2007年VOA标准英语-Ethiopia Celebrates Start of New Millennium

By Peter Heinlein
Addis Ababa
11 September 2007

Ethiopia is preparing to welcome the start of its 21st century at midnight with a national celebration. VOA's Peter Heinlein in the Ethiopian capital reports that a country that has known suffering and strife¹ is taking a time out for a moment of national pride.

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Man wears novelty sunglasses as he prepares for Coptic millennium celebrations in Addis Ababa, 11 Sep 2007

 The party has started, and it promises to go on for days. Crowds of people have flooded the streets of Addis Ababa, greeting each other. This is the dawn of a new millennium in Ethiopia, and it is something special.

Ethiopia is feeling especially proud because it is unique. Ethiopians follow the Julian calendar, which is more than seven years behind the Gregorian calendar, which is observed in most of the Christian³ world. But there is also a feeling of hope, of a new beginning after centuries of hardship, famine, war and disease.

So far it has been a mixed success.

Ethiopians are hoping the celebrations might help to change the country's image as a poverty-stricken nation with an increasingly authoritarian⁴ government, poor human-rights record. Ethiopia also has thousands of troops stationed across the border in Somalia and tense relations with its northern neighbor Eritrea.

Moreover, several events planned to mark the new millennium have been canceled, either because of political disputes or security fears. A 10-kilometer Millennium Run, for which 35,000 people signed up, was scrapped⁵ - as was a big food festival.

On top of that, sharp increases in staple⁶ food prices in recent days have put a damper on the people's mood. And the expected flood of Ethiopian expatriates back to their homeland for the occasion has failed to materialize. Hotel and airline bookings are far below expectations.

Still, people on the streets are beaming. Ethiopian-born American citizen Bethlehem Hailu Dejene, 24, visits her native country each year as part of her doctoral studies in anthropology⁷ at Northwestern University in Chicago. She says this millennium celebration means more than the one she witnessed nearly eight years ago as a teenager in the United States.

"The Gregorian millennium was the thunder of the celebration was stolen because of all that Y 2 K business. We were anxiously waiting for planes to fall out of the sky, and all sorts of malfunctions⁸ to manifest themselves," she said. "But this one, people are proud. This is the one particular calendar, so it is our millennium. No one is sharing it with us. And secondly⁹, people have started to see it as sort of an African millennium."

The biggest Millennium celebration is at a concert hall built especially for the occasion by a private donor¹⁰. Those attending the elaborate bash include the heads of state of all Ethiopia's neighboring countries except Eritrea. The headline event is a concert by the American music group The Black Eyed Peas.

The cost of a ticket to that affair is more than $150, nearly twice the average salary in Ethiopia. So to make it accessible to the average person, the event is being broadcast nationwide. Sports Ministry¹¹ official Eshetu Gossaye says big screen televisions have been set up in big stadiums and main squares all over the country.

"Almost in 10 cities in the country, we have a very big screen in the public gathering¹² areas, so the public can gather and different big cities to celebrate this night together," said Gossaye.

Gossaye says the main stadium in Addis can hold more than 30,000 people for the evening.

Many people are just out in the streets, or at quiet celebrations with friends.  Addis resident Getachew Morka, 27, says it is a time for people to put aside political and economic differences, and to celebrate being Ethiopian.

"Everybody is involved in this millennium, because the rich man is rich but the poor people just get happiness because of 2000 on the Ethiopian calendar. So its different from the other country," said Morka. "My calendar is different, my spiritual, so many things are different from other countries. So everybody's happy."

So the party has begun, despite forecasts of rain. It is just another issue Ethiopians live with this time of year. Many government offices are planning to be closed for several days, as Ethiopia marks the arrival of its own 21st century.

1 strife   

n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争

参考例句：

• We do not intend to be drawn into the internal strife.我们不想卷入内乱之中。
• Money is a major cause of strife in many marriages.金钱是造成很多婚姻不和的一个主要原因。

2 millennium   

n.一千年，千禧年；太平盛世

参考例句：

• The whole world was counting down to the new millennium.全世界都在倒计时迎接新千年的到来。
• We waited as the clock ticked away the last few seconds of the old millennium.我们静候着时钟滴答走过千年的最后几秒钟。

3 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

4 authoritarian   

n./adj.专制(的)，专制主义者，独裁主义者

参考例句：

• Foreign diplomats suspect him of authoritarian tendencies.各国外交官怀疑他有着独裁主义倾向。
• The authoritarian policy wasn't proved to be a success.独裁主义的政策证明并不成功。

5 scrapped   

废弃(scrap的过去式与过去分词)； 打架

参考例句：

• This machine is so old that it will soon have to be scrapped. 这架机器太旧，快报废了。
• It had been thought that passport controls would be scrapped. 人们曾认为会放开护照管制。

6 staple   

n.主要产物，常用品，主要要素，原料，订书钉，钩环；adj.主要的，重要的；vt.分类

参考例句：

• Tea is the staple crop here.本地产品以茶叶为大宗。
• Potatoes are the staple of their diet.土豆是他们的主要食品。

7 anthropology   

n.人类学

参考例句：

• I believe he has started reading up anthropology.我相信他已开始深入研究人类学。
• Social anthropology is centrally concerned with the diversity of culture.社会人类学主要关于文化多样性。

8 malfunctions   

n.故障，功能障碍（malfunction的复数形式）vi.失灵（malfunction的第三人称单数形式）

参考例句：

• The mood of defeat was as pervasive as the odor of malfunctions and decay. 失败的情绪就象损坏腐烂的臭味一样弥漫全艇。 来自辞典例句
• Possibility of engine malfunctions due to moisture, are lessened. 发动机故障的可能性，由于水分，也将减少。 来自互联网

9 secondly   

adv.第二，其次

参考例句：

• Secondly,use your own head and present your point of view.第二，动脑筋提出自己的见解。
• Secondly it is necessary to define the applied load.其次，需要确定所作用的载荷。

10 donor   

n.捐献者；赠送人；(组织、器官等的)供体

参考例句：

• In these cases,the recipient usually takes care of the donor afterwards.在这类情况下，接受捐献者以后通常会照顾捐赠者。
• The Doctor transplanted the donor's heart to Mike's chest cavity.医生将捐赠者的心脏移植进麦克的胸腔。

11 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。

12 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。