VOA标准英语2014--Havel's Bust Gets Place Among Greats in US Congress

 

Havel's Bust¹ Gets Place Among Greats in US Congress

WASHINGTON— 

U.S. congressional leaders have honored the late Czech president, author and freedom fighter Vaclav Havel at a time when his country is marking the 25th anniversary of its anti-communist protests that eventually led to democracy. A bust of Havel was unveiled in the U.S. Capitol Wednesday. Havel's widow, Dagmar, and Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka attended the ceremony, hosted by Speaker of the House John Boehner.

The bust of the late Czech president is placed alongside those of other eminent² leaders in Statuary Hall -- Britain's Winston Churchill, Sweden's Raoul Wallenberg, America's Martin Luther King Jr. and others.

Boehner led the unveiling ceremony.

"He was a writer who exposed the communists, using the one weapon that they couldn’t match, and that was the truth. For this he received three stays in prison, countless³ interrogations, and constant surveillance, but he kept on writing, hiding pages of his manuscripts throughout his home. Offered a chance to flee to the West, he refused in saying ‘I’m simply a Czech bumpkin through and through,’” said Boehner.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Havel's leadership served as an example to people everywhere in the world striving for democracy and human rights, notably⁴ in China and its Tibet region. 

"President Havel was a defender⁵ of freedom, a champion of human rights and an apostle of hope. He wrote plays, and penned a charter of reform. He spoke⁶ out for democracy and crafted a new chapter of progress for his country and his continent, for people worldwide and for generations to come," said Pelosi.

Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka recalled Havel's 1990 message that "no one who paid the price for freedom should be forgotten."

"By unveiling the bust of Vaclav Havel we do not only pay homage⁷ to him, but as he befittingly described it, to each and every one who did not bend down before pressure and fought for freedom, despite a threat of imprisonment⁸, suffering or death, to each and everyone who raised his or her voice like the Czech writer and playwright⁹ Vaclav Havel,” said Sobotka. 

Havel's activism against oppression and on behalf of human rights and democracy helped topple communism in Czechoslovakia, a development known as the "Velvet¹⁰ Revolution." He became the country's first democratically elected president in 1989, and after the Czech-Slovak split he was elected as the first president of the Czech Republic.

Remembering Havel's love of rock, jazz and blues¹¹, U.S. congress members invited American musician and guitarist of the band ZZ Top Billy Gibbons to honor the late Czech leader.

"You didn't have to change it but you did, but you did, but you did, and we thank you," sang Gibbons, changing the original words "you didn't have to love me, but you did" into "you did not have to change it, but you did." 

1 bust   

vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部

参考例句：

• I dropped my camera on the pavement and bust it. 我把照相机掉在人行道上摔坏了。
• She has worked up a lump of clay into a bust.她把一块黏土精心制作成一个半身像。

2 eminent   

adj.显赫的，杰出的，有名的，优良的

参考例句：

• We are expecting the arrival of an eminent scientist.我们正期待一位著名科学家的来访。
• He is an eminent citizen of China.他是一个杰出的中国公民。

3 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

4 notably   

adv.值得注意地，显著地，尤其地，特别地

参考例句：

• Many students were absent,notably the monitor.许多学生缺席，特别是连班长也没来。
• A notably short,silver-haired man,he plays basketball with his staff several times a week.他个子明显较为矮小，一头银发，每周都会和他的员工一起打几次篮球。

5 defender   

n.保卫者，拥护者，辩护人

参考例句：

• He shouldered off a defender and shot at goal.他用肩膀挡开防守队员，然后射门。
• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。

6 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

7 homage   

n.尊敬，敬意，崇敬

参考例句：

• We pay homage to the genius of Shakespeare.我们对莎士比亚的天才表示敬仰。
• The soldiers swore to pay their homage to the Queen.士兵们宣誓效忠于女王陛下。

8 imprisonment   

n.关押，监禁，坐牢

参考例句：

• His sentence was commuted from death to life imprisonment.他的判决由死刑减为无期徒刑。
• He was sentenced to one year's imprisonment for committing bigamy.他因为犯重婚罪被判入狱一年。

9 playwright   

n.剧作家，编写剧本的人

参考例句：

• Gwyn Thomas was a famous playwright.格温·托马斯是著名的剧作家。
• The playwright was slaughtered by the press.这位剧作家受到新闻界的无情批判。

10 velvet   

n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的

参考例句：

• This material feels like velvet.这料子摸起来像丝绒。
• The new settlers wore the finest silk and velvet clothing.新来的移民穿着最华丽的丝绸和天鹅绒衣服。

11 blues   

n.抑郁，沮丧；布鲁斯音乐

参考例句：

• She was in the back of a smoky bar singing the blues.她在烟雾弥漫的酒吧深处唱着布鲁斯歌曲。
• He was in the blues on account of his failure in business.他因事业失败而意志消沉。