VOA常速英语2007年-Pakistan's Bhutto Detained, Calls for Musharraf

By Barry Newhouse
Islamabad
13 November 2007

Pakistan's former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has been placed under house arrest ahead of a planned protest march against the emergency law imposed by President Pervez Musharraf. Ms. Bhutto has also sought to form an alliance with former Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif. VOA's Barry Newhouse reports from Islamabad that Ms. Bhutto today repeatedly called on General Musharraf to resign as president and army chief.

Ms. Bhutto has given mixed signals about whether she would work with President Musharraf since he imposed emergency rule on November 3. But after being placed under house arrest Tuesday in Lahore, Ms. Bhutto gave the clearest denunciation yet of her political rival.

In a phone interview with Sky news, Ms. Bhutto said General Musharraf's autocratic rule had undermined the war against militants¹ who are destabilizing Pakistan and Afghanistan.

"And that's why we say Musharraf must leave. The time for dictatorship is over," she said. "It was tried and it failed to contain militancy²."

In interviews with other news agencies, she said she would not serve as prime minister under President Musharraf.

The president has said the government plans to hold elections on schedule in January, but he has also insisted that military-enforced emergency laws that suspend basic rights will not undermine those polls.

Opposition³ parties have rejected the claim and said they will boycott⁴ the elections if emergency rule is not lifted. Ms. Bhutto Tuesday suggested her party might join them.

President Bush has said the emergency order must be lifted to ensure free elections.

General Musharraf has defended the thousands of arrests of protesting lawyers and rights activists⁵ under the emergency laws as necessary to preserve law and order.

In Lahore on Tuesday, hundreds of security forces used barbed wire, steel barricades⁷ and dump trucks loaded with sand to hold back people trying to reach Ms. Bhutto.

Senior PPP leader Farzana Raja spoke⁸ to VOA by telephone from outside the Lahore residence where Ms. Bhutto is staying.

"Right now I am standing⁹ at the barricade⁶. Police have stopped me; they are not allowing me to go inside," said Raja. "They are saying that we don't have instructions from the government, we can't go to Benazir Bhutto and we can't meet her. And now they are getting very aggressive."

 

Raja and other leaders of the Pakistan People's Party have insisted a three-day protest march to Islamabad will continue.

Other opposition parties have said they will not join the march. It is unclear if those people who choose to demonstrate will be able to overcome the thousands of security forces deployed¹⁰ to prevent such rallies.

So far, President Musharraf has been able to prevent large-scale rallies against him and appears determined¹¹ to stop the protest movement from gaining momentum¹².

1 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。

2 militancy   

n.warlike behavior or tendency

参考例句：

• Full of militancy and revolutionary ardour, the people of all nationalities in the country are working hard for the realization of the four modernizations. 全国各族人民意气风发， 斗志昂扬，为实现四个现代化而奋战。
• The seniority system is another factor that leads to union militancy. 排资论辈制度也是导致工会好斗争的另一因素。

3 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。

4 boycott   

n./v.(联合)抵制，拒绝参与

参考例句：

• We put the production under a boycott.我们联合抵制该商品。
• The boycott lasts a year until the Victoria board permitsreturn.这个抗争持续了一年直到维多利亚教育局妥协为止。

5 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》

6 barricade   

n.路障，栅栏，障碍；vt.设路障挡住

参考例句：

• The soldiers make a barricade across the road.士兵在路上设路障。
• It is difficult to break through a steel barricade.冲破钢铁障碍很难。

7 barricades   

路障，障碍物( barricade的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The police stormed the barricades the demonstrators had put up. 警察冲破了示威者筑起的街垒。
• Others died young, in prison or on the barricades. 另一些人年轻时就死在监牢里或街垒旁。

8 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。

9 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

10 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

11 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。

12 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。