VOA常速英语2008年-Belarus Faces Increasing International Condemna

By Peter Fedynsky
Moscow
28 March 2008

Belarus is drawing strong international condemnation¹, following this week's crackdown against independent media and peaceful demonstrators in the former Soviet² republic. VOA Correspondent Peter Fedynsky is following events from Moscow.

The presidency³ of the European Union, currently held by Slovenia, in a statement Friday called on Belarusian authorities to stop further arrests of local journalists with ties to foreign media, and to stop persecuting⁴ representatives of the country's civil society.

Belarusian security agents on Thursday arrested at least 30 independent journalists in 12 cities on suspicion of insulting the country's president, Aleksandr Lukashenko.

 

Belarusian neighbors Poland and Lithuania, as well as the United States are among the countries expressing concern about the situation in Belarus.

Andre Bastunyets, deputy head of the Belarusian Association of Journalists, told VOA that a declining economy is beginning to politicize the people of Belarus, who have often been described as apolitical.

Bastunyets says harsh moves against activists⁵ or the media are aimed at breaking a mirror that journalists hold up to the government, as if that would improve its appearance. He says authorities also are trying to minimize domestic and international awareness⁶ of the situation in Belarus.

Bastunyets says most of the arrested journalists have been released, but their equipment and material have been confiscated⁷. He says they will face questioning by the Belarusian security service, still known by its Soviet-era name - the KGB - which, he says, could use the confiscated material to further intimidate⁸ journalists.

The Belarusian Foreign Ministry⁹ did not respond to several VOA requests for a comment, saying no authorized¹⁰ representative was available. A statement on the ministry's Web site says the arrested journalists were Belarusian citizens, who had long worked for foreign pay, but without proper accreditation¹¹, and, therefore, could not be considered foreign journalists.

The statement adds a bit of unexpected local color, citing "wise Belarusian ancestors" who said, "Not everyone in a cassock is a monk¹²."

Andre Bastunyets says he does not expect foreign condemnation to elicit¹³ a quick reaction from Belarusian authorities.

However, the journalist says he is convinced that, if the international community did not pay any attention to Belarus, the situation there would be much worse.

The United States refers to Belarusian President Lukashenko as Europe's last dictator, and accuses the country of violating free speech, human rights and election rules.

The United States this week cut its embassy staff in Minsk by half, amid deteriorating¹⁴ bilateral¹⁵ relations. Tensions increased last year after the United States imposed sanctions on the state-run oil processing firm, Belneftekhim. The Belarusian KGB now claims to have uncovered a network of U.S. spies in the country.

On Tuesday, at least 70 protesters were detained during a rally marking 90 years since the founding of the independent Belarusian National Republic. Opposition¹⁶ groups have used the occasion to protest against the authoritarian¹⁷ Lukashenko government.

1 condemnation   

n.谴责; 定罪

参考例句：

• There was widespread condemnation of the invasion. 那次侵略遭到了人们普遍的谴责。
• The jury's condemnation was a shock to the suspect. 陪审团宣告有罪使嫌疑犯大为震惊。

2 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

3 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

4 persecuting   

（尤指宗教或政治信仰的）迫害(~sb. for sth.)( persecute的现在分词 )； 烦扰，困扰或骚扰某人

参考例句：

• This endurance made old Earnshaw furious, when he discovered his son persecuting the poor, fatherless child, as he called him. 当老恩萧发现他的儿子这样虐待他所谓的可怜的孤儿时，这种逆来顺受使老恩萧冒火了。
• He is possessed with the idea that someone is persecuting him. 他老是觉得有人要害他。

5 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》

6 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

7 confiscated   

没收，充公( confiscate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Their land was confiscated after the war. 他们的土地在战后被没收。
• The customs officer confiscated the smuggled goods. 海关官员没收了走私品。

8 intimidate   

vt.恐吓，威胁

参考例句：

• You think you can intimidate people into doing what you want?你以为你可以威胁别人做任何事？
• The first strike capacity is intended mainly to intimidate adversary.第一次攻击的武力主要是用来吓阻敌方的。

9 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。

10 authorized   

a.委任的，许可的

参考例句：

• An administrative order is valid if authorized by a statute.如果一个行政命令得到一个法规的认可那么这个命令就是有效的。

11 accreditation   

n.委派，信赖，鉴定合格

参考例句：

• a letter of accreditation 一份合格证明书
• This paper gives an overview of the Verification, Validation and Accreditation (VV&A) in High Level Architecture(HLA). 对基于高层体系结构(High Level Architecture,简称HLA)的仿真系统的校核、验证与确认(Verification, Validation and Accreditation,简称VV&A)问题进行了详细的介绍及分析。 来自互联网

12 monk   

n.和尚，僧侣，修道士

参考例句：

• The man was a monk from Emei Mountain.那人是峨眉山下来的和尚。
• Buddhist monk sat with folded palms.和尚合掌打坐。

13 elicit   

v.引出,抽出,引起

参考例句：

• It was designed to elicit the best thinking within the government. 机构的设置是为了在政府内部集思广益。
• Don't try to elicit business secrets from me. I won't tell you anything. 你休想从我这里套问出我们的商业机密, 我什么都不会告诉你的。

14 deteriorating   

恶化，变坏( deteriorate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The weather conditions are deteriorating. 天气变得越来越糟。
• I was well aware of the bad morale and the deteriorating factories. 我很清楚，大家情绪低落，各个工厂越搞越坏。

15 bilateral   

adj.双方的，两边的，两侧的

参考例句：

• They have been negotiating a bilateral trade deal.他们一直在商谈一项双边贸易协定。
• There was a wide gap between the views of the two statesmen on the bilateral cooperation.对双方合作的问题，两位政治家各自所持的看法差距甚大。

16 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。

17 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。