2006年VOA标准英语-Egyptian Police Stop Attempted Demonstrati

By Challiss McDonough
Cairo
01 June 2006

Police in the Egyptian capital have arrested at least three people who were trying to get to a small symbolic¹ demonstration² outside a police station where an activist³ said he was tortured last week. Most of the other protesters were blocked from entering the neighborhood.

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With only nine demonstrators there, it was barely a protest. There was no chanting, and nobody carried any signs. Most of the people who planned to take part never made it.

A police officer radioed his superiors to report that things were calm, and foreign journalists vastly outnumbered the protesters. Behind him, burly plainclothes security agents stood shoulder-to-shoulder, blocking the street.

A few blocks away, in the shadow of the luxurious⁴ Four Seasons hotel on the banks of the Nile, another group of those plainclothes agents threw a dragnet around the neighborhood. They stopped would-be demonstrators from getting through, and chased away journalists who tried to stand and watch.

Only a handful of protesters got through. At least three were arrested.

"Five people is too big," shouted Ahdaf Soueif. "They don't want us to be here!"

Prominent novelist Ahdaf Soueif was one of the few who made it. She was there with her sister, Leila, whose son, a well-known activist, has been in jail for nearly a month.

They and a tiny band of demonstrators were protesting the police treatment of an opposition⁵ activist who says he was tortured and sexually abused at the police station after he was arrested last week for taking part in another protest.

Ahdaf Soueif says it was a message to the opposition.

"I think that basically the government is escalating⁶ everything," she said. "They really just don't want any of this opposition. They just don't want any opposition to be clear and available. And so they're escalating it to frighten people off the street and off any oppositional⁷ stance."

Soueif says the protest outside the police station was never designed to be large, it was more of a symbolic gesture on the part of Egypt's human rights groups. The demonstrators included veteran human rights activist Saad Eddin Ibrahim, who was himself jailed repeatedly several years ago.

"Well, as you can see, people are still determined⁸ to get here," he said. "They are still determined to speak out. Even if one managed to do so, it is a message to the regime that there will be always Egyptians who will defy, and who will resist."

Ibrahim is in his 60s and has health problems. He rarely comes to protests. But this time, the younger activists⁹ who normally lead the demonstrations¹⁰ had been told to stay home out of concern they would be arrested.

Hundreds of opposition activists have been arrested over the last two months for attending peaceful demonstrations. The man who says he was tortured by police last week, Mohamed El-Sharqawi, had been released from prison only a few days earlier. His lawyers, who saw him hours after he was re-arrested, say he was so badly beaten that he was almost unrecognizable. They say he received no medical treatment until four days later.

The interior ministry¹¹ has denied the allegations of torture, and the prime minister has been quoted as saying "the protesters are the thugs."

1 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。

2 demonstration   

n.表明，示范，论证，示威

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。

3 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

4 luxurious   

adj.精美而昂贵的；豪华的

参考例句：

• This is a luxurious car complete with air conditioning and telephone.这是一辆附有空调设备和电话的豪华轿车。
• The rich man lives in luxurious surroundings.这位富人生活在奢侈的环境中。

5 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。

6 escalating   

v.（使）逐步升级( escalate的现在分词 )；（使）逐步扩大；（使）更高；（使）更大

参考例句：

• The cost of living is escalating. 生活费用在迅速上涨。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The cost of living is escalating in the country. 这个国家的生活费用在上涨。 来自辞典例句

7 oppositional   

反对的，对抗的

参考例句：

• I wish to forcefully grasp fragile and entirely oppositional poles, allowing them to coexist. 我想要强押起脆弱的、完全相斥的两端，让他们共存。
• Robot Soccer game is an international and high-tech oppositional activity that develops rapidly in recent years. 机器人足球比赛是近年来在国际上迅速开展起来的高技术对抗活动。

8 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

9 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

11 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。