时间:2019-02-06 作者:英语课 分类:VOA常速英语2008年(二月)


英语课
By Phil Mercer
Darwin, Australia
13 February 2008


Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has made a historic apology to the country's Aboriginal 1 people for past mistreatment. Mr. Rudd said past policies of assimilation under which indigenous 2 children were taken from their families were a 'stain on the nation's soul'. From Darwin in Australia's Northern Territory, Phil Mercer reports.


Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has apologized to the 'Stolen Generations'.


These were Aboriginal children who were taken from their families in an attempt to dilute 3 indigenous culture. They were the victims of an assimilation policy that began in 1910 and lasted into the early 1970s.


Mr. Rudd said it was a dark period in the nation's history and issued a formal apology in the nation's parliament in Canberra.


"For the pain, suffering and hurt of these 'Stolen Generations', their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry," he said. "To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry; and for the indignity 4 and degradation 5 thus inflicted 6 on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry."


The declaration has come 11 years after an official report on Australia's past assimilation policies, which urged the government to issue a formal apology.


The conservative former prime minister, John Howard, refused to take such a step, insisting that current generations of Australians should not apologize for injustices 7 of the past.


Opinion polls have suggested that many Australians agree with Mr. Howard's stance and believe it was not necessary to say sorry.


Tribal 8 elders are welcoming Prime Minister Rudd's apology, saying that for the first time they feel embraced and valued by Australian society.


Mr. Rudd says the problems faced by Australia's Aborigines - very high rates of ill-health, unemployment and imprisonment 9 - are so serious that he plans to assemble a so-called 'war cabinet' to address them.


However, tackling such disadvantage has been beyond governments in the past. Indigenous people, who comprise two percent of the country's population of 21 million, have a life expectancy 10 17 years shorter than other Australians.




adj.(指动植物)土生的,原产地的,土著的
  • They managed to wipe out the entire aboriginal population.他们终于把那些土著人全部消灭了。
  • The lndians are the aboriginal Americans.印第安人是美国的土著人。
adj.土产的,土生土长的,本地的
  • Each country has its own indigenous cultural tradition.每个国家都有自己本土的文化传统。
  • Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America.印第安人是美洲的土著居民。
vt.稀释,冲淡;adj.稀释的,冲淡的
  • The water will dilute the wine.水能使酒变淡。
  • Zinc displaces the hydrogen of dilute acids.锌置换了稀酸中的氢。
n.侮辱,伤害尊严,轻蔑
  • For more than a year we have suffered the indignity.在一年多的时间里,我们丢尽了丑。
  • She was subjected to indignity and humiliation.她受到侮辱和羞辱。
n.降级;低落;退化;陵削;降解;衰变
  • There are serious problems of land degradation in some arid zones.在一些干旱地带存在严重的土地退化问题。
  • Gambling is always coupled with degradation.赌博总是与堕落相联系。
把…强加给,使承受,遭受( inflict的过去式和过去分词 )
  • They inflicted a humiliating defeat on the home team. 他们使主队吃了一场很没面子的败仗。
  • Zoya heroically bore the torture that the Fascists inflicted upon her. 卓娅英勇地承受法西斯匪徒加在她身上的酷刑。
不公平( injustice的名词复数 ); 非正义; 待…不公正; 冤枉
  • One who committed many injustices is doomed to failure. 多行不义必自毙。
  • He felt confident that his injustices would be righted. 他相信他的冤屈会受到昭雪的。
adj.部族的,种族的
  • He became skilled in several tribal lingoes.他精通几种部族的语言。
  • The country was torn apart by fierce tribal hostilities.那个国家被部落间的激烈冲突弄得四分五裂。
n.关押,监禁,坐牢
  • His sentence was commuted from death to life imprisonment.他的判决由死刑减为无期徒刑。
  • He was sentenced to one year's imprisonment for committing bigamy.他因为犯重婚罪被判入狱一年。
n.期望,预期,(根据概率统计求得)预期数额
  • Japanese people have a very high life expectancy.日本人的平均寿命非常长。
  • The atomosphere of tense expectancy sobered everyone.这种期望的紧张气氛使每个人变得严肃起来。
学英语单词
acetylphosphoric acid
approbated
arteriola efferens
assembler loader package
babusar pass
basivolsella
beef stroganoffs
biosphere reserve
black teals
blandished
board bridge
breanna
calcium pyrophosphate
chemical insecticide
clear panel key
colouring book
computer forensics
cool-summer damage due to impotency
Cuproartinite
customs compound
customs supervision
decaudates
direct current source
documents-against-payment bill
DTRTT
electric resistance wire
enthalpy-entropy chart
excess mean portfolio return
firmware support
food-purchasing
four-address code
friction pressure
ghiaour
greys
Hawkins Point
hedonic price method
high-tempreature strain gauge
hovde
hyperpipecolatemia
intraploidy
job-lot production
kellwood
Keota
Koh Sla, Stung
lightly deformed crystal
lindeberg's condition
liquefaction temperature
Lloyd's anchors and chains proved
Loxwood
lymphonoduli aggregati
Madipelesa
magnaliums
mark sth up
megawatt (mw)
micromechanically
momentum cutoff
muhs
myristicic acid
nonutilized
obituarial
OGRL
Omlet
on-line cipher
orbiculately
ortho-nitraniline
Os Draconis
philosoph
piratesses
possessive pronoun
pritchie
pseudoprognathism
pulpitless
Q clearance
R. M. S.
rauca
reattend
remote sensing for atmospheric pollution
residual current operated protective device
Rhododendron mainlingense
sassen
sea language
see ... do
self-redemptions
simple HISAM data base
Skave
steam water interface
steering gear tube cam
stratum compactum of integument
stress bolt
suicide bombing
synchronization
tatouay
Thai Ridgebacks
thorotrast
turite
type of machine
varnish-treated tape
vigna angulariss
wage tax
wheeler and dealer
worm-gears