2007年VOA标准英语-Protests Erupt Across Pakistan Against Rushdie

By Benjamin Sand
Islamabad
22 June 2007

Hundreds of Pakistanis protested Britain's decision to honor author Salman Rushdie with a knighthood. Rushdie has been accused of insulting Islam in his 1988 novel "The Satanic Verses." From Islamabad, VOA correspondent Benjamin Sand reports protesters burned effigies¹ of Rushdie and Queen Elizabeth and repeated calls for the novelist's murder.

Pakistani protesters rally against the British government for awarding  knighthood to British author Salman Rushdie in Lahore, 21 Jun 2007

In Islamabad hundreds of people chanted "down with Rushdie" and "down with Britain" during a protest Friday

Hundreds more took to the streets in major cities throughout Pakistan demanding Britain withdraw Rushdie's knighthood.

Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman, a pro-Taleban cleric and opposition² political leader, told reporters in the capital that the award was an insult to Muslims around the world.

He says Pakistan will not accept the award and that all Muslims are opposed to Britain and - in his words - "the accursed Salman Rushdie."

Both Pakistan and Iran have condemned³ the knighthood for Rushdie, which comes nearly twenty years after "The Satanic Verses" was originally published.

The book sparked widespread controversy⁴ for passages that allegedly insulted the Prophet Mohammed.

Pakistan's national assembly officially condemned the knighthood on Monday.

Lawmakers passed a second resolution Friday calling on British Prime Minister Tony Blair to apologize "to the Muslim world."

Earlier this week, Pakistan's religious affairs minister, Mohammed Ijaz ul-Haq, said the knighthood could justify⁵ suicide attacks.

On Thursday, a hard-line Pakistani cleric awarded terrorist leader Osama bin⁶ Laden⁷ the religious title and honorific "Saifulla", or Sword of Islam, to protest Britain's decision.

Protests also erupted in Muslim majority communities throughout neighboring India.

Several prominent Iranian clerics have renewed calls for Rushdie's murder.

In 1989, Iran's supreme⁸ religious leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a religious edict ordering Muslims to kill the author over the controversial novel.

At least five people were killed during riots in Islamabad that year, and the book's Japanese translator was stabbed to death in 1991.

 

Rushdie, who was born to Muslim parents in India, was forced into hiding for nearly a decade.

Britain is defending the knighthood, which it says honors Rushdie's outstanding contribution to literature.

1 effigies   

n.（人的）雕像，模拟像，肖像( effigy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• stone effigies in the church 教堂里的石雕像
• On 5 November British children burn effigies of Guy Fawkes. 每逢11月5日英国儿童都焚烧盖伊．福克斯的模拟像。 来自辞典例句

2 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。

3 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

4 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

5 justify   

vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护

参考例句：

• He tried to justify his absence with lame excuses.他想用站不住脚的借口为自己的缺席辩解。
• Can you justify your rude behavior to me?你能向我证明你的粗野行为是有道理的吗？

6 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

7 laden   

adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的

参考例句：

• He is laden with heavy responsibility.他肩负重任。
• Dragging the fully laden boat across the sand dunes was no mean feat.将满载货物的船拖过沙丘是一件了不起的事。

8 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。