时间:2019-02-07 作者:英语课 分类:VOA标准英语2008年(五月)


英语课
By Tendai Maphosa
London
09 May 2008


Amnesty International has issued a statement criticizing the Burmese government's intention to proceed with a referendum for a new constitution Saturday instead of concentrating on providing relief for victims of Cyclone 1 Nargis.  Also, the human rights group describes the new constitution as an effort to undermine respect for human rights and to entrench 2 military rule.  From London, Tendai Maphosa has more.


Rather than focusing on the hundreds of thousands of its citizens' struggle for basic shelter, food and health care, the Amnesty International statement charges, Burma's government is prioritizing acceptance of the new constitution.


Amnesty also says the referendum for the draft constitution was being held in an environment where individuals cannot freely express themselves. The rights group's spokesman Benjamin Zawacki told VOA that soon after the referendum was announced in February, the government passed a law that outlaws 3 any campaigning against the draft constitution.


"Essentially 4 what the military government was saying through that law is you either support the constitution or you keep quiet but you do not have a political right to express the view that you don't want the constitution to pass," he said.


Zawacki added that those who dared campaign against the constitution were attacked and had their campaign materials seized


Amnesty International expressed concern that rather than attempting to introduce the rule of law and respect for human rights to Burma, the proposed constitution process seeks to perpetuate 5 and legitimize the government's continuing human rights abuses and ensure no punishment for both past and future violations 6


Zawacki also says that the process that brought about the draft constitution was not inclusive. The process, he says, started three years after the 1990 general elections, which the opposition 7 National League for Democracy (NLD) was on course to win.


"By 1995 the NLD and other parties realized that they were essentially being sidelined, their concerns and their objectives were not being taken into account by the government and they opted 8 to cease participating and once they tried to get back into the process they were not allowed back in," he added.


The Burmese government has postponed 9 voting for the constitution in the regions hardest hit by the cyclone to May 24. VOA's attempts to get a comment from the Burmese embassy in London were unsuccessful.




n.旋风,龙卷风
  • An exceptionally violent cyclone hit the town last night.昨晚异常猛烈的旋风吹袭了那个小镇。
  • The cyclone brought misery to thousands of people.旋风给成千上万的人带来苦难。
v.使根深蒂固;n.壕沟;防御设施
  • A series of measures were designed to entrench democracy and the rule of law.采取一系列措施旨在巩固民主和法制。
  • These dictators have entrenched themselves politically and are difficult to move.这些独裁者在政治上已经站稳了脚跟,很难推翻他们。
歹徒,亡命之徒( outlaw的名词复数 ); 逃犯
  • During his year in the forest, Robin met many other outlaws. 在森林里的一年,罗宾遇见其他许多绿林大盗。
  • I didn't have to leave the country or fight outlaws. 我不必离开自己的国家,也不必与不法分子斗争。
adv.本质上,实质上,基本上
  • Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
  • She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。
v.使永存,使永记不忘
  • This monument was built to perpetuate the memory of the national hero.这个纪念碑建造的意义在于纪念民族英雄永垂不朽。
  • We must perpetuate the system.我们必须将此制度永久保持。
违反( violation的名词复数 ); 冒犯; 违反(行为、事例); 强奸
  • 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。
n.反对,敌对
  • The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
  • The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。
v.选择,挑选( opt的过去式和过去分词 )
  • She was co-opted onto the board. 她获增选为董事会成员。
  • After graduating she opted for a career in music. 毕业后她选择了从事音乐工作。
vt.& vi.延期,缓办,(使)延迟vt.把…放在次要地位;[语]把…放在后面(或句尾)vi.(疟疾等)延缓发作(或复发)
  • The trial was postponed indefinitely. 审讯无限期延迟。
  • The game has already been postponed three times. 这场比赛已经三度延期了。
学英语单词
Aircraft Industries Association of America
altimeter hysteresis
Ardon
asphalt lining
axioelectric
body-snatchings
Brown nickel process
California false morel
Canada turpentine
caricature
carnal abuses
Chong-Ren debility
church organists
coddles
communal tenure
compiler toggle
convergent channels
copulatory appendage
customs clearance date
cylinder speed control
diaphyseal fracture
diethyl apipate
drawbars
ducking-pond
endonuclear
Evans City
external cuticle
feeder head
ferro-magnetic core
filling for groyne
fragileness
gate oxide
generic failure rate
gingivectome
give the stem
grain and fertilizer drill
Grand Duchy of Muscovy
gumless
hauyne-basanite
Heisenberg algebra
herpetologist
high source temperature
hydrodynamic torque converter
indanthrene blue
infection theory
inflaming retarding
insuloma
kodaking
lang y?an
langosta
lca
lockshield
low temperature technique
missed labour
monory
mos power transistors
multiracialisms
muscle of hyoid bone
Mussari(Mandandi)
offshore well logging
oil-freer
overtips
par value capital stock
Pilobolaceae
polytetrafluoroethylene aqueous dispersion
pro-antithrombin
propellant weight
Pyasǔchnik, Yazovir
resonant-line circuit
rotativesaw
say goodbye to sth
semiautomatic double seamer
shear vector
Sibiu
signature generation
stressors
string manipulation
supercharged diesel
supply flow
swertianlarin
T'aech'ǒn-gun
the great inquest
thiopental sodium
to poop
top-dressing at different stages
tracheloplasties
track transformator
tractus rubrolemniscalis
trail-blazer
triple sulfas
tropical chocolate
typical hydrograph
u-tube hydrometer
unbalance tree
ungored
valence band
vel velocity
Viets' effect
weather instrument
whangpoo
xanthiosphaera lappacea
xir