2006年VOA标准英语-Video Sheds Little Light on Mystery of Uzbek Ma

By Gary Thomas
Washington
23 June 2006

Videotape has surfaced in the West of the hours leading up to a reported massacre¹ in the town of Andijon in Uzbekistan just over one year ago. Human rights groups have said the Uzbek government indiscriminately killed unarmed demonstrators. The government says it was putting down an armed uprising. The tape does little to clear up the mystery.

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The 109-minute videotape is a small but fascinating window into the controversial Andijon incident, with seemingly contradictory² images. But the key question about the Uzbek government's final response to the events last year in Andijon is not resolved because the tape ends before those final moments when hundreds of people were killed.

The tape was first obtained by Martha Brill Olcott, a researcher and Central Asia specialist at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. She says the tape is a valuable but incomplete record of what happened in Andijon.

"It's a snapshot of what occurred then. It's as if you come back from a trip and have 350 pictures from a two-week vacation. You capture a lot of it, but a lot of it's not there," she said.

On May 13, 2005, armed men broke into a local prison to free 23 businessmen who had been accused of belonging to a banned Islamic militant³ group. By many accounts, the square then filled with thousands of people seeking to voice their dissatisfaction with the hardline government of President Islam Karimov. The government says it put down an armed insurrection by Islamic militants⁴. Critics say troops opened fire on peaceful demonstrators. The incident soured relations between Uzbekistan and the West.

The tape was made by two cameramen who were in the square that day. The version obtained by Martha Olcott is heavily edited as it was used by the government to prosecute⁵ participants in the uprising. But even allowing for the government editing and selective translation, it shows starkly⁶ contrasting pictures.

It contains images of people linking arms and making speeches, some of them rambling⁷, in what appears to be a peaceful protest. Interspersed⁸ with speeches, crowds shout Allahu Akbar, or God Is Great.

But it also shows men strolling around with guns and making the gasoline bottle bombs popularly known as Molotov cocktails⁹. A bus and the town opera house are set ablaze¹⁰. At several points, gunfire can be heard nearby.

Olcott says that the Karimov government clearly faced some kind of threat that day.

 "What the film tells me is that the Uzbek government was under a serious threat. It had a situation it had to deal with. This, to me, is not a peaceful demonstration¹¹. It was a majority of unarmed people, but this was a threat to the security of the state. You can't have people making Molotov cocktails in a park," she said.

Olcott and other analysts¹² believe many innocent people came to the square out of curiosity, where they were caught up in a growing demonstration that was separate from the militants' actions. They were then caught when government moved in to clear the town square.

But Olcott says the key question about whether the government indiscriminately fired on peaceful demonstrators, as critics claim, is not answered by the tape.

"It is clear that the government response was incompetent¹³. Many more people were killed than a competent government would have killed to break up that crowd. Whether it was malicious¹⁴, we have no way to know that. Whether this was incompetent or simply deliberately¹⁵ designed to mow¹⁶ down a couple hundred people, this film tells us nothing about that," she said.

The Karimov government has continued to reject calls for an independent international inquiry into the events at Andijon

1 massacre   

n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀

参考例句：

• There was a terrible massacre of villagers here during the war.在战争中，这里的村民惨遭屠杀。
• If we forget the massacre,the massacre will happen again!忘记了大屠杀，大屠杀就有可能再次发生！

2 contradictory   

adj.反驳的，反对的，抗辩的；n.正反对，矛盾对立

参考例句：

• The argument is internally contradictory.论据本身自相矛盾。
• What he said was self-contradictory.他讲话前后不符。

3 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

4 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

5 prosecute   

vt.告发；进行；vi.告发，起诉，作检察官

参考例句：

• I am trying my best to prosecute my duties.我正在尽力履行我的职责。
• Is there enough evidence to prosecute?有没有起诉的足够证据？

6 starkly   

adj. 变硬了的,完全的 adv. 完全,实在,简直

参考例句：

• The city of Befast remains starkly divided between Catholics and Protestants. 贝尔法斯特市完全被处在天主教徒和新教徒的纷争之中。
• The black rocks stood out starkly against the sky. 那些黑色的岩石在天空衬托下十分显眼。

7 rambling   

adj.[建]凌乱的，杂乱的

参考例句：

• We spent the summer rambling in Ireland. 我们花了一个夏天漫游爱尔兰。
• It was easy to get lost in the rambling house. 在布局凌乱的大房子里容易迷路。

8 interspersed   

adj.[医]散开的；点缀的v.intersperse的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The grass was interspersed with beds of flowers. 草地上点缀着许多花坛。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

9 cocktails   

n.鸡尾酒( cocktail的名词复数 )；餐前开胃菜；混合物

参考例句：

• Come about 4 o'clock. We'll have cocktails and grill steaks. 请四点钟左右来，我们喝鸡尾酒，吃烤牛排。 来自辞典例句
• Cocktails were a nasty American habit. 喝鸡尾酒是讨厌的美国习惯。 来自辞典例句

10 ablaze   

adj.着火的，燃烧的；闪耀的，灯火辉煌的

参考例句：

• The main street was ablaze with lights in the evening.晚上，那条主要街道灯火辉煌。
• Forests are sometimes set ablaze by lightning.森林有时因雷击而起火。

11 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。

12 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

13 incompetent   

adj.无能力的，不能胜任的

参考例句：

• He is utterly incompetent at his job.他完全不能胜任他的工作。
• He is incompetent at working with his hands.他动手能力不行。

14 malicious   

adj.有恶意的，心怀恶意的

参考例句：

• You ought to kick back at such malicious slander. 你应当反击这种恶毒的污蔑。
• Their talk was slightly malicious.他们的谈话有点儿心怀不轨。

15 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

16 mow   

v.割（草、麦等），扫射，皱眉；n.草堆，谷物堆

参考例句：

• He hired a man to mow the lawn.他雇人割草。
• We shall have to mow down the tall grass in the big field.我们得把大田里的高草割掉。