时间:2019-01-14 作者:英语课 分类:VOA标准英语2009年(十月)


英语课

By Selah Hennessy
London
20 October 2009


The media watchdog Reporters Without Borders has released its annual press freedom index. Several prominent European countries have slid down the ranking while the United States has made significant moves forward. Some African countries are also shooting up the rankings.


 


 
Vincent Brossel from Reporters Without Borders says Europe should be setting an example of strong civil liberties around the world, but in many European countries press freedom is moving backwards 1.


"Important countries in Europe like Italy or France or Spain have really, have lost all their ranks especially because of intervention 2 by the chief of states, like [Italian Prime Minister] Berlusconi or [French President] Mr. Sarkozy but also because of different attitudes by the police on the interference of work on the journalists," Brossel said.


France is in 43rd (place) in this year's index and Italy has finished 49th. Slovakia, in Central Europe, has fallen 37 places coming in at 44th place.


The index is compiled on the basis of questionnaires completed by hundreds of journalists and media experts around the world. This is the eighth such index the watchdog has published and covers the period between September 1, 2008 and August 31, 2009.


The United States has climbed 20 places in the ranking. Brossel says this seems to be a result of United States President Barack Obama's leadership.


"There is already a Barack Obama affect on the U.S. ranking. It means that several decisions by the new administration made possible that the United States has recovered twenty places in the index," Brossel said.


But he says the U.S. attitude towards press freedom outside its own borders is still worrying. Reporters Without Borders data shows that several journalists were injured or arrested by the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan.


According to the index, the African country Eritrea is, for the third year running, the worst country in the world for press freedom. Reporters Without Borders says right now 30 journalists are in prison in the country.


Somalia also came in the bottom 20. Brossel says Somalia is the most dangerous country in the world for journalists, with six journalists killed last year.


"Somalia has private media and is still generally trying to inform the people but there is a huge violence and chaos 3 that is creating [a] very dramatic situation for the journalist," Brossel said.


But some African countries are moving up the list. Brossel says following a power sharing deal in Zimbabwe, the country's press freedom has improved sharply.


"That is very encouraging because it means that when there is political will to improve the situation it is absolutely possible to get developing countries with a good ranking," Brossel said.


The European countries Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Norway and Sweden have all tied for first place in the index.


Iran came in fourth from the bottom. Reporters Without Borders says journalists in the country are suffering more than ever this year. It says after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed reelection the regime has become paranoid about journalists and bloggers.


At the bottom following Eritrea is Turkmenistan and North Korea.



adv.往回地,向原处,倒,相反,前后倒置地
  • He turned on the light and began to pace backwards and forwards.他打开电灯并开始走来走去。
  • All the girls fell over backwards to get the party ready.姑娘们迫不及待地为聚会做准备。
n.介入,干涉,干预
  • The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
  • Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。
n.混乱,无秩序
  • After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后,城市一片混乱。
  • The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。
学英语单词
a man of high standing
abbrev.
all-knowings
anacanthus barbatus
anomala mizusawai
antonio amaro
associate(d)
astringer
bemoiling
besplashing
black dogwood
Bowmont
budget and accounting act
cancer nadaensis
cast iron standard parts
cave formation
Commercial Credit Conference Form
cresotinic acid
crogball
dark green
Delo
description point
dimcontinue
distance formulae
duration of heat release
eastern plane
ecophilosophy
entraining
examine and verify
fuel fission
gas-cooled breeder reactor
genodermatosis
give oneself up to despair
Greenwich Time-Zone
herring-cob
high speed vessel
histolytically
hospital beds
imidophosphonic acid
inventory systems
isobrightness
it was said
jump-ball
kamarck
Kuril'skiye Ostrova
Kāveripatnam
latter part
Lysholm type compressor
mable
meliosma platypoda rehd. et wils
military government
milk bottles
negotiable amount
Nether Alderley
no hurry
nrd
oxaloacetic acid-enolphosphate
paleontological species
panegyrise
parabranchium
parallel drum winding
penancing
player-piano
plod along
pollutant interaction
positive causal link
principal axis of a quadric
pyknodysostosis
Quercus virginiana
quipp
radius rod
ramble over
rattlesome
ribozymology
Richmond, Mt.
rockys
roumm
same-day
sanl
schistocormus fissiventralis
self-propelled crust breaker
skeeziness
smoothing constant
spamless
Stephan
story-tellings
streaming factor
superior pelvic aperture
sustain damage
technophobe
time-integrated neutron flux
tips in
tks
toy store
upsodown
vat water disinfection
velum palatinum
water measure
wedge type snubber
white-friars
winegrapes
Yoshikuni