VOA标准英语2010年-North Korean Television Anchorwoman Ha

In North Korea, one newscaster leads the news every day. Ri Chun Hee begins every newscast reporting the latest on the nation's leader, Kim Jong-Il. But some North Korea experts and defectors say audiences are not paying attention to the official news anymore.

A familiar face greets North Koreans each night when they tune¹ in to watch the television news.  An older woman, dressed in a pink traditional Korean gown, bows to the camera before speaking.  Ri Chun Hee appears at the start of every North Korean newscast.

Her beat is the Dear Leader Kim Jong-il. She reports every public appearance he makes, every word of on- the-spot guidance he utters and recites the praises he reportedly receives from abroad.

According to a profile of Ri in a North Korean magazine, she was born in 1943, has worked as a reporter for nearly 40 years and has been bestowed² both a luxury house and car by Kim Jong-il himself. 

A spokeswoman at South Korea's Unification Ministry³ says because Ri is not a political figure, the Seoul government knows little else about her.

But Brian Myers, a North Korea analyst⁴ at Dongseo University in Busan, says not just anyone can become a news anchor in the north. "Apparently⁵ you need especially good ideological⁶ credentials⁷ and a good family background if you want to go into journalism⁸," he said.

Myers, however, says Ri is an exception because she trained as an actress before getting into journalism. He points out though, that this probably worked to her advantage, considering the nature of news in North Korea.  "The entire news broadcast in North Korea is a much more stagey and theatrical⁹ affair than even news in the old Soviet¹⁰ Union was," he said.

Newscasts unfailingly praise the Pyongyang government, and belittle¹¹ many foreign governments. News reports do not mention North Korea's worsening economic situation or its poor human rights record.

But there are signs that North Korean audiences are becoming more aware of the formulaic propaganda.

Jin Seong Rak defected to South Korea in 2008.  Jin says in North Korea there is a saying that if you watch television for just one week, you do not need to watch it ever again, because everything is repeated, it is all the same stuff.

Jin is now a journalist himself at a radio station staffed by mostly North Korean reporters in Seoul. They transmit their newscast back to their homeland.

But Jin and his colleagues do not know how many listeners they actually have.

Defector journalist Kim Eun Ho, who arrived in South Korea last year, says that what is clear is that North Koreans are losing faith in the official media there.

Kim says in North Korea, the Kim Jong-Il government and the political parties always say we will soon have a better life. That has been going on for decades. But because nothing has changed people have stopped watching TV and listening to the radio. He says they do not believe it.

Aside from defector radio stations and broadcasters such as Voice of America, North Korean television faces competition from smuggled¹² South Korean movies and dramas. But for Ri Chun Hee, the grandmotherly anchorwoman, her job seems safe.

Most televisions in North Korea receive only the government channel and possessing foreign news media can land you and your family in jail. So it seems for that as long as Kim Jong Il governs, Ri Chun Hee will be there to give the latest news.

 

1 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

2 bestowed   

赠给，授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• It was a title bestowed upon him by the king. 那是国王赐给他的头衔。
• He considered himself unworthy of the honour they had bestowed on him. 他认为自己不配得到大家赋予他的荣誉。

3 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。

4 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。

5 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

6 ideological   

a.意识形态的

参考例句：

• He always tries to link his study with his ideological problems. 他总是把学习和自己的思想问题联系起来。
• He helped me enormously with advice on how to do ideological work. 他告诉我怎样做思想工作，对我有很大帮助。

7 credentials   

n.证明，资格，证明书，证件

参考例句：

• He has long credentials of diplomatic service.他的外交工作资历很深。
• Both candidates for the job have excellent credentials.此项工作的两个求职者都非常符合资格。

8 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。

9 theatrical   

adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的

参考例句：

• The final scene was dismayingly lacking in theatrical effect.最后一场缺乏戏剧效果，叫人失望。
• She always makes some theatrical gesture.她老在做些夸张的手势。

10 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。

11 belittle   

v.轻视，小看，贬低

参考例句：

• Do not belittle what he has achieved.不能小看他取得的成绩。
• When you belittle others,you are actually the one who appears small.当你轻视他人时， 真正渺小的其实是你自己。

12 smuggled   

水货

参考例句：

• The customs officer confiscated the smuggled goods. 海关官员没收了走私品。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Those smuggled goods have been detained by the port office. 那些走私货物被港务局扣押了。 来自互联网