美国国家公共电台 NPR South Korean Lawmakers Vote Overwhelmingly To Impeach President

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: 

This is a historic day in South Korea. Just hours ago, lawmakers there voted to impeach¹ their president, Park Geun-hye. She's been mired² in a corruption⁴ scandal that has sent millions of people into the streets to protest. Now, the vote for impeachment⁵ suspends Park's power, but she is not removed from office yet, so NPR's Elise Hu is here to talk us through things. Hi, Elise.

ELISE HU, BYLINE⁶: Hi. Good morning.

INSKEEP: And she's in Seoul. What's it like to be there today?

HU: Oh, it is a huge moment, Steve. This is one of the most significant moments in South Korean democratic history, really. Lawmakers voted 234-56 in favor of the impeachment motion. What this means is President Park is temporarily stripped of her powers, and those powers are actually transferred to her appointee, the prime minister, until a constitutional court decides whether to uphold the impeachment sometime in the coming months. Now, unlike the U.S. system, there's actually no trial. The court justices will just have to decide whether to uphold or dismiss what the legislature did today.

INSKEEP: What is the case against the president?

HU: Park has admitted to allowing her close friend, a woman named Choi Soon-sil, to interfere⁷ in government affairs. Choi was actually seeing confidential⁸ documents and reviewing Park's speeches in advance. She has no official position. She has no government background. In fact, she's just a friend and spiritual adviser⁹ over the past 40 years.

INSKEEP: OK, so this has been something that Koreans have taken to heart.

HU: That's right. And that's just kind of the tip of the iceberg¹⁰ because Park is also under a cloud for colluding with this friend, Choi Soon-sil, to actually force or somehow extort¹¹ money from South Korean companies, like Samsung and Hyundai, to ponying¹² up up to 60 million U.S. dollars to enrich her spiritual advisor¹³.

INSKEEP: And, of course, there have been videos of the protests that we have seen on this side of the world from Seoul. How much did public anger fuel the legislature's action here?

HU: I think it's a huge factor. Public reaction and then just weeks and weeks of negative press attention are huge reasons why President Park has herself become so isolated¹⁴. The opposition¹⁵ parties here were, at first, reluctant to bring an impeachment motion several weeks ago, when this scandal first broke. But last weekend's rally attendance topped nearly 2 million people by organizer estimates. And the latest polls showed nearly 8 in 10 South Koreans favored impeaching¹⁶ their president. The public sees their president as corrupt³, aloof¹⁷ and unable to govern. Park herself, though, we should mention, has just apologized once again to her cabinet and, by extension, the public, saying she's sorry for the distraction¹⁸. But she has not actually admitted any fault in the allegations that are against her.

INSKEEP: Sorry for the distraction seems like an awfully¹⁹ understated way to describe your own impeachment.

HU: That's right. But, you know, again, she is accused of being kind of aloof and out of touch with the people, so this is not a huge surprise for South Korean observers. We should mention that, now that this impeachment has happened, Park is not yet removed from office. We're still waiting on a constitutional court to decide whether that happens. They have up to 180 days to decide.

INSKEEP: Elise, thanks, as always.

HU: You bet.

INSKEEP: That's NPR's Elise Hu in Seoul.

1 impeach   

v.弹劾；检举

参考例句：

• We must impeach the judge for taking bribes.我们一定要检举法官收受贿赂。
• The committee decided to impeach the President.委员会决定弹劾总统。

2 mired   

abbr.microreciprocal degree 迈尔德（色温单位）v.深陷( mire的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The country was mired in recession. 这个国家陷入了经济衰退的困境。
• The most brilliant leadership can be mired in detail. 最有才干的领导也会陷于拘泥琐事的困境中。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 corrupt   

v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的

参考例句：

• The newspaper alleged the mayor's corrupt practices.那家报纸断言市长有舞弊行为。
• This judge is corrupt.这个法官贪污。

4 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

5 impeachment   

n.弹劾；控告；怀疑

参考例句：

• Impeachment is considered a drastic measure in the United States.在美国，弹劾被视为一种非常激烈的措施。
• The verdict resulting from his impeachment destroyed his political career.他遭弹劾后得到的判决毁了他的政治生涯。

6 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

7 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

8 confidential   

adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的

参考例句：

• He refused to allow his secretary to handle confidential letters.他不让秘书处理机密文件。
• We have a confidential exchange of views.我们推心置腹地交换意见。

9 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

10 iceberg   

n.冰山，流冰，冷冰冰的人

参考例句：

• The ship hit an iceberg and went under.船撞上一座冰山而沉没了。
• The glacier calved a large iceberg.冰河崩解而形成一个大冰山。

11 extort   

v.勒索，敲诈，强要

参考例句：

• The blackmailer tried to extort a large sum of money from him.勒索者企图向他勒索一大笔钱。
• They absolutely must not harm the people or extort money from them.严格禁止坑害勒索群众。

12 ponying   

矮种马，小型马( pony的现在分词 )； ￡25 25 英镑

参考例句：

• Caption: Ponying Up:Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin rides a horse while on vacation in Tuva, Russia. 描述：骑马：俄联邦图瓦共和国度假期间，俄罗斯总理弗拉基米尔·普京骑着一匹马。

13 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。

14 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

15 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• 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。

16 impeaching   

v.控告（某人）犯罪( impeach的现在分词 )；弹劾；对（某事物）怀疑；提出异议

参考例句：

17 aloof   

adj.远离的；冷淡的，漠不关心的

参考例句：

• Never stand aloof from the masses.千万不可脱离群众。
• On the evening the girl kept herself timidly aloof from the crowd.这小女孩在晚会上一直胆怯地远离人群。

18 distraction   

n.精神涣散，精神不集中，消遣，娱乐

参考例句：

• Total concentration is required with no distractions.要全神贯注，不能有丝毫分神。
• Their national distraction is going to the disco.他们的全民消遣就是去蹦迪。

19 awfully   

adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地

参考例句：

• Agriculture was awfully neglected in the past.过去农业遭到严重忽视。
• I've been feeling awfully bad about it.对这我一直感到很难受。