VOA常速英语2008年-Reports Say Britain Considering Banning Zimbabw

By Tendai Maphosa
London
04 March 2008

The British government may be considering barring Zimbabwean athletes from competing in the United Kingdom. As Tendai Maphosa reports from London, the government may be looking at this as a step to prevent Zimbabwe's cricket team from touring England next year.

The proposed ban was announced on a BBC TV sports program which said this is one of the options the British government is considering to make sure a tour by Zimbabwe's cricket team slated¹ for next year does not happen. 

The program quoted sources in British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's office as saying the prime minister is determined² to take a tough stance against Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe.

But, Prime Minister Gordon Brown's spokesman told the French News Agency AFP Tuesday that the British government has no plans for a blanket ban on sportsmen from Zimbabwe.

A spokesperson for the British government's Department for Culture, Media and Sport told VOA, on condition of anonymity³, that a blanket ban is unlikely. The department released a statement saying no decision has been taken and the matter is under review. The spokesman added that while there are no sporting sanctions on Zimbabwe, sports should not be allowed to become a propaganda tool.

Any ban would meet strong opposition⁴ from the International Cricket Council (ICC), which governs international cricket.  If the tour were banned, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) would, under ICC rules, have to pay an estimated $550,000 in compensation.  When VOA contacted the ICC, the organization said it would not comment on the issue.

Kate Hoey, the chairperson of the all party group on Zimbabwe in Britiain's parliament tells VOA that while she does not support a blanket ban on athletes, she favors a ban on the cricket team.

"I don't think you can play cricket against a country where cricket itself is quite dysfunctional, where the cricketing authorities are actually working, in my view, to support the ZANU-PF regime," she said.  "I think cricket in Zimbabwe has become so politicized that it's quite right that we as a government, we don't want to play cricket against you."

Her comments were echoed by fellow legislator Don Foster, the opposition Liberal Democrat⁵ party's spokesman on Culture, Media and Sport.  He told British television that a blanket ban is too severe.

"I think what we got to do is to recognize we already have bans on place for senior members of that appalling⁶, brutal⁷ regime run by Robert Mugabe," he said.  "I think it will be unfair to imply that some of our sportsmen and women were in the same category. We ought to be looking at individual links of those people with the regime and in particular the cricket team."

The Zimbabwe government has said a ban would be, in its words, "racist⁸."

Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga told Reuters news agency that it is up to the British government to decide who comes in and out of Britain.  But, he added the British would not be thinking about stopping the tour if the team was all white. The Zimbabwean cricket team is predominantly black.

1 slated   

用石板瓦盖( slate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Yuki is working up an in-home phonics program slated for Thursdays, and I'm drilling her on English conversation at dinnertime. Yuki每周四还有一次家庭语音课。我在晚餐时训练她的英语口语。
• Bromfield was slated to become U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. 布罗姆菲尔德被提名为美国农业部长。

2 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。

3 anonymity   

n.the condition of being anonymous

参考例句：

• Names of people in the book were changed to preserve anonymity. 为了姓名保密，书中的人用的都是化名。
• Our company promises to preserve the anonymity of all its clients. 我们公司承诺不公开客户的姓名。

4 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。

5 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

6 appalling   

adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的

参考例句：

• The search was hampered by appalling weather conditions.恶劣的天气妨碍了搜寻工作。
• Nothing can extenuate such appalling behaviour.这种骇人听闻的行径罪无可恕。

7 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

8 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。