2007年VOA标准英语-Uganda Tells India African Nation Still Safe fo

By Steve Herman
New Delhi
04 May 2007

Uganda has sent a presidential delegation¹ to India to re-assure the government, the Indian people and investors² that the African nation is safe after a recent outbreak of violence in which an Indian national was stoned to death. As VOA's Steve Herman reports from New Delhi, the riot brought back memories of the expulsion from Uganda of ethnic³ South Asians decades ago.

There are only about 17,000 South Asians, mostly ethnic Indians from Gujarat, living in Uganda, a country of 30 million people. But their economic influence is disproportionate to their numbers. They dominate some industries as diverse as tourism and sugar.

disperse4 a crowd protesting against government plans to allocate5 forest land to a sugar company in Kampala, 12 Apr 2007" hspace="2" src="/upimg/allimg/070604/1047570.jpg" width="210" vspace="2" border="0" />

Ugandan riot police arrest a protestor as they disperse a crowd protesting against government plans to allocate forest land to a sugar company in Kampala, 12 Apr 2007

When an Indian national was killed on the streets of Kampala on April 11 during a demonstration⁶, some feared the country was heading for a repeat of the early 1970s when dictator Idi Amin called Asians "bloodsuckers" and expelled those with British passports from the country.

In an attempt to assure India that is not the case, Uganda's president, Yoweri Museveni, has dispatched a delegation of politicians here with a message that the recent death was an isolated⁷ incident and to deliver $32,000 to the family of the slain⁸ salesman.

Ruhakana Rugunda

The delegation is being led by Internal Affairs Minister Ruhakana Rugunda. He told reporters Friday in New Delhi that media accounts portraying⁹ lingering resentment¹⁰ among Ugandans against Asians were overblown.

"You have extremists. This is characteristic of any normal society in the world," he said. "It's characteristic of the Indian society and the Ugandan society. But for practical purposes the issue of race is not an issue in Uganda now."

The Indians began returning to Uganda, at the invitation of the Ugandan government, in the 1980s. Indians had first arrived in the country as indentured¹¹ laborers¹² during the colonial era when both Uganda and India were under British rule.

The mid-April violence stemmed from a protest against a plan by a sugar company, part of the Indian-owned Mehta group, to acquire land for expansion in a forest reserve. The application is pending¹³ before Uganda's cabinet.

Several high-profile Ugandans of Indian descent are part of the delegation visiting India. Ugandan member of parliament Sanjay Tanna says Indians and others who want to invest in Uganada have nothing to fear.

"Uganda has buried its past," he said. "The wounds of what happened in 1972 are healing and we are progressing at a tremendous rate."

Uganda's government sees attracting further foreign investment as critical for the growth of the economy, which is rich in natural resources but still heavily dependent on rain-fed agriculture. The country's economic growth stalled at five percent last year, below its seven percent target.

Uganda has been putting a particular emphasis on attracting investment from India because of the long-standing emigrant¹⁴ ties and from China, which is rapidly expanding investment in Africa.

1 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。

2 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

3 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

4 disperse   

vi.使分散；使消失；vt.分散；驱散

参考例句：

• The cattle were swinging their tails to disperse the flies.那些牛甩动着尾巴驱赶苍蝇。
• The children disperse for the holidays.孩子们放假了。

5 allocate   

vt.分配，分派；把…拨给；把…划归

参考例句：

• You must allocate the money carefully.你们必须谨慎地分配钱。
• They will allocate fund for housing.他们将拨出经费建房。

6 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。

7 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

8 slain   

杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词)

参考例句：

• The soldiers slain in the battle were burried that night. 在那天夜晚埋葬了在战斗中牺牲了的战士。
• His boy was dead, slain by the hand of the false Amulius. 他的儿子被奸诈的阿缪利乌斯杀死了。

9 portraying   

v.画像( portray的现在分词 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• The artist has succeeded in portraying my father to the life. 那位画家把我的父亲画得惟妙惟肖。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Ding Ling was good at portraying figures through careful and refined description of human psychology. 《莎菲女士的日记》是丁玲的成名作，曾引起强烈的社会反响。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

10 resentment   

n.怨愤，忿恨

参考例句：

• All her feelings of resentment just came pouring out.她一股脑儿倾吐出所有的怨恨。
• She cherished a deep resentment under the rose towards her employer.她暗中对她的雇主怀恨在心。

11 indentured   

v.以契约束缚（学徒）( indenture的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The Africans became indentured servants, trading labor for shelter and eventual freedom. 非洲人成为契约上的仆人，以劳力交换庇护及最终的自由。 来自互联网
• They are descendants of indentured importees. 他们是契约外来工的后代。 来自互联网

12 laborers   

n.体力劳动者，工人( laborer的名词复数 )；（熟练工人的）辅助工

参考例句：

• Laborers were trained to handle 50-ton compactors and giant cranes. 工人们接受操作五十吨压土机和巨型起重机的训练。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Wage-labour rests exclusively on competition between the laborers. 雇佣劳动完全是建立在工人的自相竞争之上的。 来自英汉非文学 - 共产党宣言

13 pending   

prep.直到，等待…期间；adj.待定的；迫近的

参考例句：

• The lawsuit is still pending in the state court.这案子仍在州法庭等待定夺。
• He knew my examination was pending.他知道我就要考试了。

14 emigrant   

adj.移居的，移民的；n.移居外国的人，移民

参考例句：

• He is a British emigrant to Australia.他是个移居澳大利亚的英国人。
• I always think area like this is unsuited for human beings,but it is also unpractical to emigrant in a large scale.我一直觉得，像这样的地方是不适宜人类居住的，可大规模的移民又是不现实的。