VOA标准英语2014--Turkey’s Youngest Mayor Honors Father’s Legacy

 

Turkey’s Youngest Mayor Honors Father’s Legacy¹

CIZRE, TURKEY —

The town of Cizre, in the heart of Turkey’s predominantly Kurdish southeast, was a frontline of the war pursued by PKK Kurdish rebels seeking greater minority rights. It is a town synonymous with stories of death, torture and violence.

But the story of its newly elected mayor offers some hope, observers say.

At age 27, Leyla Imret is Turkey’s youngest mayor. Her election in March marked the culmination² of a remarkable³ journey.

During the three-decade conflict between Turkey and the PKK, tens of thousands died and many of the victims' families fled to Europe.  After Turkish security forces killed her father, a leading local Kurdish activist⁴, Imret was brought up by relatives in Germany.

For more than 20 years, she and her family stayed away from Cizre.  But last September, the urge to return became too strong.

"It is a strange feeling to come back to your hometown for the first time after 22 years, to the land where your grandfathers and father grew up, to your own soil," Imret said.

A sense of belonging

When she arrived, Imret immediately felt she belonged, she said. She felt this most strongly when she visited her family's old house, the street where they lived, and her father's grave for the first time.

Imret not only decided⁵ to stay in Cizre, she was inspired to carry on her father's struggle and to seek the nomination⁶ to run for mayor for the pro-Kurdish BDP.

Imret recalled that, when she was a child, her father would tell her mother the girl “should study in Europe and come back here and serve her own people.”

"Twenty-five years ago, he uttered these words and they all came true,"  Imret says. "My father became a martyr⁷ and we had to leave Cizre and I ended up in Germany, none of which I ever imagined could happen.”

Memories of father persist

She left at age five, but memories of her father remained a powerful force in the town. Powerful enough, Imret acknowledges, to secure her nomination.

Observers say it also contributed to her securing 80 percent of the vote, a record for Turkish elections.

As Imret walks through the streets, spontaneous applause breaks out.  Calm has returned to this region, with the government initiating⁸ a peace process with the Kurdish rebels.

While its progress has stalled, Imret's return and her taking up her father’s struggle for Kurdish rights is symbolically⁹ important to people here.

A man on the street says he never met Imret's father, but heard he was a good man, a patriot¹⁰ who made many sacrifices. The man calls it positive for the town that she has become mayor and is carrying on her father's legacy.

Imret says the opportunity to serve her people more than compensates¹¹ for any fears she and her family had about leaving the safety and comfort of life in Germany.

She says she is here out of love for her people and homeland.

But, observers caution, being the mayor of one Turkey’s most impoverished¹² towns – one still recovering from decades of strife¹³ – will be a formidable task for the country’s youngest mayor.  

1 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

2 culmination   

n.顶点；最高潮

参考例句：

• The space race reached its culmination in the first moon walk.太空竞争以第一次在月球行走而达到顶峰。
• It may truly be regarded as the culmination of classical Greek geometry.这确实可以看成是古典希腊几何的登峰造级之作。

3 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

4 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

5 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

6 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

7 martyr   

n.烈士，殉难者；vt.杀害，折磨，牺牲

参考例句：

• The martyr laid down his life for the cause of national independence.这位烈士是为了民族独立的事业而献身的。
• The newspaper carried the martyr's photo framed in black.报上登载了框有黑边的烈士遗像。

8 initiating   

v.开始( initiate的现在分词 )；传授；发起；接纳新成员

参考例句：

• He is good at initiating projects but rarely follows through with anything. 他善于创建项目，但难得坚持完成。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Only the perchlorate shows marked sensitiveness and possibly initiating properties. 只有高氯酸盐表现有显著的感度和可能具有起爆性能。 来自辞典例句

9 symbolically   

ad.象征地，象征性地

参考例句：

• By wearing the ring on the third finger of the left hand, a married couple symbolically declares their eternal love for each other. 将婚戒戴在左手的第三只手指上，意味着夫妻双方象征性地宣告他们的爱情天长地久，他们定能白头偕老。
• Symbolically, he coughed to clear his throat. 周经理象征地咳一声无谓的嗽，清清嗓子。

10 patriot   

n.爱国者，爱国主义者

参考例句：

• He avowed himself a patriot.他自称自己是爱国者。
• He is a patriot who has won the admiration of the French already.他是一个已经赢得法国人敬仰的爱国者。

11 compensates   

补偿，报酬( compensate的第三人称单数 )； 给（某人）赔偿（或赔款）

参考例句：

• The company compensates her for extra work. 公司因她的额外工作而给她报酬。
• A vertical spring compensates for the weight of the sensing element. 用一根垂直弹簧补偿敏感元件的负荷。

12 impoverished   

adj.穷困的，无力的，用尽了的v.使（某人）贫穷( impoverish的过去式和过去分词 )；使（某物）贫瘠或恶化

参考例句：

• the impoverished areas of the city 这个城市的贫民区
• They were impoverished by a prolonged spell of unemployment. 他们因长期失业而一贫如洗。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 strife   

n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争

参考例句：

• We do not intend to be drawn into the internal strife.我们不想卷入内乱之中。
• Money is a major cause of strife in many marriages.金钱是造成很多婚姻不和的一个主要原因。