美国国家公共电台 NPR Political Exile, A Centuries-Old Russian Tradition, Returns

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST: 

Now, when Russia's communist system came crashing down 25 years ago, many Russians hoped their country would become a democracy. We were reminded two years ago how dim those hopes have become when a prominent opposition¹ leader was assassinated² in downtown Moscow. As NPR's Lucian Kim reports, political exile has once more become the only option for a growing number of Russians.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Russia will be free.

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: Russia will be free.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Russia will be free.

LUCIAN KIM, BYLINE³: On a bright Sunday afternoon last November, a dozen young Russians picketed⁴ their embassy in Washington D.C. I'd come to meet Anastasiya Popova, who under different circumstances might've been sitting inside the embassy instead of standing⁵ outside it.

ANASTASIYA POPOVA: I graduated from our Russian Diplomatic Academy. And I used to work in the Russian Ministry⁶ for Foreign Affairs in the Department of New Challenges and Threats.

KIM: But when the 29-year-old native of St. Petersburg became interested in opposition politics, she had to choose - keep her government job or work for the other side. Popova chose politics and became an aide to Ilya Ponomarev, the only member of the Russian Parliament to vote against annexing⁷ Crimea in 2014. Before too long, Ponomarev was living in exile in the U.S. as authorities in Russia built a criminal case against him, a common tactic⁸ used against opposition leaders. Then Popova says she got a warning that she, too, should leave the country ASAP.

POPOVA: Yeah. That was the end of October 2014. And that was my personal Halloween, you know, when I find myself in the U.S. with just a suitcase. And I had no idea where to go next.

KIM: Popova follows in a long history of Russian political exiles dating back to the 1800s, Jews fleeing persecution⁹, Russian aristocrats¹⁰ fleeing revolutionaries and dissidents getting the boot from the communist regime. But once they've left, exiles like Popova are cut off from their homeland.

FIONA HILL: Love it or leave it. That's exactly the idea. And if you leave it, then you leave it. And that's the bitter nature of exile.

KIM: Fiona Hill is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington. She says that once they're out, political exiles have little influence back home, even with the help of the internet.

HILL: I think social media does add a different ingredient. A lot of activity can take place in social media and in the internet. But it doesn't necessarily translate to action on the ground.

KIM: Someone who's still trying to take action in Russia is Ilya Yashin, an opposition leader who's refusing to leave. I met him in a coffee shop outside Washington while he was visiting the U.S.

ILYA YASHIN: (Speaking Russian).

KIM: "Somebody has to stay and continue engaging in opposition politics," Yashin told me, "because it's an example to others to stay and fight for their country." Yashin said many political activists¹¹ left Russia after his friend, opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, was assassinated outside the Kremlin in February 2015. According to research by Radio Free Europe, Russian applications for political asylum¹² in the U.S. have increased for the fourth straight year. Anastasiya Popova says for dissidents like her, leaving Russia is the only choice.

POPOVA: I believe that being in U.S. and telling U.S. government the truth about the political situation in Russia is more useful than just being tortured in jail.

KIM: When it comes to dealing¹³ with Russia, Popova has a message for President-elect Donald Trump¹⁴. Negotiate hard. Don't make any concessions¹⁵ as a sign of goodwill¹⁶ and keep expectations low. Lucian Kim, NPR News, Washington.

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 assassinated   

v.暗杀( assassinate的过去式和过去分词 )；中伤；诋毁；破坏

参考例句：

• The prime minister was assassinated by extremists. 首相遭极端分子暗杀。
• Then, just two days later, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. 跟着在两天以后，肯尼迪总统在达拉斯被人暗杀。 来自辞典例句

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 picketed   

用尖桩围住（picket的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• They picketed the restaurant. 他们在饭馆外设置纠察。
• Humboldt riotously picketed Von Trenk but the play was a hit. 尽管洪堡肆意破坏《冯·特伦克》的上演，然而这个剧还是轰动一时。

5 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

6 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

7 annexing   

并吞( annex的现在分词 )； 兼并； 强占； 并吞（国家、地区等）

参考例句：

• In addition to annexing territory, they exacted huge indemnities. 割地之外，又索去了巨大的赔款。
• He succeeded in annexing all the property of Hindley's and the Linton's. 他成功的占有了亨得利和林顿的所有财产。

8 tactic   

n.战略，策略；adj.战术的，有策略的

参考例句：

• Reducing prices is a common sales tactic.降价是常用的销售策略。
• She had often used the tactic of threatening to resign.她惯用以辞职相威胁的手法。

9 persecution   

n. 迫害,烦扰

参考例句：

• He had fled from France at the time of the persecution. 他在大迫害时期逃离了法国。
• Their persecution only serves to arouse the opposition of the people. 他们的迫害只激起人民对他们的反抗。

10 aristocrats   

n.贵族( aristocrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Many aristocrats were killed in the French Revolution. 许多贵族在法国大革命中被处死。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• To the Guillotine all aristocrats! 把全部贵族都送上断头台！ 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

11 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》

12 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

13 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

14 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

15 concessions   

n.（尤指由政府或雇主给予的）特许权( concession的名词复数 )；承认；减价；（在某地的）特许经营权

参考例句：

• The firm will be forced to make concessions if it wants to avoid a strike. 要想避免罢工，公司将不得不作出一些让步。
• The concessions did little to placate the students. 让步根本未能平息学生的愤怒。

16 goodwill   

n.善意，亲善，信誉，声誉

参考例句：

• His heart is full of goodwill to all men.他心里对所有人都充满着爱心。
• We paid ￡10,000 for the shop,and ￡2000 for its goodwill.我们用一万英镑买下了这家商店，两千英镑买下了它的信誉。