VOA标准英语2014--阿富汗政治危机或再次引发暴力活动

 

Afghan Political Crisis Raises Fears of Violence 阿富汗政治危机或再次引发暴力活动

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is headed to Afghanistan on Friday, where a political crisis is raising fears of instability and violence.

Supporters of Afghan presidential candidate Ashraf Ghani are dancing in the streets of Kabul as preliminary runoff election results show him leading by a million votes.

His supporters are elated.

"I am so happy today," said Ghani supporter Khan Tahsil. "We all came out from our homes with joy and happiness to celebrate this victory. God is great."

But rival Abdullah Abdullah also is claiming victory, saying fraud at the ballot¹ box was massive.

"We are the winner of this round of elections without any doubt. We will not allow the fraudulent government to rule this country for even one day without any doubt," said Abdullah.

Voting charges

Ghani, though, is defending his votes.

“Our votes are clean and will pass any auditing². We are confident that after the inspection³ is done, we will go toward a victory,” he said.

Abdullah’s supporters are so upset they destroyed a huge photograph of President Hamid Karzai, whom they accuse of fixing the election in Ghani’s favor.

It will now be up to the Electoral Complaints Commission to investigate.

“I don’t think there is any question that there was nefarious⁴ activity that took place on election day and the question in Afghanistan has always been can the commissions do what is necessary to correct for that fraud that takes place,” said Afghan expert Jed Ober.

The election crisis has sparked fears that peaceful protests could turn violent, which is a volatile⁵ mixture in a country where Taliban attacks appear to be growing -- as U.S. and NATO combat troops prepare to pull out by the end of the year.

U.S. aid

U.S. officials warn that violations⁶ of the Afghan constitution could result in the end of U.S. assistance.

They are calling for charges of vote fraud to be examined and for the next president to form a national unity⁷ government .

Outgoing U.S. envoy⁸ James Dobbins said, “If either or both of these efforts fail, Afghanistan would be badly divided. And this would have a very deleterious effect on the prospects⁹ for peace and prosperity in that country.”  

Analysts¹⁰ say the worst-case scenario¹¹ is that Afghanistan would split along ethnic¹² lines.

With Afghan troops fighting a major Taliban offensive in southern Helmand province, the last thing the country needs is to start slipping back into civil war.

1 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。

2 auditing   

n.审计，查账，决算

参考例句：

• Auditing standards are the rules governing how an audit is performed.收支检查标准是规则统治一个稽核如何被运行。
• The auditing services market is dominated by a few large accounting firms.审计服务市场被几家大型会计公司独占了。

3 inspection   

n.检查，审查，检阅

参考例句：

• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。
• The soldiers lined up for their daily inspection by their officers.士兵们列队接受军官的日常检阅。

4 nefarious   

adj.恶毒的，极坏的

参考例句：

• My father believes you all have a nefarious purpose here.我父亲认为你们都有邪恶的目的。
• He was universally feared because of his many nefarious deeds.因为他干了许多罪恶的勾当，所以人人都惧怕他。

5 volatile   

adj.反复无常的，挥发性的，稍纵即逝的，脾气火爆的；n.挥发性物质

参考例句：

• With the markets being so volatile,investments are at great risk.由于市场那么变化不定，投资冒着很大的风险。
• His character was weak and volatile.他这个人意志薄弱，喜怒无常。

6 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

7 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

8 envoy   

n.使节，使者，代表，公使

参考例句：

• Their envoy showed no sign of responding to our proposals.他们的代表对我方的提议毫无回应的迹象。
• The government has not yet appointed an envoy to the area.政府尚未向这一地区派过外交官。

9 prospects   

n.希望，前途(恒为复数)

参考例句：

• There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
• They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。

10 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

11 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。

12 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。