时间:2019-01-03 作者:英语课 分类:2017年VOA慢速英语(九)月


英语课

 


00:00:02 OPRAH WINFREY: "Hattie Mae, this child is gifted," and I heard that enough that I started to believe it.


00:00:08 ROGER BANNISTER: If you have the opportunity, not a perfect opportunity, and you don't take it, you may never have another chance.


00:00:14 LAURYN HILL: It all was so clear. It was just, like, the picture started to form itself.


00:00:19 DESMOND TUTU: There was no way in which a lie could prevail over the truth, darkness over light, death over life.


00:00:27 CAROL BURNETT (quoting CARRIE HAMILTON): “Every day I wake up and decide, today I'm going to love my life. Decide.”


00:00:35 JOHNNY CASH: My advice is, if they're going to break your leg once when you go in that place, stay out of there.


00:00:40 JAMES MICHENER: And then along come these differential experiences that you don't look for, you don't plan for, but boy, you’d better not miss them.


00:00:53 ALICE WINKLER: This is What It Takes, a podcast about passion, vision, and perseverance 1 from the Academy of Achievement's recorded collection. I'm Alice Winkler. For today's episode, we pulled an interview from the vault 2 that is profoundly inspiring but also unsettling. The interview is with Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan’s former prime minister, and it’s unsettling because her words take on a painful resonance 3 when you realize that she spoke 4 them in exile, seven years before she was assassinated 5 by a suicide bomber 6. Here’s a news clip from that shocking day in 2007.


00:01:33 NEWSCASTER: We begin with the assassination 7 that is reverberating 8 around the world. Pakistan's former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, made her triumphant 9 return from exile just two months ago. It ended today in horror as she was struck down only 12 days from an election it was widely expected she would win.


00:01:52 Benazir Bhutto was the first elected female leader of a Muslim nation. She was also one of the youngest heads of state ever, becoming prime minister at the age of 35. She served in that role twice, in the late 1980s and again in the mid-‘90s. She was devoted 10 to democracy and to modernizing 11 Pakistan. She tried to tackle her country's deep poverty and gender 12 inequality, and she was adamantly 13 opposed to violence of any sort.


00:02:23 BENAZIR BHUTTO: When I was a very young child, I remember I was always against violence. It was an era when people used to go shooting and hunting, and I remember once coming out on the veranda 14 in our home in the countryside, and my father was teaching my brother to shoot a parrot. And I remember seeing the parrot fall down dead and bleed, and I remember being appalled 15 by it, the parrot fluttering. And I can’t bear to see blood to this day, or killing 16, and I'm very much against war and conflict and the taking of life.


00:02:52 And I think that seeing that little bird, green and beautiful and living and chirping 17 in the tree, and then falling down dead, did have a profound effect. It sounds silly to say that. Why should I feel so strongly about a bird? But I remember my father telling me, when he was facing the death sentence, that, "I remember the little girl who cried so much because a bird died, how she must feel."


00:03:14 ALICE WINKLER: Benazir Bhutto's father was Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, an extremely popular statesman. During the 1970s, he served as both Pakistan's president and its prime minister. He was overthrown 18 by a military dictator and was executed, just days after Benazir returned home from Oxford 19 University. But in this interview with the Academy of Achievement, Benazir Bhutto began her story before all of those events, describing the Pakistan she was born into in 1953, a country with few cars and extreme poverty.


00:03:53 BENAZIR BHUTTO: The gap between the rich and the poor was greater too. I remember people walking barefoot and barebacked because of the poverty. It was a very privileged life that we led, with huge homes and scores of staff, with everything looked after. Now the world has changed much more. There's a greater appreciation 20 of each human being, being equal and entitled the same opportunity, as well as emphasis on human dignity.


00:04:25 In those days, there was much less dignity. I remember that the poorer people would greet the richer people by bending down and touching 21 their feet or prostrating 22 them and throwing themselves on the feet. So it was a totally different kind of world, and it's changed for the better in that sense.


00:04:46 ALICE WINKLER: Even as a child living in luxury, Bhutto said, she was aware of the disparities.


00:04:53 BENAZIR BHUTTO: Well, my father was always championing the cause of the poor. He was very much against the status quo, so he was always telling us that it's wrong that there should be people in such abject 23 poverty, unable to feed their children. I mean, I'd be sitting there when women would come to my mother and say, "Take our children. We can't feed them." My father was a lawyer. I remember him coming back and saying that a man came and said, "I don't have any money to pay you for this case," — some murder case he'd been involved in — and he said, "Take my cow because I don't have any money," and that was the cow that would give the milk to feed the children.


00:05:29 So it was quite shocking to me, and I was sensitive to it because my father was sensitive to it. And he'd take us — we were landowners, large landowners, and he'd take us to the lands, and he would tell me, "Look at the way these people sweat in the heat and in the sun in the fields, and it is because of their sweat that you will have the opportunity to be educated. And you have a debt to these people because it's — they weren't born to sweat like this, and you have a debt, and you've got to come back and pay that debt by serving your people."


00:05:59 ALICE WINKLER: Her father was clearly her greatest influence. As Bhutto told journalist and documentary filmmaker Irv Drasnin, who conducted this interview for the Academy of Achievement, it was her father who was most against the gender constraints 24 of the era that threatened to hold her back.


00:06:17 BENAZIR BHUTTO: My mother, she used to be a working woman herself. She joined the National Guards. She was a captain in the National Guards. She was the first woman in Karachi to own a car and to drive, and people used to talk about her because they said, you know, "Women aren't supposed to drive cars." But when I look back on it, it was my mother who taught that a woman grew up to be married and to have children, and she would tell my father in front of me, "Why do you want to educate her? No man will want to marry her."


00:06:48 So all the time, for her, success depended on having a good catch as a husband and having children. But as for my father, he broke free of those constraints, and he insisted that I have an education. He said, "Boys and girls are equal. I want my daughter to have the same opportunities."


00:07:06 IRV DRASNIN: How do you account for that?


00:07:09 BENAZIR BHUTTO: I don’t know. I really don't know because I never had a chance to ask him. I just assumed this is what fathers did. And when I finished university he was in prison, and then he was unjustly hanged by a military dictator. And now, in reflection, I would like to ask him and say, "What made you do things differently?" Although I’d go to other people's homes, and I remember a friend of mine, they couldn’t eat food until the brothers had finished, and the leftovers 25 would be given to the daughters.


00:07:39 That never happened in our home. I remember that I used to sit at the head of the table because I'm the eldest 26 child. That never happened in other homes, and I should have asked my father when I had the chance, but he enabled me to appreciate that a woman is not a lesser 27 creature.


00:07:56 ALICE WINKLER: There was one other lasting 28 and maybe surprising influence on Benazir Bhutto, the nuns 29 who educated her at the Convent of Jesus and Mary, a Catholic girl’s school in Karachi, where the majority of the students were Muslim.


00:08:11 BENAZIR BHUTTO: And I remember very much Mother Eugene, who used to teach us literature and poetry and, you know, “Reach for the moon and the lodestar,” and — inspiring us more to — it was very inspirational and motivational that one could conquer the moon and the stars if one reached out. So it was all about reaching out. I think the two powerful influences in my life and my childhood were my father and my teacher in the Convent of Jesus and Mary, Mother Eugene.


00:08:43 I was fascinated with literature. My father gave me a love for books. He loved reading books, and he'd make sure that I bought books, and he'd buy me books, and then Mother Eugene made my imagination run wild through Shakespeare and Twelfth Night, Julius Caesar, and Keats and Browning, Byron.


00:09:04 ALICE WINKLER: Mostly, Benazir Bhutto loved historical biographies, beginning with Alfred the Great, the king who defended the English against the Viking conquest and, as Bhutto remembered with a smile, was scolded for burning cakes by a commoner who didn’t know his identity. She also loved reading about Alexander the Great, who was told that whoever untied 30 the Gordian knot would conquer Asia. He took out his sword and cut it, instead, or so the legend goes. Basically, Bhutto said, her favorite books were about great achievers.


00:09:42 BENAZIR BHUTTO: My father was himself an achiever, and maybe it was a time of achievers. It — you know, I grew up at a time when colonialism had just ended, and the whole inspiration behind colonialism had been to discover the world and to achieve more. There was a sense of adventure, going to unmapped places, braving beasts of unknown description to conquer the world.


00:10:07 So it was very much still within that phase when words were more grandiose 31, and expressions were more grandiose, and the imagination was more grandiose. Now things are much leaner. And meaner.


00:10:20 ALICE WINKLER: Benazir Bhutto may have inherited some of the colonial-age spirit of achievement, but her politics were more the product of the post-colonial protest era. She was at Harvard during those years, and, she told interview Irv Drasnin, they changed her.


00:10:38 BENAZIR BHUTTO: I went there at a time of great social ferment 32, at a time when the Vietnam War was being fought. I, as a nation, was against the Vietnam War, but I found that my American fellow students were against that war, too, so it — and they didn't want to fight the war. They were protesting it, and I found that if you didn’t like something, you could do something about it. It was also a time of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King and idealism, Chavez — I mean, the great boycott 33 from California, laborer's rights — so I was very much into saving the world.


00:11:14 My generation grew up in saving the world. We thought education wasn't important, exams weren't important, although I still did it because I was scared my father would get cross. But I discovered that life was more than my homework and my tutorial. Life was about the larger issues, where we could all play a role, and the women's movement had just started. Kate Millett had just written her book, and I remember a very dear friend of mine from college years — who I've hardly seen since, Wendy Lesser. She's taking out a literary magazine now in California, the last I heard.


00:11:45 But we'd sit there having these intense conversations about women succeeding, and could they succeed? Could they break the barriers? Because at that time still women, many women, thought that the objective in life was to go on and be married and not so much to have a career. It was the time of President Nixon's impeachment 34, and recycling newspapers; I’d go around trying to recycle. And I see a bit of that age come back in the sense of the environmental issues, which are getting important, but less in issues of sacrificing yourself for the larger community.


00:12:22 Now I think it's more an age of the individual comes first. Then it was more an age that we, as an individual, subordinate ourselves to the larger communal 35 good.


00:12:33 IRV DRASNIN: So all of this you took back to Pakistan with you?


00:12:36 BENAZIR BHUTTO: Yes, I said, “Why can't we change our presidents?” Because I saw the power of democracy. It was really — I felt powerful. I felt my voice counted, and meantime, in Pakistan, my father had been trying to empower the ordinary Pakistanis, and telling them that they could break free of the shackles 36 of feudalism and military-industrial complex. So when I went back, my own experience put me a bit ahead because I'd had a broader experience.


00:13:05 I'd had experience in Pakistan and in America, and I'd seen it succeed, so I went back, really, at the right time.


00:13:13 IRV DRASNIN: Did you have any doubts about what a woman could do, could accomplish, in a Muslim country?


00:13:20 BENAZIR BHUTTO: I didn't have doubts somehow. I didn’t have any doubts. Somehow the other, for me — because my father was so important. He thought a woman could succeed, and he would tell me that, "My daughter's going to make me more proud than Indira Gandhi made her father." So for me, it was, like, it's normal for daughters to go on to succeed, and then Indira Gandhi was there, and she was a very powerful leader.


00:13:42 Mrs. Bandaranaike had been there in Sri Lanka, the first woman prime minister. Then, of course, we had Fatima Jinnah, who was also a presidential candidate — unsuccessful, but a presidential candidate. So I grew up in a region full of powerful women, and I thought, "Well, if they can do it, I can do it too." But when I used to talk to others, they'd say, "You're mad. How can a woman succeed?” — not necessarily in politics, but I wanted to be a diplomat 37.


00:14:07 I wanted to have — run a newspaper. You know, I wanted to do things, and other people, men and women, would find that very surprising. So others doubted it. Even my own husband, when he married me. He thought I was under delusions 38 that I could meet a — beat a military dictator. And he thought that, “When she wakes up and finds out that it's all wrong and she can't, then I'll be there to console her,” little knowing that I was the one who had to console him when I won.


00:14:37 So it was a time when people would say, "How can you think that people will elect you?" When I first got elected, I mean, they said that a woman has usurped 39 a man's place. Said, "She should be killed. She should be assassinated. She's committed heresy 40." But I always felt — I mean, even when I didn’t want to go into politics — that I could become prime minister if I wanted to. I had a faith in myself, but at that stage, I didn’t want to, because I'd seen the assassination attempts on my father.


00:15:07 I'd seen the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur, Bangladesh, or maybe there was some kind of subconscious 41 fear of what politics could bring, so I didn't want to do it. I didn't want the fear.


00:15:20 IRV DRASNIN: But the execution of your father changed that?


00:15:22 BENAZIR BHUTTO: His execution changed that, because I felt I just couldn't let his blood and the blood of all those others who had died — because the dictator hanged so many people who were supportive of him. And they were coming on the streets to have him freed, and he'd had them whiplashed or hanged. And I thought they all did so much, and he did so much, and how can we let the dictator win and let all this blood go to waste?


00:15:46 ALICE WINKLER: That decision, while prompted by the execution of her father, did not come overnight. She would spend the next decade either in prison or in exile.


00:15:57 BENAZIR BHUTTO: It came gradually. It was not a — there were two moments, let us say, when it happened. You see, one of the moments was when my father died, and I had my — before he died, I had my last meeting with him in the death cell, and he said that, "You have suffered so much." I had been in prison myself, and he said, "You're so young. You just finished your university. You came back. You had your whole life, and look at the terror under which we have lived."


00:16:21 So he said, "I set you free. Why don't you go and live in London or Paris or Switzerland or Washington — and you're well taken care of — and have some happiness, because you have seen too much suffering." And I reached out through the prison bars, and I remember grasping his hands and saying, "No, Papa. I will continue the struggle that you began for democracy." And so that was one of the points where I decided 42 that I didn't want out. I'd stay back, but I still didn't think I'd ever be prime minister.


00:16:53 I thought my mother would be the prime minister, and that I'd work for her to be the prime minister. And that's what I did, but my mother got sick, and actually, she had lung cancer, but we didn’t know she was getting Alzheimer's. So she started behaving differently, and we thought it's because she's had this serious illness and she's reflecting on how to lead her life. And suddenly I found that since Mommy was away, the whole party was about to collapse 43 unless I was there, so I started looking after the party at that stage.


00:17:23 And when I went back, I remember people were shouting, "Prime Minister Benazir," and suddenly it struck me that looking after means — Mommy ill — looking after means that I will be the prime minister. So it was in that sort of moment when I realized the responsibility that I had taken over could lead me all the way to an office that could govern the destiny of more than a hundred million Muslims of Pakistan.


00:17:49 ALICE WINKLER: Benazir Bhutto was elected prime minister the first time in 1988. The political ups and downs that followed are serpentine 44 and would require a retelling of the history of modern-day Pakistan, which is, frankly 45, beyond the scope of this podcast. But briefly 46, Bhutto was dismissed by Pakistan’s president three years into her term, her government accused of corruption 47.


00:18:15 But her popularity grew again, and in 1993 she became prime minister for the second time. Once again, after three years in office, Bhutto was caught up in a swirl 48 of corruption charges against her, her husband, and her government. The accusations 49 against her were never proven. Her husband was tried and convicted and served eight years in prison, though Bhutto continued to insist he was simply the victim of politics.


00:18:46 She took their children and went into self-imposed exile, and it was during this period, in the year 2000, more precisely 50, that this interview with her was recorded by the Academy of Achievement. At the time, Benazir Bhutto was considering whether to return again to Pakistan to run for office. Her husband was still in prison, and she was worried about her children, who hadn’t exactly had much semblance 51 of a normal life.


00:19:14 She said she was leaving the decision to God what was best for her and for her country, but she sounded sanguine 52 and openly offered an assessment 53 of her political career up until that point.


00:19:28 BENAZIR BHUTTO: When I look back on my life, I really think of the different stages when we were so raw and na?ve and little realized how things were. I think back to my first tenure 54 as prime minister, and I didn't get on with the president because he wanted to have a kind of presidential system, and I believed in the parliamentary system. But then I remember that my own president was from my party. Amount of power I gave him, and he treated me so shabbily, and I think if I’d treated the first president with half of — given him half the powers that I gave my own president, maybe he wouldn't have knocked us out and democracy could have taken stronger roots.


00:20:05 So in those terms, you know, I really look back on it. I look back also — you know, they say in politics there'll be the appointed and the disappointed, so there'll always be the critics. One has to take it. I learned that after my first election. I thought, "All I have to do is win an election, and all my critics will disappear," and, according to Barbara Cartland, we'll live happily ever after.


00:20:28 BENAZIR BHUTTO: But I realized, the day you wake up later, your critics are still around, and you still have to factor them in, and my experience has made me a more inclusive person. Not inclusive to the margins 55, but inclusive to those people who are — have differences with us but were still moderates. So I tried to be more inclusive. It's not easy because the other side has to respond too, but ultimately, there will be critics, but one has to do what is right, as long as the majority of people support that.


00:21:00 Building schools was right. I tried to placate 56 even the clerics originally. I adopted a very aggressive — you know, I thought I had to prove I was as tough as a man because I was in a man's world. It was supposed to be a man's world. Now I think it's not a man's world anymore, but in those days. So because it was to be in the man's world, I also tried to be very aggressive and warmongering 57 in my second term to try and co-opt. I am a consensus 58 sort of person.


00:21:28 I like to win people over or co-opt or compromise, not the core of my values, but I seek the middle way, and I tried to do that. But I think, in retrospect 59, it was wrong, because I did not co-opt them, and I alienated 60 some of my own supporters. Power is such a strange phenomenon that one gets isolated 61 from the real world. People can't see you. They can't phone you. They have to go through the operator, and it's up to the operator who he puts through.


00:21:56 They can't write you because the secretary is going to read the letters and decide which ones are going to come to you. So really, one becomes a prisoner. And I used to meet my party people; I used to meet poor people in the villages, and they were all very happy because we were doing poverty alleviation 62 and so on. But the people in the urban middle classes were very unhappy, and I realize now that I should have been out more meeting people who worked with us, or meeting people who were the representatives of organized groups.


00:22:25 The other thing I learned — in the past when I used to meet people, I used to want to tell them what we were doing. Now I’ve realized that you have to listen to people and what they are saying we ought to be doing. Even much more critical to my own life was my failure to understand that the world is moving towards transparency. I had lived through this era of military dictatorship, when the press would write all sorts of things, and it would be water off the duck's back.


00:22:52 Now I say that when there were these demands, why didn't I have the — I did say make an information act but didn't follow it through, so I wish I had given more freedom of information. I wish I had tackled the so-called corruption issues more deeply. It was a precedent 63, you know. We all knew kickbacks 64 must be taken. Not personally, but on the level that, "Well, these things happen." And it wasn't like, "Well, we're here to change it." It was like, "This is how business is done."


00:23:19 So I — in retrospect, I think that it — I really would have done many things, many, many, many things differently. But then you learn from your own experiences. Like somebody told me, "How do you succeed?" and they said, "Right decisions." But how do you come to the right decisions? Well, through experience. And how do you get experience? Through wrong decisions.


00:23:38 BENAZIR BHUTTO: So you've got to make — one does make wrong — I mean, in retrospect, one is older and wiser.


00:23:45 ALICE WINKLER: Interviewer Irv Drasnin asked Benazir Bhutto whether she still felt she could be an idealist after all that had happened to her and to her country.


00:23:55 BENAZIR BHUTTO: I feel that society's like a canvas, and that if you get an office, you're given an opportunity to paint it, and it's up to you whether you make a good picture, whether you make a bad picture. I think it's very, very important to have ideals, because when one has ideals, one thinks the suffering is worth it. And, for me, the suffering has been worth it because I think I could change things, and I'm still idealistic, and I'm still optimistic, and people tell me, "Why are you still idealistic and optimistic?" And I say, "Because there could be ten people who are bad, but there are 90 people who are good."


00:24:28 ALICE WINKLER: Benazir Bhutto’s closing thoughts, haunting to hear now, were words of advice she offered to students interested in making change in the world.


00:24:38 BENAZIR BHUTTO: If a young person came to me, I'd tell them that, “If you believe in something, go for it, but know that when you go for it there's a price to be paid. Be ready to pay that price, and don't be afraid.”


00:24:51 ALICE WINKLER: Benazir Bhutto eventually did decide it was her destiny to return to Pakistan to run in the 2007 general election. Her chances of winning were considered very good, but the dangers were clear. As she left an election rally and paused to wave once more to the crowd, she was killed by a teenage gunman and suicide bomber. As of the recording 65 of this podcast, no one has been convicted of her murder. High-up officials, including the military ruler at the time, General Pervez Musharraf, were charged, but charged with negligence 66 for providing inadequate 67 security when the threats against her life were well known.


00:25:37 In the intervening years, witnesses have recanted, trial motions have caused endless delays, and one of the chief prosecutors 68 investigating her murder was himself gunned down on the way to a court hearing. It seems no one may ever be held responsible for her death.


00:25:59 BENAZIR BHUTTO: In life, there are challenges, but I think leadership is very much predicated on the capacity to absorb defeat and overcome it. Now, after having been in politics for more than two decades, I have come to the strong conclusion that the difference between somebody who succeeds and somebody who fails is the ability to absorb a setback 69, because on the road to success there will be setbacks, and there are those who give up and those who say that, "No, we are going to go on."


00:26:32 And then, I also — when I was in prison, I became very devout 70. I'm not a fundamentalist, but I am very devout. In solitary 71 confinement 72, when I had nobody to turn to — see, I was brought up ritualistically religious, as everybody is. Their parents take them to church or teach them how to say their prayers, like my mother taught me, but it's all ritualistic. It was when I was in prison and everyone was cut off from me — my family, my friends, food — I even couldn't get a glass of water without having to beg somebody — nothing.


00:27:04 I had nothing. They cut — took everything away — material, physical, everything — and suddenly I realized they can take everyone away. I couldn’t read newspapers; they wouldn't give me newspapers or Time magazine. So suddenly I realized, "But they can't take God away from me." So to pass the time, I started passing it in prayer. So from that moment I realized that God is always with one, so what gave me the faith and the sustenance 73 was my belief that God places a burden on people to bear, and He places only that burden which they can bear.


00:27:40 The second was the love of ordinary people. The love was so much that it was enriching. It gave me strength, nurturance, nourishment 74. Maybe I'm a needy 75 person, maybe I need love, because why would sometimes I think, "Why would someone go on doing it?" But when I get so much love, I feel that — at the mass level — I feel I must go on. So I think that those are the two factors that really kept me going because in the worst of my moments I always had vast reservoirs of love.


00:28:19 ALICE WINKLER: Former Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto talking to the Academy of Achievement in 2000. To watch video excerpts 76 of Benazir Bhutto telling other stories from her life and lessons in leadership, you can download the Academy of Achievement’s e-textbook Social Justice. It’s free from iTunes University. This is What It Takes. Join us for the next episode in two weeks. So a little heads up, from here on, we’ll be posting new episodes every other week, but we’re sticking with Mondays because we can all use some inspiration on Mondays.


00:28:59 I’m Alice Winkler, and tremendous thanks to the Catherine B. Reynolds Foundation for funding What It Takes. See you next time.



n.坚持不懈,不屈不挠
  • It may take some perseverance to find the right people.要找到合适的人也许需要有点锲而不舍的精神。
  • Perseverance leads to success.有恒心就能胜利。
n.拱形圆顶,地窖,地下室
  • The vault of this cathedral is very high.这座天主教堂的拱顶非常高。
  • The old patrician was buried in the family vault.这位老贵族埋在家族的墓地里。
n.洪亮;共鸣;共振
  • Playing the piano sets up resonance in those glass ornaments.一弹钢琴那些玻璃饰物就会产生共振。
  • The areas under the two resonance envelopes are unequal.两个共振峰下面的面积是不相等的。
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
  • 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。
v.暗杀( assassinate的过去式和过去分词 );中伤;诋毁;破坏
  • The prime minister was assassinated by extremists. 首相遭极端分子暗杀。
  • Then, just two days later, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. 跟着在两天以后,肯尼迪总统在达拉斯被人暗杀。 来自辞典例句
n.轰炸机,投弹手,投掷炸弹者
  • He flew a bomber during the war.他在战时驾驶轰炸机。
  • Detectives hunting the London bombers will be keen to interview him.追查伦敦爆炸案凶犯的侦探们急于对他进行讯问。
n.暗杀;暗杀事件
  • The assassination of the president brought matters to a head.总统遭暗杀使事态到了严重关头。
  • Lincoln's assassination in 1865 shocked the whole nation.1865年,林肯遇刺事件震惊全美国。
回响,回荡( reverberate的现在分词 ); 使反响,使回荡,使反射
  • The words are still ringing [reverberating] in one's ears. 言犹在耳。
  • I heard a voice reverberating: "Crawl out! I give you liberty!" 我听到一个声音在回荡:“爬出来吧,我给你自由!”
adj.胜利的,成功的;狂欢的,喜悦的
  • The army made a triumphant entry into the enemy's capital.部队胜利地进入了敌方首都。
  • There was a positively triumphant note in her voice.她的声音里带有一种极为得意的语气。
adj.忠诚的,忠实的,热心的,献身于...的
  • He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
  • We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
使现代化,使适应现代需要( modernize的现在分词 ); 现代化,使用现代方法
  • Modernizing a business to increase its profitability and competitiveness is a complicated affair. 使企业现代化,从而达到增加利润,增强竞争力的目的,是一件复杂的事情。
  • The young engineer had a large share in modernizing the factory. 这位年轻工程师在工厂现代化的过程中尽了很大的“力”。
n.(生理上的)性,(名词、代词等的)性
  • French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语,所有的名词都有性。
  • Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。
adv.坚决地,坚定不移地,坚强不屈地
  • "Come over here,"he told her adamantly. “到这边来,”他对她坚定地说。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • His family were adamantly opposed to the marriage. 他的家人坚决反对这门亲事。 来自《简明英汉词典》
n.走廊;阳台
  • She sat in the shade on the veranda.她坐在阳台上的遮荫处。
  • They were strolling up and down the veranda.他们在走廊上来回徜徉。
v.使惊骇,使充满恐惧( appall的过去式和过去分词)adj.惊骇的;丧胆的
  • The brutality of the crime has appalled the public. 罪行之残暴使公众大为震惊。
  • They were appalled by the reports of the nuclear war. 他们被核战争的报道吓坏了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
n.巨额利润;突然赚大钱,发大财
  • Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
  • Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。
鸟叫,虫鸣( chirp的现在分词 )
  • The birds,chirping relentlessly,woke us up at daybreak. 破晓时鸟儿不断吱吱地叫,把我们吵醒了。
  • The birds are chirping merrily. 鸟儿在欢快地鸣叫着。
n.牛津(英国城市)
  • At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
  • This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。
n.评价;欣赏;感谢;领会,理解;价格上涨
  • I would like to express my appreciation and thanks to you all.我想对你们所有人表达我的感激和谢意。
  • I'll be sending them a donation in appreciation of their help.我将送给他们一笔捐款以感谢他们的帮助。
adj.动人的,使人感伤的
  • It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
  • His letter was touching.他的信很感人。
v.使俯伏,使拜倒( prostrate的现在分词 );(指疾病、天气等)使某人无能为力
  • The pain associated with pancreatitis has been described as prostrating. 胰腺炎的疼痛曾被描述为衰竭性的。 来自辞典例句
adj.极可怜的,卑屈的
  • This policy has turned out to be an abject failure.这一政策最后以惨败而告终。
  • He had been obliged to offer an abject apology to Mr.Alleyne for his impertinence.他不得不低声下气,为他的无礼举动向艾莱恩先生请罪。
强制( constraint的名词复数 ); 限制; 约束
  • Data and constraints can easily be changed to test theories. 信息库中的数据和限制条件可以轻易地改变以检验假设。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史
  • What are the constraints that each of these imply for any design? 这每种产品的要求和约束对于设计意味着什么? 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
n.剩余物,残留物,剩菜
  • He can do miracles with a few kitchen leftovers.他能用厨房里几样剩饭做出一顿美餐。
  • She made supper from leftovers she had thrown together.她用吃剩的食物拼凑成一顿晚饭。
adj.最年长的,最年老的
  • The King's eldest son is the heir to the throne.国王的长子是王位的继承人。
  • The castle and the land are entailed on the eldest son.城堡和土地限定由长子继承。
adj.次要的,较小的;adv.较小地,较少地
  • Kept some of the lesser players out.不让那些次要的球员参加联赛。
  • She has also been affected,but to a lesser degree.她也受到波及,但程度较轻。
adj.永久的,永恒的;vbl.持续,维持
  • The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
  • We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。
n.(通常指基督教的)修女, (佛教的)尼姑( nun的名词复数 )
  • Ah Q had always had the greatest contempt for such people as little nuns. 小尼姑之流是阿Q本来视如草芥的。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • Nuns are under vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. 修女须立誓保持清贫、贞洁、顺从。 来自辞典例句
松开,解开( untie的过去式和过去分词 ); 解除,使自由; 解决
  • Once untied, we common people are able to conquer nature, too. 只要团结起来,我们老百姓也能移山倒海。
  • He untied the ropes. 他解开了绳子。
adj.宏伟的,宏大的,堂皇的,铺张的
  • His grandiose manner impressed those who met him for the first time.他那种夸大的举止给第一次遇见他的人留下了深刻的印象。
  • As the fog vanished,a grandiose landscape unfolded before the tourists.雾气散去之后,一幅壮丽的景观展现在游客面前。
vt.使发酵;n./vt.(使)激动,(使)动乱
  • Fruit juices ferment if they are kept a long time.果汁若是放置很久,就会发酵。
  • The sixties were a time of theological ferment.六十年代是神学上骚动的时代。
n./v.(联合)抵制,拒绝参与
  • We put the production under a boycott.我们联合抵制该商品。
  • The boycott lasts a year until the Victoria board permitsreturn.这个抗争持续了一年直到维多利亚教育局妥协为止。
n.弹劾;控告;怀疑
  • Impeachment is considered a drastic measure in the United States.在美国,弹劾被视为一种非常激烈的措施。
  • The verdict resulting from his impeachment destroyed his political career.他遭弹劾后得到的判决毁了他的政治生涯。
adj.公有的,公共的,公社的,公社制的
  • There was a communal toilet on the landing for the four flats.在楼梯平台上有一处公共卫生间供4套公寓使用。
  • The toilets and other communal facilities were in a shocking state.厕所及其他公共设施的状况极其糟糕。
手铐( shackle的名词复数 ); 脚镣; 束缚; 羁绊
  • a country struggling to free itself from the shackles of colonialism 为摆脱殖民主义的枷锁而斗争的国家
  • The cars of the train are coupled together by shackles. 火车的车厢是用钩链连接起来的。
n.外交官,外交家;能交际的人,圆滑的人
  • The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话,紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
  • He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。
n.欺骗( delusion的名词复数 );谬见;错觉;妄想
  • the delusions of the mentally ill 精神病患者的妄想
  • She wants to travel first-class: she must have delusions of grandeur. 她想坐头等舱旅行,她一定自以为很了不起。 来自辞典例句
篡夺,霸占( usurp的过去式和过去分词 ); 盗用; 篡夺,篡权
  • That magazine usurped copyrighted material. 那杂志盗用了版权为他人所有的素材。
  • The expression'social engineering'has been usurped by the Utopianist without a shadow of light. “社会工程”这个词已被乌托邦主义者毫无理由地盗用了。
n.异端邪说;异教
  • We should denounce a heresy.我们应该公开指责异端邪说。
  • It might be considered heresy to suggest such a notion.提出这样一个观点可能会被视为异端邪说。
n./adj.潜意识(的),下意识(的)
  • Nail biting is often a subconscious reaction to tension.咬指甲通常是紧张时的下意识反映。
  • My answer seemed to come from the subconscious.我的回答似乎出自下意识。
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
  • 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。
vi.累倒;昏倒;倒塌;塌陷
  • The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
  • The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。
adj.蜿蜒的,弯曲的
  • One part of the Serpentine is kept for swimmers.蜿蜒河的一段划为游泳区。
  • Tremolite laths and serpentine minerals are present in places.有的地方出现透闪石板条及蛇纹石。
adv.坦白地,直率地;坦率地说
  • To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说,我一点也不赞成这个主意。
  • Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说,我不反对改革。
adv.简单地,简短地
  • I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
  • He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。
n.腐败,堕落,贪污
  • The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
  • The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。
v.(使)打漩,(使)涡卷;n.漩涡,螺旋形
  • The car raced roughly along in a swirl of pink dust.汽车在一股粉红色尘土的漩涡中颠簸着快速前进。
  • You could lie up there,watching the flakes swirl past.你可以躺在那儿,看着雪花飘飘。
n.指责( accusation的名词复数 );指控;控告;(被告发、控告的)罪名
  • There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
  • He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。
adv.恰好,正好,精确地,细致地
  • It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
  • The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。
n.外貌,外表
  • Her semblance of anger frightened the children.她生气的样子使孩子们感到害怕。
  • Those clouds have the semblance of a large head.那些云的形状像一个巨大的人头。
adj.充满希望的,乐观的,血红色的
  • He has a sanguine attitude to life.他对于人生有乐观的看法。
  • He is not very sanguine about our chances of success.他对我们成功的机会不太乐观。
n.评价;评估;对财产的估价,被估定的金额
  • This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
  • What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何?
n.终身职位;任期;(土地)保有权,保有期
  • He remained popular throughout his tenure of the office of mayor.他在担任市长的整个任期内都深得民心。
  • Land tenure is a leading political issue in many parts of the world.土地的保有权在世界很多地区是主要的政治问题。
边( margin的名词复数 ); 利润; 页边空白; 差数
  • They have always had to make do with relatively small profit margins. 他们不得不经常设法应付较少的利润额。
  • To create more space between the navigation items, add left and right margins to the links. 在每个项目间留更多的空隙,加左或者右的margins来定义链接。
v.抚慰,平息(愤怒)
  • He never attempts to placate his enemy.他从不企图与敌人和解。
  • Even a written apology failed to placate the indignant hostess.甚至一纸书面道歉都没能安抚这个怒气冲冲的女主人。
[法] 煽动战争
  • What's warmongering got to do with Freedom Road? 自由之路与煽动战争有什么关系? 来自电影对白
  • The speech hits out at warmongering. 这篇演说对煽动战争的行为大加鞭笞。 来自互联网
n.(意见等的)一致,一致同意,共识
  • Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗?
  • What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么?
n.回顾,追溯;v.回顾,回想,追溯
  • One's school life seems happier in retrospect than in reality.学校生活回忆起来显得比实际上要快乐。
  • In retrospect,it's easy to see why we were wrong.回顾过去就很容易明白我们的错处了。
adj.感到孤独的,不合群的v.使疏远( alienate的过去式和过去分词 );使不友好;转让;让渡(财产等)
  • His comments have alienated a lot of young voters. 他的言论使许多年轻选民离他而去。
  • The Prime Minister's policy alienated many of her followers. 首相的政策使很多拥护她的人疏远了她。 来自《简明英汉词典》
adj.与世隔绝的
  • His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
  • Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。
n. 减轻,缓和,解痛物
  • These were the circumstances and the hopes which gradually brought alleviation to Sir Thomas's pain. 这些情况及其希望逐渐缓解了托马斯爵士的痛苦。
  • The cost reduction achieved in this way will benefit patients and the society in burden alleviation. 集中招标采购降低的采购成本要让利于患者,减轻社会负担。 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 口语
n.先例,前例;惯例;adj.在前的,在先的
  • Is there a precedent for what you want me to do?你要我做的事有前例可援吗?
  • This is a wonderful achievement without precedent in Chinese history.这是中国历史上亘古未有的奇绩。
n.激烈反应( kickback的名词复数 );佣金,回扣
  • Everyone at City Hall is receiving kickbacks. It's the only way to get anything done there. 市政府里的每个人都收回扣,在那里只有送红包,事情才办得成。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • G raft or kickbacks paid to officials or law enforcem ent authorities. 暗中付给官员或执法人员的回扣。 来自互联网
n.录音,记录
  • How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间?
  • I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。
n.疏忽,玩忽,粗心大意
  • They charged him with negligence of duty.他们指责他玩忽职守。
  • The traffic accident was allegedly due to negligence.这次车祸据说是由于疏忽造成的。
adj.(for,to)不充足的,不适当的
  • The supply is inadequate to meet the demand.供不应求。
  • She was inadequate to the demands that were made on her.她还无力满足对她提出的各项要求。
检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 ); 告发人; 起诉人; 公诉人
  • In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方,检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
  • You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。
n.退步,挫折,挫败
  • Since that time there has never been any setback in his career.从那时起他在事业上一直没有遇到周折。
  • She views every minor setback as a disaster.她把每个较小的挫折都看成重大灾难。
adj.虔诚的,虔敬的,衷心的 (n.devoutness)
  • His devout Catholicism appeals to ordinary people.他对天主教的虔诚信仰感染了普通民众。
  • The devout man prayed daily.那位虔诚的男士每天都祈祷。
adj.孤独的,独立的,荒凉的;n.隐士
  • I am rather fond of a solitary stroll in the country.我颇喜欢在乡间独自徜徉。
  • The castle rises in solitary splendour on the fringe of the desert.这座城堡巍然耸立在沙漠的边际,显得十分壮美。
n.幽禁,拘留,监禁;分娩;限制,局限
  • He spent eleven years in solitary confinement.他度过了11年的单独监禁。
  • The date for my wife's confinement was approaching closer and closer.妻子分娩的日子越来越近了。
n.食物,粮食;生活资料;生计
  • We derive our sustenance from the land.我们从土地获取食物。
  • The urban homeless are often in desperate need of sustenance.城市里无家可归的人极其需要食物来维持生命。
n.食物,营养品;营养情况
  • Lack of proper nourishment reduces their power to resist disease.营养不良降低了他们抵抗疾病的能力。
  • He ventured that plants draw part of their nourishment from the air.他大胆提出植物从空气中吸收部分养分的观点。
adj.贫穷的,贫困的,生活艰苦的
  • Although he was poor,he was quite generous to his needy friends.他虽穷,但对贫苦的朋友很慷慨。
  • They awarded scholarships to needy students.他们给贫苦学生颁发奖学金。
n.摘录,摘要( excerpt的名词复数 );节选(音乐,电影)片段
  • Some excerpts from a Renaissance mass are spatchcocked into Gluck's pallid Don Juan music. 一些文艺复光时期的弥撒的选节被不适当地加入到了格鲁克平淡无味的唐璜音乐中。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • He is editing together excerpts of some of his films. 他正在将自己制作的一些电影的片断进行剪辑合成。 来自辞典例句
标签: VOA慢速英语
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