2006年VOA标准英语-Congolese Express Regret, Offer Excuses Followi

By Nico Colombant
Kinshasa
26 October 2006
 
A live televised debate was supposed to take place Thursday night between the two candidates in the Democratic Republic of Congo's October 29, post-war election. But, instead, Congolese are expressing disappointment and the rival political camps are trading accusations¹, after the debate's cancellation².

----

Helicopters from a European rapid reaction force whiz overhead in the tense capital.

Underneath³, activists⁴ gather around one of the residences of second-round candidate and former rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba.

 
Bemba supporters display election poster on car, Oct. 26, 2006
  
One of them says the debate must take place. He says Congolese must see who is capable and who is not capable.

He also says they must realize president and candidate Joseph Kabila speaks French with an accent and would be very limited in his answers.

But the media authority canceled the planned debate after the two candidates disagreed on its format⁵.

Mr. Kabila's camp said it wanted a pre-recorded debate, with the two candidates answering the same questions but from different locations, citing security reasons.

Mr. Bemba said he wanted a live, face-to-face debate to gauge⁶ "intellectual capacity."

A resident in Kinshasa shared his opinion with VOA about why the debate would have been helpful.

"People want to know what is the program of the men who want to lead our country," he said. "We had a lot of problems during the war. The country collapsed⁷. We have lots of problems in the economy, social [situation], environment, in politics and people want to know what and how the candidates will find good solutions to help Congo to go up, to go on."

Kabila poster, Oct. 26, 2006   
  
But an aide to Mr. Kabila says his camp was afraid a live debate would be "under the belt." He says Mr. Bemba would ask who Mr. Kabila's parents are and call him a foreigner.

He says Mr. Bemba might well jump from his lectern and attack Mr. Kabila.

Mr. Bemba's supporters say Mr. Kabila is not the son of former coup⁸ leader Laurent Desire Kabila, who was assassinated⁹ in 2001, but rather a handpicked successor who is not Congolese. The young Kabila denies this.

He has not campaigned during the second round, saying it is too dangerous - preferring to send his wife, instead.

An organizer from a small political faction¹⁰ boycotting¹¹ the election process, Mbwebwe Kabamba, says the debate was trivial, given the current context.

Nothing in the campaign, he says, has been marked by principles of democracy, debate and tolerance¹². He says everywhere in the Congo campaigning degraded into clashes.

Debate or no debate, he says, the most important thing is to have elections that lead to lasting¹³ and stable peace after years of bad governance and conflict.

1 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

2 cancellation   

n.删除，取消

参考例句：

• Heavy seas can cause cancellation of ferry services.海上风浪太大，可能须要取消渡轮服务。
• Her cancellation of her trip to Paris upset our plan.她取消了巴黎之行打乱了我们的计划。

3 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

4 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》

5 format   

n.设计，版式；[计算机]格式，DOS命令:格式化(磁盘)，用于空盘或使用过的磁盘建立新空盘来存储数据；v.使格式化，设计，安排

参考例句：

• Please format this floppy disc.请将这张软盘格式化。
• The format of the figure is very tasteful.该图表的格式很雅致。

6 gauge   

v.精确计量；估计；n.标准度量；计量器

参考例句：

• Can you gauge what her reaction is likely to be?你能揣测她的反应可能是什么吗？
• It's difficult to gauge one's character.要判断一个人的品格是很困难的。

7 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

8 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。

9 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

10 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。

11 boycotting   

抵制，拒绝参加( boycott的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• They're boycotting the shop because the people there are on strike. 他们抵制那家商店，因为那里的店员在罢工。
• The main opposition parties are boycotting the elections. 主要反对党都抵制此次选举。

12 tolerance   

n.宽容；容忍，忍受；耐药力；公差

参考例句：

• Tolerance is one of his strengths.宽容是他的一个优点。
• Human beings have limited tolerance of noise.人类对噪音的忍耐力有限。

13 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。