【英语语言学习】6月4日

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

In 1989, students like Shen Tong were the driving force behind the protests in Tiananmen Square. And now China has more than 30 million students in higher education. But how much do young Chinese know about what happened a quarter-century ago? NPR's Louisa Lim reports.

LOUISA LIM, BYLINE¹: They called themselves The Descendents Of The Dragon after a famous song. In 1989, China's student protesters wanted more democracy and action against corruption². They saw themselves as patriots³, but the government labeled them counterrevolutionary rioters.

Issuing politics remains⁴ off the agenda for students even a quarter-century later. I wanted to find out if today's students even knew about 1989. So I took the most iconic picture of the movement to four Beijing universities. It's the photo of Tank Man - a lone⁵ man blocking a line of tanks approaching Tiananmen Square. Have you seen that picture before?

UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #1: No.

LIM: Never?

UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #1: Is it from South Korea?

LIM: Have you seen this picture before?

UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #2: I'm sorry. I don't know.

UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #3: No.

LIM: Never seen it.

UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #3: It's not in China, right?

LIM: It is in China.

UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #3: It is in China? Where?

LIM: Have you seen this picture before?

UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #4: No.

LIM: Never?

UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #4: I have no memory about it.

LIM: The student's names have been withheld⁶ due to the sensitivity of the subject. Out of 100 students I spoke⁷ to, only 15 could identify the picture. Nineteen got it wrong thinking it was a picture of a military parade. To tell the truth, most of today's students don't care what happened 25 years ago. To them, it's ancient history. They're busy trying to get jobs amid intense competition. Those who admit to knowing are in a minority.

LIM: Have you seen this picture before?

UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #5: Oh my God. Yes.

LIM: I'm surprised how few people know here.

UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #5: Actually, in this school, in this university, many students actually know this that...

LIM: But many don't know. More people don't know than know. Many students have never seen this before.

UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #5: Yeah, because the - yeah, government do not let us know.

LIM: Even in China's vibrant⁸ social media, mentions of the crackdown are quickly censored⁹. Even code words like saying May the 35, instead of June the 4, are deleted. What happened in Tiananmen Square in 1989 isn't taught in schools. But one legacy¹⁰ of the protest is that students are subject to patriotic¹¹ education.

(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)

DENG XIAOPING: (Chinese spoken).

LIM: This was part of the strategy laid out by the Paramount¹² leader, Deng Xiaoping, who blamed the protests on a lack of political education. His words led to what's being called the biggest ideological¹³ campaign in human history. Sui sheng Zhao at the University of Denver has written a book about Chinese nationalism. He says the government needed to reclaim¹⁴ its legitimacy¹⁵ and nationalism was the best - perhaps the only - tool.

SUI SHENG ZHAO: Because that's the only value shared by the government and its critics after Tiananmen Square.

LIM: Today, the squares image has been completely rebuilt. That can be seen every morning at dawn when thousands of Chinese congregate¹⁶ there to celebrate their national identity. They jostle to see 36 goose-stepping guards marching onto the square with the national flag. At least 200 million Chinese have watched the secular¹⁷ ritual. For most, it's a special moment.

UNIDENTIFIED TEACHER: (Chinese spoken).

LIM: At last I've seen the flag raising, a 26-year-old teacher told me. It's been my ambition for many years. I feel very moved. In this way, Tiananmen Square is no longer a site of national shame. Instead, it's one of national pride. According to Sui sheng Zhao, the party's strategy worked.

ZHAO: In fact, nationalism is stronger than communism for the Chinese working class. It's stronger than capitalism¹⁸ for the bankers. It's so powerful in the 21st century.

LIM: In 2012, anti-Japanese protesters sang the national anthem¹⁹ in China's biggest protest since 1989. And nationalism, rather than politics, is the force that drives young Chinese onto the streets today. It's proof of the success of the Communist Party's strategy at wiping clean the past and directing anger outside the country, rather than within. Louisa Lim, NPR News.

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 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 patriots   

爱国者，爱国主义者( patriot的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Abraham Lincoln was a fine type of the American patriots. 亚伯拉罕·林肯是美国爱国者的优秀典型。
• These patriots would fight to death before they surrendered. 这些爱国者宁愿战斗到死，也不愿投降。

4 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

5 lone   

adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的

参考例句：

• A lone sea gull flew across the sky.一只孤独的海鸥在空中飞过。
• She could see a lone figure on the deserted beach.她在空旷的海滩上能看到一个孤独的身影。

6 withheld   

withhold过去式及过去分词

参考例句：

• I withheld payment until they had fulfilled the contract. 他们履行合同后，我才付款。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• There was no school play because the principal withheld his consent. 由于校长没同意，学校里没有举行比赛。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

8 vibrant   

adj.震颤的，响亮的，充满活力的，精力充沛的，(色彩)鲜明的

参考例句：

• He always uses vibrant colours in his paintings. 他在画中总是使用鲜明的色彩。
• She gave a vibrant performance in the leading role in the school play.她在学校表演中生气盎然地扮演了主角。

9 censored   

受审查的，被删剪的

参考例句：

• The news reports had been heavily censored . 这些新闻报道已被大幅删剪。
• The military-backed government has heavily censored the news. 有军方撑腰的政府对新闻进行了严格审查。

10 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

11 patriotic   

adj.爱国的，有爱国心的

参考例句：

• His speech was full of patriotic sentiments.他的演说充满了爱国之情。
• The old man is a patriotic overseas Chinese.这位老人是一位爱国华侨。

12 paramount   

a.最重要的，最高权力的

参考例句：

• My paramount object is to save the Union and destroy slavery.我的最高目标是拯救美国，摧毁奴隶制度。
• Nitrogen is of paramount importance to life on earth.氮对地球上的生命至关重要。

13 ideological   

a.意识形态的

参考例句：

• He always tries to link his study with his ideological problems. 他总是把学习和自己的思想问题联系起来。
• He helped me enormously with advice on how to do ideological work. 他告诉我怎样做思想工作，对我有很大帮助。

14 reclaim   

v.要求归还，收回；开垦

参考例句：

• I have tried to reclaim my money without success.我没能把钱取回来。
• You must present this ticket when you reclaim your luggage.当你要取回行李时，必须出示这张票子。

15 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。

16 congregate   

v.(使)集合，聚集

参考例句：

• Now they can offer a digital place for their readers to congregate and talk.现在他们可以为读者提供一个数字化空间，让读者可以聚集和交谈。
• This is a place where swans congregate.这是个天鹅聚集地。

17 secular   

n.牧师，凡人；adj.世俗的，现世的，不朽的

参考例句：

• We live in an increasingly secular society.我们生活在一个日益非宗教的社会。
• Britain is a plural society in which the secular predominates.英国是个世俗主导的多元社会。

18 capitalism   

n.资本主义

参考例句：

• The essence of his argument is that capitalism cannot succeed.他的论点的核心是资本主义不能成功。
• Capitalism began to develop in Russia in the 19th century.十九世纪资本主义在俄国开始发展。

19 anthem   

n.圣歌，赞美诗，颂歌

参考例句：

• All those present were standing solemnly when the national anthem was played.奏国歌时全场肃立。
• As he stood on the winner's rostrum,he sang the words of the national anthem.他站在冠军领奖台上，唱起了国歌。