美国国家公共电台 NPR A New Leader For Ireland's Sinn Fein, But Will It Be A New Era?

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

It's a new era for Sinn Fein. That's the political party that has fought for a united, independent Ireland. Sinn Fein had close ties to the Irish Republican Army during three decades of violence in Northern Ireland known as the Troubles. Now the party has elected a new leader. Here's NPR's Lauren Frayer.

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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police have now confirmed that the IRA gunman...

LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE¹: For 35 years, Sinn Fein was led by Gerry Adams, who frequently refused to condemn² shootings and bombings by the Irish Republican Army.

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GERRY ADAMS: I will not condemn the IRA. The IRA is quite legitimate³ in its resistance to...

FRAYER: But eventually, Adams rejected armed struggle and helped broker⁴ the Good Friday peace agreement that ended the violence. Sinn Fein's new president, Mary Lou McDonald, says she can never replace such an important figure.

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MARY LOU MCDONALD: The truth is, my friends, I won't fill Gerry's shoes.

(LAUGHTER)

MCDONALD: But the news is that I brought my own.

(CHEERING)

FRAYER: And they are very different shoes. Past Sinn Fein leaders have had working-class roots in British-ruled Northern Ireland. McDonald is from a middle-class family. She went to private school. And most importantly, she's from the South, the Republic of Ireland. And that reflects a change in Sinn Fein's strategy.

PAT LEAHY: The locus⁵ of Sinn Fein's priorities is no longer in Belfast. It's in the south of Ireland. It's in Dublin.

FRAYER: Pat Leahy, political editor of The Irish Times, says Sinn Fein wants to win power on both sides of the U.K.-Irish border in order to eventually unite Northern Ireland with the Republic. Leahy recalls when McDonald was first elected to the European Parliament in 2004.

LEAHY: Nobody had ever heard of her, but she was so different - Southern, young, female, speaking with her kind of distinctive⁶ Dublin middle-class accent that was so, so different to the public face of Sinn Fein.

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FRAYER: Trinity College Dublin, McDonald's alma mater, is filled with the sort of young, educated voters Sinn Fein hopes to attract. But Grace Farrell, a Catholic student from the North who has voted for Sinn Fein, says she worries the party is trying to boost its appeal without really changing its sectarian stance.

GRACE FARRELL: Its catering⁷ to what they think we want. I grew up. I didn't meet one Protestant. I didn't meet one unionist. And if you aren't exposed to these people, then obviously, you're going to have prejudices. And, like, I think that made me and all my friends just disillusioned⁸. A lot of my friends don't vote.

FRAYER: Friends like Susie Crawford, also from the North, but from a Protestant family. She says it'll take more than a female leader to get her to vote for Sinn Fein.

SUSIE CRAWFORD: Whenever you have female leaders, if they're in these super old and, like, bigoted⁹ and awful parties, it doesn't mean they're good people just because they're ladies. And I love ladies. I'm a feminist¹⁰.

FRAYER: McDonald supports center-left policies - equality and social services. She wants to end Ireland's abortion¹¹ ban, and she also supported legalizing same-sex marriage. But many voters think that on the big political issues, McDonald will stick to the Sinn Fein party line. One called her Gerry Adams in a skirt. That's McDonald's biggest challenge, says Grainne Maguire, an Irish social commentator¹².

GRAINNE MAGUIRE: Irish politics is very much tribal¹³, who your grandparents voted for. And I think now, Mary Lou McDonald is part of a newer generation who came of age during the peace process, so she doesn't have any of that baggage.

FRAYER: She represents a new face of Sinn Fein, Maguire says, which wants now to be known for its policies rather than its controversial history.

Lauren Frayer, NPR News, Dublin.

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1 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。

2 condemn   

vt.谴责，指责；宣判(罪犯)，判刑

参考例句：

• Some praise him,whereas others condemn him.有些人赞扬他，而有些人谴责他。
• We mustn't condemn him on mere suppositions.我们不可全凭臆测来指责他。

3 legitimate   

adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法

参考例句：

• Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。
• That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。

4 broker   

n.中间人，经纪人；v.作为中间人来安排

参考例句：

• He baited the broker by promises of higher commissions.他答应给更高的佣金来引诱那位经纪人。
• I'm a real estate broker.我是不动产经纪人。

5 locus   

n.中心

参考例句：

• Barcelona is the locus of Spanish industry.巴塞罗那是西班牙工业中心。
• Thereafter,the military remained the locus of real power.自此之后，军方一直掌握着实权。

6 distinctive   

adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的

参考例句：

• She has a very distinctive way of walking.她走路的样子与别人很不相同。
• This bird has several distinctive features.这个鸟具有几种突出的特征。

7 catering   

n. 给养

参考例句：

• Most of our work now involves catering for weddings. 我们现在的工作多半是承办婚宴。
• Who did the catering for your son's wedding? 你儿子的婚宴是由谁承办的？

8 disillusioned   

a.不再抱幻想的，大失所望的，幻想破灭的

参考例句：

• I soon became disillusioned with the job. 我不久便对这个工作不再抱幻想了。
• Many people who are disillusioned in reality assimilate life to a dream. 许多对现实失望的人把人生比作一场梦。

9 bigoted   

adj.固执己见的，心胸狭窄的

参考例句：

• He is so bigoted that it is impossible to argue with him.他固执得不可理喻。
• I'll concede you are not as bigoted as some.我承认你不象有些人那么顽固。

10 feminist   

adj.主张男女平等的，女权主义的

参考例句：

• She followed the feminist movement.她支持女权运动。
• From then on,feminist studies on literature boomed.从那时起，男女平等受教育的现象开始迅速兴起。

11 abortion   

n.流产，堕胎

参考例句：

• She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
• A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。

12 commentator   

n.注释者，解说者；实况广播评论员

参考例句：

• He is a good commentator because he can get across the game.他能简单地解说这场比赛，是个好的解说者。
• The commentator made a big mistake during the live broadcast.在直播节目中评论员犯了个大错误。

13 tribal   

adj.部族的，种族的

参考例句：

• He became skilled in several tribal lingoes.他精通几种部族的语言。
• The country was torn apart by fierce tribal hostilities.那个国家被部落间的激烈冲突弄得四分五裂。