美国国家公共电台 NPR South Korea Impeaches President, But Political Drama Isn't Finished

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: 

South Korean lawmakers have voted overwhelmingly to impeach¹ their president, who is at the heart of a corruption² scandal. As NPR's Elise Hu reports, the Korean political drama is far from over.

ELISE HU, BYLINE³: Outside the National Assembly, crowds saying the lines of the Korean Constitution - we are a democratic republic.

UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Singing in foreign language).

HU: A reminder⁴ that people can power change in democracies, and they just did.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

CHUNG SYE-KYUN: (Through interpreter) Here are the results of the votes.

HU: Inside the legislature, speaker Chung Sye-kyun announced the tally⁵ of a vote to impeach President Park Geun-Hye. She's at the center of public fury over corruption claims that have gripped the nation for months. The vote wasn't close. Lawmakers went 234 to 56 in favor of impeachment⁶.

MICHAEL KIM: This is one of the most historic events I think we've had in the past 50, 60 years.

HU: Michael Kim is a professor of Korean history at Seoul's Yonsei University.

KIM: There's almost, like, overwhelming consensus⁷ that the impeachment was warranted.

HU: President Park is under criminal investigation⁸ in the messy scandal that led to the vote. She's accused by prosecutors⁹ of conspiring¹⁰ in a multimillion-dollar extortion scheme led by her friend and spiritual adviser¹¹ Choi Soon-sil. Prosecutors say Choi enjoyed extraordinary power to make decisions in state affairs despite no official position. Kim says she's symbolic¹² of a political system that can easily be gamed.

KIM: The system itself generates these kinds of issues. And so the very famous Choi Soon-sil, who is currently in jail, in some ways she's simply figured out how to work the system far better than anyone else had done previously¹³.

HU: Choi is in jail, but the president is immune from any criminal charges while she's still in office. She has refused to take investigators¹⁴' questions and for weeks ignored calls to immediately resign. James Kim of the Seoul-based think tank Asan Institute says the unchanging situation forced Friday's impeachment vote.

JAMES KIM: I think the people are very happy with the decision. Now the next phase has to kick in.

HU: Either way, the legislature's vote marks a dramatic moment in the political career of Park, the daughter of Korea's former military dictator. And for the country, which came out in droves against her. Michael Kim.

KIM: A lot of people have become politically activated¹⁵. And so maybe in a - few years ago, this would not have been so many people out there. But the events recently has really, like, activated politically a lot of people who previously probably wouldn't have shown up into the streets.

UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Singing in foreign language).

HU: There is celebration for now, especially among the estimated 80 percent of Koreans who supported impeachment. But the good cheer could be temporary. Two-thirds of the panel of judges have to agree on the president's ultimate fate, whether to uphold or dismiss the impeachment motion. James Kim.

KIM: A lot of attention and focus of the national media and the public will be on the constitutional court.

HU: In the meantime, the president's power was transferred temporarily to the prime minister, Hwang Kyo-ahn. In a nationwide address, he said...

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

HWANG KYO-AHN: (Foreign language spoken).

HU: "The world is watching South Korea right now. Please, let's come together to overcome this crisis." Elise Hu, NPR News, 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 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。

3 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。

4 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

5 tally   

n.计数器，记分，一致，测量；vt.计算，记录，使一致；vi.计算，记分，一致

参考例句：

• Don't forget to keep a careful tally of what you spend.别忘了仔细记下你的开支账目。
• The facts mentioned in the report tally to every detail.报告中所提到的事实都丝毫不差。

6 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。

7 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

8 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

9 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

10 conspiring   

密谋( conspire的现在分词 )； 搞阴谋； （事件等）巧合； 共同导致

参考例句：

• They were accused of conspiring against the king. 他们被指控阴谋反对国王。
• John Brown and his associates were tried for conspiring to overthrow the slave states. 约翰·布朗和他的合伙者们由于密谋推翻实行奴隶制度的美国各州而被审讯。

11 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。

12 symbolic   

adj.象征性的，符号的，象征主义的

参考例句：

• It is symbolic of the fighting spirit of modern womanhood.它象征着现代妇女的战斗精神。
• The Christian ceremony of baptism is a symbolic act.基督教的洗礼仪式是一种象征性的做法。

13 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

14 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 activated   

adj. 激活的 动词activate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The canister is filled with activated charcoal.蒸气回收罐中充满了活性炭。