时间:2019-01-11 作者:英语课 分类:2011年VOA慢速英语(一)月


英语课

Tunisia is observing three days of mourning for people killed in the revolution that ousted 1 the president a week ago. As many as one hundred people may have died since the start of the uprising in December.


The former president, Zine el-Abidene Ben Ali, held power for twenty-three years.


A temporary government has offered a general pardon to political prisoners and agreed to recognize banned political parties. The acting 2 prime minister, Mohammed Ghannouchi, has also removed all restrictions 3 on the media.


The interim 4 government promises to hold elections. And it has arrested members of Mr. Ben Ali's family for investigation 5 of corruption 6.


But protesters in Tunis and elsewhere continued to demand the removal of any officials from the old ruling party.


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On Friday, the first day of national mourning, protesters in Tunis welcomed police officers who joined them for the first time.



A soldier stands with flowers in the barrel of his gun as Tunisians protest outside the headquarters of the ousted president's party in Tunis this week


Still, the situation calmed enough this week for the government to announce that schools and universities will reopen next week.


The protests grew out of anger over high unemployment and food prices, which are currently reaching new highs on world markets. The question now is how much the events in Tunisia will influence people in other countries, like this man in Algeria.


MAN (TRANSLATED): "Our problem is not to do with cooking oil, sugar or semolina. Our problem is with the injustice 7, the plundering 8 of wealth and oppression."


Maha Azzam is a North Africa expert at Chatham House, a research organization in London.


MAHA AZZAM: "Over the next few months leading up to the presidential elections, if we see protests on the streets in Egypt then we are underway to some very serious change in a key country in the region."


In Cairo, a protester set himself on fire outside the parliament building. People have also burned themselves in other countries -- all reminders 9 of the act of resistance that started the revolution in Tunisia. Mohamed Bouazizi, a vegetable seller, became so tired of abusive officials that he set himself on fire and later died.


The events in Tunisia are being called the Jasmine Revolution after the national flower. But Tunisia is in many ways an exception in the Arab world.



Former Tunisian president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali making a speech on Tunisian TV earlier this month


It has a solid middle class built by an economy not tied to oil production. It has a high level of education and more equal rights between men and women. And it has a popular army that has largely stayed out of politics.


One political expert says even the corruption was different, limited mainly to the former president and his family.


This week, Arab leaders held an economic summit meeting in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak called for investment in young people.


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Employment is a major priority, he said, along with education, economic growth and social and human development.


Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa told the leaders that -- in his words -- "the Arab soul is broken." He warned them that "the Tunisian revolution is not far from us."


And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. You can share comments, and read what other people are saying, at voaspecialenglish.com and on Facebook and Twitter at VOA Learning English. I'm Steve Ember.



驱逐( oust的过去式和过去分词 ); 革职; 罢黜; 剥夺
  • He was ousted as chairman. 他的主席职务被革除了。
  • He may be ousted by a military takeover. 他可能在一场军事接管中被赶下台。
n.演戏,行为,假装;adj.代理的,临时的,演出用的
  • Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她,她只是假装的。
  • During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代,她的表演生涯黯然失色。
约束( restriction的名词复数 ); 管制; 制约因素; 带限制性的条件(或规则)
  • I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
  • a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制
adj.暂时的,临时的;n.间歇,过渡期间
  • The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
  • It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。
n.调查,调查研究
  • In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
  • He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。
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。
n.非正义,不公正,不公平,侵犯(别人的)权利
  • They complained of injustice in the way they had been treated.他们抱怨受到不公平的对待。
  • All his life he has been struggling against injustice.他一生都在与不公正现象作斗争。
掠夺,抢劫( plunder的现在分词 )
  • The troops crossed the country, plundering and looting as they went. 部队经过乡村,一路抢劫掳掠。
  • They amassed huge wealth by plundering the colonies. 他们通过掠夺殖民地聚敛了大笔的财富。
n.令人回忆起…的东西( reminder的名词复数 );提醒…的东西;(告知该做某事的)通知单;提示信
  • The film evokes chilling reminders of the war. 这部电影使人们回忆起战争的可怕场景。
  • The strike has delayed the mailing of tax reminders. 罢工耽搁了催税单的投寄。
学英语单词
abrupt deceleration vehicle
achromachia
apacked
Auricularia auricula
australian pitcher plants
Avast hauling!
bepuff
beslabbered
buffered filter paper
Bulgarevo
buoyancy curve
cadmium sulphide
Catalpa L.
chrysandiol
Congo floor maggot
DC electric propulsion plant
defilippis
ecomil
eelworms
egg-white protein
engineering geological classification of rock mass
engraftment
eusebia
Evangelista Torricelli
evasion error
exponential expansion
fallopiuss
field-sequential system
fight up to the last ditch
final-year
fotp
geard
get a cold reception
guide block
hangava
hansler
harbo(u)r operational zone
Hemitrichia
heteragraft
high velocity liquid jet machining
high-voltage glow tube
hormone culture-medium
hydnocarpus wightiana bl.
hytners
I fear
illtempered
Indosasa patens
information given in a questionnaire
information retrieval system evaluation
initial steam admission
insoluble solides
irrigated soil
Kinnitty
Kolomonyi
lactic-acid
Lithocarpus
LVTR
magnetohydrodynamic propulsion plant
manganese(iv) silicide
marmalade trees
mattings
mesengium
microvoltmeter
monetizability
nanocavity
Newry Canal
non-zero restriction
oil lubricating system
onishi
optic integrated circuit
pellet mouldings
PGS (program generation system)
plesiotrochus acutangulus
prepacked with grease
prevailing price
prunus mume sieb.et zucc.var.tonsa rehd.
prunus mume var.bungo mak.
purplestreak alstroemeria
rag out
residentiaries
reverse pinocytosis
rizzle
ruscombe
sample grid reference
Sandnessjφen
sandy mushrooms
secondary process
sent out
sound intensity decay
sprawlings
statistical weights
strapped multiresonator circuit
subfraction
Suttsu
the top of
tightness of stitches
top-fired boiler
triangulation balloon
unconquering
unfamiliarity
uredo cryptogrammes
Voidable Civil Act