-
(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
Seeing red in rural（乡下的，田园的，农村的）Thailand
As they prepared to descend1 on(袭击) the capital Bangkok for recent sprotest（抗议，反对）, supporters of ousted（被逐出，被夺权）Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra raised money and morale（士气，斗气） in the red-shirts' heartland in the north-east of Thailand.
The field outside the radio station is the size of two football pitches（足球场） and it is crammed（塞入，死记，压碎）with tables.
Red tables, of course, with red table cloths.
People keep arriving with sacks（麻布袋） of rice and big baskets of mangoes（芒果）and chillies（辣椒）. Outside the studio, an army of women chop（剁碎，切，砍） and slice vegetables.
They laugh and sing as they work. Everyone seems in high spirits.
As the sun goes down, the place fills up. Nearly everyone is wearing red T-shirts. It is a hot, sticky evening but on stage the lycra-clad dancing girls perform a frenetic （发狂的，狂热的）number in knee-high boots.
Rural 'empowerment（授权）'
Behind them there are massive posters of two men: on one side Thailand's former PM, Thaksin Shinawatra and on the other, the host of tonight's party, Kwanchai Paipanna, the head of the Udon Lovers community radio station.
Kwanchai, a large man with a matching voice, is the local Mr Big - one of the most influential2 men in the town of Udon Thani. He was once a successful DJ and record producer promoting 'Luk Tung', Thai country music.
"I am a child of the field," he says. "I never used to take any interest in politics."
He tells me that he only set up this radio station three years ago, to counteract（抵消，阻碍，中和） what he regarded as propaganda（宣传） from the yellow-shirt movement, as it pushed to get rid first of Mr Thaksin himself and then the subsequent （随后的，后来的）pro-Thaksin governments.
"After Thaksin came to power, everything changed. We found we could work together to affect change in our local areas in ways we had never done before," he says.
"But after Thaksin was deposed（免职）, things began sliding backwards," he adds.
"Our hands were freed and then it felt as if they'd been tied up again. But now the whole country is hooked up to the internet and villagers have learned how to communicate with each other. Thanks to Thaksin people here understand they have a part to play in the political system," Mr Kwanchai.
Heading to Bangkok
We are in the poorest part of Thailand, a forgotten backyard of muddy streams and rice fields which stretch as far as the eye can see.
Udon Thani is a drab（土褐色的，单调的） place which only gets a fleeting3 mention in tourist guides. Yet, politically, the north east is very much on the map.
This is the land of the red-shirts - the home turf（草地，跑马场） of those activists4 demanding the dissolution（分解） of Thailand's parliament and new elections.
They claim that the current government is illegitimate. It came to power on the back of the yellow-shirt demonstrations（示范，实证） last year.
The red-shirts also accuse the country's elite6 - the military, judiciary and other unelected officials - of undermining democracy by interfering7 in politics.
The Udon Lovers party is being held to celebrate the third birthday of the radio station but it is also a giant fundraiser.
Each table seating 10 costs 2000 baht ($56) and for many people here that is a fortune - more than half of what they make in a month. Yet all 430 tables were sold out in advance. The money, says Kwanchai, will be used to hire buses to take thousands of red-shirted protesters to a big demonstration5 in Bangkok.
Away from the stage I came across Noong Lak, a demure（装成端庄的，严肃的）lady in her 50s. She and her sister had made a long journey to join the festivities
We had to sell all our rice to come tonight," she says. "Maybe later we won't have enough to eat. We might have to catch frogs or live off fish but we wanted to support our radio station.
"Now the government only looks after the rich - it doesn't care about poor people like us."
Many of the villagers say they are sick of being treated as stupid by "southerners" in Bangkok. They are particularly incensed（盛怒的）by the charge made by some of their opponents that they are not well enough educated to decide who should lead the country.
"The elite, they think people up here are sub-human," says Dr Weng Tojirakarn, a national red-shirts leader who has dropped in on the festivities. "That's why they call us buffaloes（水牛）."
The party guests at the radio station include many poor rice farmers and factory workers but there are also young professionals, business people and students.
Loan scheme
At one of the tables I meet Ploy8, a young woman with a red ribbon in her hair.
She has just graduated from a university in Chon Buri, south of Bangkok, where she had to keep a low profile as the only red-shirt in her class.
"Many people hate Thaksin and say he is a thief," she says. "But he is the first prime minister who has given something back to this country.
"Perhaps he is corrupt9 （腐败的，贪污的）- I don't know. Everybody in power is corrupt but he at least gave some benefits to the poor".
The morning after the party as scores of volunteers begin a massive clean up, Mr Kwanchai takes me on a tour. He wants to show me how the village loan scheme introduced by Mr Thaksin has improved the lives of local people.
Pichit Pimar and a handful of other farmers used the cheap credit to set up a lucrative10 business growing mushrooms. He says they are now gradually paying back the loan.
He takes me inside a structure made of bamboo with a corrugated11 iron(波状钢) roof where thousands of creamy brown mushrooms with delicate stems are sprouting12 in moist bags of soil. In the UK, this exotic variety commands a high price in supermarkets.
"I earn twice as much as I used to. Before, I lived in a tiny house and I picked up odd jobs. Now I have a decent sized house and a car," he says.
Mr Pichit is particularly proud that he can now afford to send his son to college to study engineering. Nobody in his family has ever gone on to higher education before.
Now in hiding
Another measure introduced by Mr Thaksin's government is the 30 baht healthcare scheme. Under the scheme, hospitals are obliged to treat patients for a flat charge equivalent to（等于，相当于） just less than a dollar per visit.
While some villagers say this has saved lives, critics claim it is a populist stunt13 which has bankrupted hospitals and failed to deliver proper treatment.
The arguments about Mr Thaksin - the great hero for some and the corrupt, autocratic crook14 for others - are a reflection of the extreme of this country.
On my last day in Bangkok, I bumped into Mr Kwanchai behind the stage at the main rally site around Government House. He was jubilant having arrived at dawn with 5000 supporters from Udon Thani.
Ultimately despite their huge turnout and all the fiery15 rhetoric（修辞）, the red-shirts failed to reach their goal. When the military intervened they called their protest off.
Now many of the leaders have gone into hiding, including Mr Kwanchai.
As for his station, the day after the crackdown, the police arrived to remove all the broadcasting equipment. For now at least the Udon Lovers have been silenced.
(本文由在线英语听力室编辑整理)
收听单词发音 |
1
descend
|
|
| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
influential
|
|
| adj.有影响的，有权势的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
fleeting
|
|
| adj.短暂的，飞逝的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
activists
|
|
| n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
demonstration
|
|
| n.表明，示范，论证，示威 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
elite
|
|
| n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
interfering
|
|
| adj. 妨碍的 动词interfere的现在分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
ploy
|
|
| n.花招，手段 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
corrupt
|
|
| v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
lucrative
|
|
| adj.赚钱的，可获利的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
corrugated
|
|
| adj.波纹的；缩成皱纹的；波纹面的；波纹状的v.（使某物）起皱褶(corrugate的过去式和过去分词) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
sprouting
|
|
| v.发芽( sprout的现在分词 )；抽芽；出现；（使）涌现出 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
stunt
|
|
| n.惊人表演，绝技，特技；vt.阻碍...发育，妨碍...生长 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
crook
|
|
| v.使弯曲；n.小偷，骗子，贼；弯曲(处) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
fiery
|
|
| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
购买
在百度中搜索