间引起拉丁美洲甚至全世界的广泛批评。

9 frustrations   

挫折( frustration的名词复数 )； 失败； 挫败； 失意

参考例句：

• The temptation would grow to take out our frustrations on Saigon. 由于我们遭到挫折而要同西贡算帐的引诱力会增加。
• Aspirations will be raised, but so will frustrations. 人们会产生种种憧憬，但是种种挫折也会随之而来。

10 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

11 maturity   

n.成熟；完成；(支票、债券等)到期

参考例句：

• These plants ought to reach maturity after five years.这些植物五年后就该长成了。
• This is the period at which the body attains maturity.这是身体发育成熟的时期。

12 elegance   

n.优雅；优美，雅致；精致，巧妙

参考例句：

• The furnishings in the room imparted an air of elegance.这个房间的家具带给这房间一种优雅的气氛。
• John has been known for his sartorial elegance.约翰因为衣着讲究而出名。

13 replicated   

复制( replicate的过去式和过去分词 )； 重复； 再造； 再生

参考例句：

• Later outplant the seedlings in a replicated permanent test plantation. 以后苗木出圃栽植成重复的永久性试验林。
• The phage has replicated and the donor cells have lysed. 噬菌体已复制和给体细胞已发生裂解。

14 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。

16 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

17 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。

18 steer   

vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶

参考例句：

• If you push the car, I'll steer it.如果你来推车，我就来驾车。
• It's no use trying to steer the boy into a course of action that suits you.想说服这孩子按你的方式行事是徒劳的。