2006年VOA标准英语-Montenegro Prepares for May Referendum on

By Barry Wood
Washington, DC
16 March 2006
 
watch Montenegro report

Montenegro coastal¹ territory   
  
The mountainous, sparsely² populated coastal territory of Montenegro on May 21st will hold a referendum on declaring independence from its state union with Serbia. The two countries are all that remain of the old Yugoslavia.  VOA's Barry Wood, recently in the Montenegrin capital of Podgorica, reports.

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The Republic of Montenegro would be Europe's newest country. According to guidelines prepared by the European Union, if 50 percent of Montenegro's voters participate, and if 55 percent of them vote yes, independence will be internationally recognized.  

 
Miodrag Vlahovic 
  
Miodrag Vlahovic, Montenegro's foreign minister, expects the referendum will succeed and independence declared shortly thereafter. "Personally I would prefer July 13th (for independence), which is a very important date for us -- as July 4th is for America. That was when the Berlin Congress in 1878 officially proclaimed Montenegro as an independent state."

Montenegro remained independent until it and five other south Slavic states created Yugoslavia in 1918. Following that country's collapse³ amid the wars of the 1990s, the looser federation⁴ of Serbia and Montenegro succeeded the rump Yugoslavia in 2002. Montenegro, no bigger than the small U.S. state of Connecticut, has only 600,000 people. It's already virtually independent, using its own money and refusing to take orders from Serbia.

Foreign minister Vlahovic says no matter what happens in the referendum, the link with Serbia is finished. "The state union actually does not function, as we speak.  It is a dead corpse⁵."

Opinion surveys suggest the vote will be close.  Currently, about 43 percent favor independence, 31 percent oppose it, and 24 percent are undecided.

 
Vladimir Gligorov
  
Vladimir Gligorov is the Balkans expert at Vienna's Institute for International Economics. He believes the vote could go either way. "You should never underestimate the feeling that people may have that this is an historical chance for them to have their own country."

Gligorov says the referendum has important implications for Montenegro, Serbia and the entire Balkans. A "yes" vote, he believes, would produce a more stable result. "Because a negative outcome really doesn't actually solve anything. The next day you have to start thinking what are our relations with Serbia."

 
Predrag Bulatovic 
  
Montenegro's pro-union with Serbia opposition⁶ says it will abide⁷ by the result of the referendum. But its leader, Predrag Bulatovic, is convinced independence will be voted down. "I believe that after the 21st of May, the state union will continue to exist, because this is the will of the people."

Serbia says it too will accept the vote of the Montenegrin people. Serbs and Montenegrins speak the same language and share the same religion. Preoccupied⁸ by what it regards as the far more significant problem of Kosovo's future, Serbia thus far has chosen not to be directly involved in Montenegro's independence referendum. 

1 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

2 sparsely   

adv.稀疏地；稀少地；不足地；贫乏地

参考例句：

• Relative to the size, the city is sparsely populated. 与其面积相比，这个城市的人口是稀少的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The ground was sparsely covered with grass. 地面上稀疏地覆盖草丛。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

4 federation   

n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会

参考例句：

• It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
• Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。

5 corpse   

n.尸体，死尸

参考例句：

• What she saw was just an unfeeling corpse.她见到的只是一具全无感觉的尸体。
• The corpse was preserved from decay by embalming.尸体用香料涂抹以防腐烂。

6 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。

7 abide   

vi.遵守；坚持；vt.忍受

参考例句：

• You must abide by the results of your mistakes.你必须承担你的错误所造成的后果。
• If you join the club,you have to abide by its rules.如果你参加俱乐部，你就得遵守它的规章。

8 preoccupied   

adj.全神贯注的，入神的；被抢先占有的；心事重重的v.占据（某人）思想，使对…全神贯注，使专心于( preoccupy的过去式)

参考例句：

• He was too preoccupied with his own thoughts to notice anything wrong. 他只顾想着心事，没注意到有什么不对。
• The question of going to the Mount Tai preoccupied his mind. 去游泰山的问题盘踞在他心头。 来自《简明英汉词典》