VOA常速英语2008年-Opposition Strike Falters in Zimbabwe

By Delia Robertson
Johannesburg
15 April 2008

A call by Zimbabwe's opposition¹ Movement for Democratic Change for a national strike was largely ignored by Zimbabweans, most of whom reported for work Tuesday. And, as VOA's Delia Robertson reports from our southern Africa bureau in Johannesburg, South Africa's ruling African National Congress says it will seek meetings with both ruling and opposition parties in Zimbabwe.

The Movement for Democratic Change called for Zimbabweans to stay home from work indefinitely to register their protest at what the party sees as the deliberate withholding² of the tally³ in the presidential poll, held more than two weeks ago. As in the past, the call went largely unheeded.

Zimbabwe has 80 percent unemployment and inflation running more than 100,000 percent; the loss of a day's wage is something few can afford.

Fear may also be a factor. The police said Monday the strike call was aimed at disturbing the peace and promised to deal severely⁴ with any unrest.

Independent human rights groups have reported several incidents, including attacks on opposition or independent poll monitors; two killings⁵ and more than 20 victims of violence have been hospitalized. The independent Media Monitoring Group of Zimbabwe says state-owned radio stations are broadcasting songs that foster violence against opponents of the government.

Meanwhile, South Africa's ruling party has called the situation in Zimbabwe dire⁶ and says it will seek to meet with both the ruling and opposition parties in Zimbabwe. The aim is to see if contacts at the party level can assist in breaking the crisis caused by the failure of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to release the result of the presidential poll.

African National Congress Secretary-General Gwede Mantashe told a media briefing that the speedy release of the result is crucial.

"You cannot allow a situation where you sit on the results," Mantashe said. "You create an environment where there must be violence; you hear all sorts of rumors⁷ of the deployment⁸ of military all over the country; we are saying as the ANC it is not acceptable."

The African National Congress has been more critical than South African president Thabo Mbeki, who last weekend said the there was no crisis in Zimbabwe.

Mantashe says as mediator⁹ appointed by the Southern African Development Community, Mr. Mbeki must be seen to be impartial¹⁰.

"The president of the Republic is a mediator in that situation. Half the time when he speaks [about Zimbabwe] he does no speak even for the South African government, he speaks for SADC," Mantashe said.

A Zimbabwe court has postponed¹¹ until Wednesday a hearing on an application by the MDC to block a recount of all the ballots¹² in 23 constituencies scheduled for this Saturday.

1 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。

2 withholding   

扣缴税款

参考例句：

• She was accused of withholding information from the police. 她被指控对警方知情不报。
• The judge suspected the witness was withholding information. 法官怀疑见证人在隐瞒情况。

3 tally   

n.计数器，记分，一致，测量；vt.计算，记录，使一致；vi.计算，记分，一致

参考例句：

• Don't forget to keep a careful tally of what you spend.别忘了仔细记下你的开支账目。
• The facts mentioned in the report tally to every detail.报告中所提到的事实都丝毫不差。

4 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

5 killings   

谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发

参考例句：

• His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。

6 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

7 rumors   

n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷

参考例句：

• Rumors have it that the school was burned down. 有谣言说学校给烧掉了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Rumors of a revolt were afloat. 叛变的谣言四起。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 deployment   

n. 部署,展开

参考例句：

• He has inquired out the deployment of the enemy troops. 他已查出敌军的兵力部署情况。
• Quality function deployment (QFD) is a widely used customer-driven quality, design and manufacturing management tool. 质量功能展开(quality function deployment,QFD)是一个广泛应用的顾客需求驱动的设计、制造和质量管理工具。

9 mediator   

n.调解人，中介人

参考例句：

• He always takes the role of a mediator in any dispute.他总是在争论中充当调停人的角色。
• He will appear in the role of mediator.他将出演调停者。

10 impartial   

adj.(in,to)公正的，无偏见的

参考例句：

• He gave an impartial view of the state of affairs in Ireland.他对爱尔兰的事态发表了公正的看法。
• Careers officers offer impartial advice to all pupils.就业指导员向所有学生提供公正无私的建议。

11 postponed   

vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发）

参考例句：

• The trial was postponed indefinitely. 审讯无限期延迟。
• The game has already been postponed three times. 这场比赛已经三度延期了。

12 ballots   

n.投票表决( ballot的名词复数 )；选举；选票；投票总数v.（使）投票表决( ballot的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• They're counting the ballots. 他们正在计算选票。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The news of rigged ballots has rubbed off much of the shine of their election victory. 他们操纵选票的消息使他们在选举中获得的胜利大为减色。 来自《简明英汉词典》