2007年VOA标准英语-Pakistan's President Under Pressure to Act Agai

By Benjamin Sand
Islamabad
23 May 2007

Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf is under increasing pressure to crack down on a radical¹ Islamist mosque² in the country's capital, whose students have abducted³ at least seven police officers since Friday. From Islamabad, VOA correspondent Benjamin Sand reports.

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A Pakistani policeman stands inside the Jamia Hifza seminary during negotiations between police and the Red Mosque administration in Islamabad, 19 May 2007

Five of the seven officers kidnapped by students at Islamabad's Lal Masjid Mosque have been released, two remain captive, and a standoff outside the mosque is in its fifth day.

The students who seized the policemen Friday insist the only way out is for the government to release 11 of their colleagues, who they say were arrested in the past few weeks.

The police have threatened to raid the mosque twice in recent days, both times shutting down main roads into the city and deploying⁵ hundreds of armed security forces onto streets around the mosque.

But action has been delayed while negotiations between the government and the mosque's pro-Taleban clerics drag on.

Opposition⁶ leaders are accusing the government of appeasing⁷ radical forces, and reneging on promises to take a tough stand against religious extremists. Privately⁸, officers at the scene insist their patience is running out.

Speaking to reporters late Tuesday, Interior Ministry⁹ spokesman Brigadier Javed Iqbal Cheema said the government has been using "maximum restraint" in the matter.

"The government wants to resolve the issue amicably¹⁰, through dialogue, but let me make one thing very clear: there shall be no trade-off," he said.

Lal Masjid has repeatedly challenged the authority of President Pervez Musharraf's government's in recent months, and up to now has done so with relative impunity¹¹.

The mosque's clerics have vowed¹² to impose a Taleban-style law in the capital, and have threatened massive suicide bomb attacks if the government interferes¹³.

Hundreds of students from the mosque's religious school have occupied a nearby children's library since January. Hundreds more swept through one of Islamabad's main market areas last month, warning shop owners against selling music or movies. They later kidnapped several women they accused of running a brothel.

Each time, the government has threatened reprisals¹⁴, but has ultimately backed down in favor of a negotiated settlement.

In an interview late Tuesday, President Musharraf defended his decision to pursue negotiations with Lal Masjid's leaders.

He said the mosque's supporters were well armed, and any government action could result in significant bloodshed - an outcome he said his political opponents would almost certainly try to exploit.

Political analyst¹⁵ and former general Talat Masood says the situation is bad news for President Musharraf, who has sold himself - both at home and abroad - as an essential bulwark¹⁶ against Islamic militants¹⁷.

"It looks as though the government has become impotent [and] incapable¹⁸ of handling issues like these, where these extremists are gaining ascendancy," he said.

Masood notes that President Musharraf is already on the defensive¹⁹, after suspending the country's top judge on March 9, on what the president's critics charge were politically motivated grounds.

1 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

2 mosque   

n.清真寺

参考例句：

• The mosque is a activity site and culture center of Muslim religion.清真寺为穆斯林宗教活动场所和文化中心。
• Some years ago the clock in the tower of the mosque got out of order.几年前，清真寺钟楼里的大钟失灵了。

3 abducted   

劫持，诱拐( abduct的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（肢体等）外展

参考例句：

• Detectives have not ruled out the possibility that she was abducted. 侦探尚未排除她被绑架的可能性。
• The kid was abducted at the gate of kindergarten. 那小孩在幼儿园大门口被绑架走了。

4 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

5 deploying   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
• Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。

6 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。

7 appeasing   

安抚，抚慰( appease的现在分词 )； 绥靖（满足另一国的要求以避免战争）

参考例句：

• Mr. Chamberlain had cherished the hope of appeasing and reforming him and leading him to grace. 张伯伦先生则满心想安抚他，感化他，教他温文知礼。
• A pleasing preacher is too often an appeasing preacher. 一昧讨好的传道人通常是姑息妥协的传道人。

8 privately   

adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地

参考例句：

• Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
• The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。

9 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。

10 amicably   

adv.友善地

参考例句：

• Steering according to the wind, he also framed his words more amicably. 他真会看风使舵，口吻也马上变得温和了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The couple parted amicably. 这对夫妻客气地分手了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 impunity   

n.(惩罚、损失、伤害等的)免除

参考例句：

• You will not escape with impunity.你不可能逃脱惩罚。
• The impunity what compulsory insurance sets does not include escapement.交强险规定的免责范围不包括逃逸。

12 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。

13 interferes   

vi. 妨碍，冲突，干涉

参考例句：

• The noise interferes with my work. 这噪音妨碍我的工作。
• That interferes with my plan. 那干扰了我的计划。

14 reprisals   

n.报复（行为）( reprisal的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They did not want to give evidence for fear of reprisals. 他们因为害怕报复而不想作证。
• They took bloody reprisals against the leaders. 他们对领导进行了血腥的报复。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

16 bulwark   

n.堡垒，保障，防御

参考例句：

• That country is a bulwark of freedom.那个国家是自由的堡垒。
• Law and morality are the bulwark of society.法律和道德是社会的防御工具。

17 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。

18 incapable   

adj.无能力的，不能做某事的

参考例句：

• He would be incapable of committing such a cruel deed.他不会做出这么残忍的事。
• Computers are incapable of creative thought.计算机不会创造性地思维。

19 defensive   

adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的

参考例句：

• Their questions about the money put her on the defensive.他们问到钱的问题，使她警觉起来。
• The Government hastily organized defensive measures against the raids.政府急忙布置了防卫措施抵御空袭。