美国有线新闻 CNN 2015-05-17

 Hi, I'm Carl Azuz. First up this Thursday on CNN Student News: a tragic¹ incident on the busiest railroad in North America, Amtrak's Northeast Corridor connects Washington D.C. to Boston, Massachusetts.  

 

On Tuesday night, train number 188 was carrying 238 commuters and five crew members from the capital to New York. When it got near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the train derailed. One witness said there's a place where the track curves around a warehouse², and then it looked like the engine kept going straight, off the track, followed by the cars it was pulling, seven of them came off the track. At least seven people were killed.

 

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash. It says its preliminary data shows the train was traveling at 100 miles per hour at the time it derailed. That's twice the speed limit on that section of the track. Passengers were thrown from their seats against walls, doors, each other. More than 200 people were injured, several of them thanked first responders who arrived within minutes to rescue victims.

 

Next, what's being called "fear politics" in North Korea. The communist country's defense³ minister was publicly executed within the past few weeks. That's according to a South Korean spy agency.  

 

Hyon Yong Chol had been accused of treason. He'd reportedly disobeyed the orders of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un. South Korean officials say Hyon was not given a trial, that he was killed two to three days after he was arrested.  

 

North Korea's dictator has been accused of executing as many as 15 top officials this year. A North Korean government official called that, quote, "malicious⁴ slander⁵", but he did not deny that executions happen in North Korea for crimes of treason and subversion⁶, undermining the government.

 

A son grieves for his father, then executes his closest aides. Within two years of taking power, five of the seven men you see here with Kim Jong-un were either fired or killed.  

 

According to this man, the highest level North Korean official to defect in years, that was just the beginning. We're hiding his identity and calling him "Mr. Park" to protect friends and families still in Pyongyang.  

 

In his first-ever interview, he tells CNN, Kim Jong-un's cruelty is turning the elite⁷ against him. 

 

"Within three months of taking power," he says, "Kim Jong-un had ruthlessly executed seven of his father's closest aides and three generations of their families, including the children. That was the beginning of his reign⁸ of terror."

 

Park worked closely with his father, former leader Kim Jong-il, himself considered by much of the world as a brutal⁹ dictator. But he says while the father imprisoned¹⁰ his enemies, the son simply executes them. 

 

"Hundreds," says Park. "They may tremble in fear of him, but their loyalty¹¹ is fake. They don't consider him human. His cruelty angers and shocks them." 

 

One reason he believes Kim Jong-un will lose power within three years. Another reason, he says, increasing questions of legitimacy¹². Many believe Kim Jong-un's mother was born in Japan, an historical enemy of the Kim dynasty, which obsesses¹³ over a pure legal bloodline. While Kim has highlighted his physical similarities to his grandfather and founder¹⁴ of North Korea, Kim Il-sung, Park doubts they ever even met.  

 

There's not a single photo of Kim Jong-un and Kim Il-sung taken together, he says. That is why people suspect Kim Il-sung didn't even recognize him.

 

Park speaks of little electricity or running water outside the capital Pyongyang, evidence of which I saw while in North Korea in 2013, but he also claims the country is running out of money. He says he worked closely with Kim Jong-un's finances, plans for a Chinese style open market soon dropped when it became clear Kim Jong-un's reign could be in jeopardy¹⁵.

 

Kim Jong-un has lost the confidence of the elite, says Park, as he appears powerless to improve either the economy or foreign policy. Instead he appears to be focusing on areas he thinks he cannot fail, nuclear and military. Paula Hancocks, CNN, Seoul.

1 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。

2 warehouse   

n.仓库；vt.存入仓库

参考例句：

• We freighted the goods to the warehouse by truck.我们用卡车把货物运到仓库。
• The manager wants to clear off the old stocks in the warehouse.经理想把仓库里积压的存货处理掉。

3 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

4 malicious   

adj.有恶意的，心怀恶意的

参考例句：

• You ought to kick back at such malicious slander. 你应当反击这种恶毒的污蔑。
• Their talk was slightly malicious.他们的谈话有点儿心怀不轨。

5 slander   

n./v.诽谤，污蔑

参考例句：

• The article is a slander on ordinary working people.那篇文章是对普通劳动大众的诋毁。
• He threatened to go public with the slander.他威胁要把丑闻宣扬出去。

6 subversion   

n.颠覆，破坏

参考例句：

• He was arrested in parliament on charges of subversion for organizing the demonstration.他因组织示威活动在议会上被以颠覆破坏罪名逮捕。
• It had a cultural identity relatively immune to subversion from neighboring countries.它的文化同一性使它相对地不易被邻国所颠覆。

7 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

8 reign   

n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势

参考例句：

• The reign of Queen Elizabeth lapped over into the seventeenth century.伊丽莎白王朝延至17世纪。
• The reign of Zhu Yuanzhang lasted about 31 years.朱元璋统治了大约三十一年。

9 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

10 imprisoned   

下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was imprisoned for two concurrent terms of 30 months and 18 months. 他被判处30个月和18个月的监禁，合并执行。
• They were imprisoned for possession of drugs. 他们因拥有毒品而被监禁。

11 loyalty   

n.忠诚，忠心

参考例句：

• She told him the truth from a sense of loyalty.她告诉他真相是出于忠诚。
• His loyalty to his friends was never in doubt.他对朋友的一片忠心从来没受到怀疑。

12 legitimacy   

n.合法，正当

参考例句：

• The newspaper was directly challenging the government's legitimacy.报纸直接质疑政府的合法性。
• Managing from the top down,we operate with full legitimacy.我们进行由上而下的管理有充分的合法性。

13 obsesses   

v.时刻困扰( obsess的第三人称单数 )；缠住；使痴迷；使迷恋

参考例句：

• I suppose no artist achieves completely the realization of the dream that obsesses him. 我认为哪个艺术家也不可能把昼夜萦绕在他心头的梦境完全付诸实现。 来自辞典例句
• As source and, nature obsesses us, as do childhood and spontaneity, via the filter of memory. 作为资源和来源，自然总是纠缠着我们，经由记忆的过滤，就像童年和自发性所做的。 来自互联网

14 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

15 jeopardy   

n.危险；危难

参考例句：

• His foolish behaviour may put his whole future in jeopardy.他愚蠢的行为可能毁了他一生的前程。
• It is precisely at this juncture that the boss finds himself in double jeopardy.恰恰在这个关键时刻，上司发现自己处于进退两难的境地。