VOA新闻杂志2022--苏联最后一任领导人戈尔巴乔夫去世,终年91岁

The Last Soviet¹ Leader, Mikhai Gorbachev, Dies at 91

The last Soviet President, Mikhail Gorbachev, died Tuesday at the age of 91.

Russian news agencies reported the news based on information from Moscow's Central Clinic Hospital. Gorbachev's office had earlier said that he was undergoing treatment at the hospital.

Gorbachev became the leader of the Union of Soviet Socialist² Republics, or USSR, in March 1985. He was in power for just over six years. But Gorbachev brought changes that ended the nuclear confrontation³ of the Cold War with the United States and remade the map of Europe.

As general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party, he had set out to reform the system by introducing limited political and economic freedoms. But his reforms went out of control.

His policy of "glasnost," or free speech, led to criticism of the party and the state. It also led to national movements in the Baltic republics of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and other places.

Gorbachev and then-U.S. President Ronald Reagan signed a historic agreement in 1987 to reduce the number of nuclear weapons the two countries kept. He informed the world of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in what is now Ukraine. And he ordered the release of dissident Andrei Sakharov, a critic of the Soviet system.

In 1989, Gorbachev chose not to use force to put down pro-democracy protests in Eastern European nations. Earlier Soviet leaders had sent tanks to crush uprisings in Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968.

In his last months in office, one Soviet republic after another declared independence. Gorbachev resigned on December 25, 1991. The Soviet Union ceased to exist a day later.

Gorbachev told The Associated Press that he did not try to hold the Soviet Union together because he feared chaos⁴ in a nuclear country. "The country was loaded to the brim with weapons. And it would have immediately pushed the country into a civil war," he said.

He told the AP in 1992 after leaving office: "I see myself as a man who started the reforms that were necessary for the country and for Europe and the world."

"I am often asked, would I have started it all again if I had to repeat it? Yes, indeed," he said.

Gorbachev won the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize for his role in ending the Cold War. He spent his later years receiving honors and awards around the world. But he was widely disliked at home.

Russians blamed him for turning the Soviet Union, once a fearsome superpower along with the United States, into 15 smaller nations. And his critics blamed him for the country's troubles.

After visiting Gorbachev in the hospital on June 30, liberal economist⁵ Ruslan Grinberg told the armed forces news outlet⁶ Zvezda: "He gave us all freedom - but we don't know what to do with it."

The official state news agency Tass reported that Gorbachev will be buried at Moscow's Novodevichy cemetery⁷ next to his wife, Raisa.

Words in This Story

confrontation –n. a situation in which two sides oppose each other intensely

chaos –n. complete confusion and disorder⁸

brim –n. the top edge of a container or hat

1 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

2 socialist   

n.社会主义者；adj.社会主义的

参考例句：

• China is a socialist country,and a developing country as well.中国是一个社会主义国家，也是一个发展中国家。
• His father was an ardent socialist.他父亲是一个热情的社会主义者。

3 confrontation   

n.对抗，对峙，冲突

参考例句：

• We can't risk another confrontation with the union.我们不能冒再次同工会对抗的危险。
• After years of confrontation,they finally have achieved a modus vivendi.在对抗很长时间后，他们最后达成安宁生存的非正式协议。

4 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

5 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

6 outlet   

n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄

参考例句：

• The outlet of a water pipe was blocked.水管的出水口堵住了。
• Running is a good outlet for his energy.跑步是他发泄过剩精力的好方法。

7 cemetery   

n.坟墓，墓地，坟场

参考例句：

• He was buried in the cemetery.他被葬在公墓。
• His remains were interred in the cemetery.他的遗体葬在墓地。

8 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。