VOA常速英语2008年-Zimbabwean Opposition Leader, Former Mine Worke

By Chris Simkins
Washington
21 April 2008
 

Morgan Tsvangirai is the head of Zimbabwe's opposition¹ party and over the last decade has made unsuccessful attempts to unseat the country's longtime president Robert Mugabe. Now in 2008, the 55-year old Tsvangirai is caught in an election stalemate. His party won control of parliament from the ruling party on March 29th but the presidential election results have not been announced.  VOA's Chris Simkins has a profile of the opposition leader who has struggled for change in Zimbabwe.

Morgan Tsvangirai, a former mine worker, rose to prominence² as a union activist³ in Zimbabwe in the mid⁴ 1980's. In that role, he positioned himself as the country's leading opposition figure. Roxanne Lawson, is a policy director with TransAfrica Forum⁵ in Washington.

"He was secretary general of the Zimbabwean Congress of Trade Unions and through that process he really cemented himself as a civil society leader," Lawson said.

Tsvangirai led a series of crippling strikes against higher taxes in the late 1990's, forcing President Robert Mugabe's government to cancel the measures. In 1999, his trade confederation split from Mr. Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party.  An expert says the party he formed promoted democracy and the rights of the unemployed⁶.  Emira Woods is with the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington.

Woods says, "It created a platform for opposition, a platform for change that very much underpins⁷ now what is the party, the Movement for Democratic Change [MDC]."

Within months of splitting from the ruling party, the MDC defeated a government referendum on constitutional reform, which included allowing the seizure⁸ of white-owned farms without compensation. Throughout his political career, Tsvangirai has been an outspoken⁹ critic of President Mugabe.

"I think in the end, anyone rational in Zimbabwe will realize that Mugabe is acting¹⁰ as lone¹¹ ranger¹². I think he has just sidelined his cabinet, parliament has been dissolved, so he is acting alone," Tsvangirai said.

Political analysts¹⁴ say Tsvangirai's criticism of Mr. Mugabe and the government made him and members of his party targets of harassment¹⁵, violence, and even assassination¹⁶ attempts. Lawson says he was arrested and charged several times with treason but each time the cases were dismissed.

"Trade unionists are the first to be beaten and the first to be arrested and I think that really actually prepared him to stay the course in Zimbabwe,” Lawson said.

Tsvangirai lost to Mr. Mugabe in the 2002 presidential election. But there were widespread allegations Mr. Mugabe used violence to intimidate¹⁷ voters and rigged the contest by manipulating voting documents.

Tsvangirai has lost some support within his party for what some call his authoritarianism¹⁸.  He was accused of ordering some of  his supporters to attack party dissidents.  He appointed his own candidate, without a vote, to head of the party's women's wing.

In March 2007, Tsvangirai emerged from jail badly beaten. He told reporters that police had assaulted "defenseless" people.  Several dozen opposition leaders were hospitalized. The analyst¹³, Woods, says the political violence was widespread and drew international condemnation¹⁹.

Woods says, "It was a broad base of people, those who are discontent with the economic crisis in Zimbabwe and those people who are pushing for greater political openness."

In March, Tsvangirai again challenged Mr. Mugabe for the presidency²⁰. His popularity and message gained new support after Zimbabweans faced hyperinflation and years of food and fuel shortages that plagued the country's deteriorating²¹ economy. Earlier this year Tsvangirai told VOA that Mr. Mugabe has divided people and ruined the country.

"Mugabe is now not only the president of the country.  He is the institution that has run our country for the last 30 years. And look at the results: unprecedented²² levels of decay and misrule and repression²³. So he should be held accountable," he added.

The outcome of the 2008 election was delayed for weeks as Tsvangirai declared himself the winner and accused Mr. Mugabe of withholding²⁴ the results to stay in power.  Political analysts say Tsvangirai's future depends on the outcome of the election and, if he wins, whether he can bring rival factions²⁵ together.

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 prominence   

n.突出；显著；杰出；重要

参考例句：

• He came to prominence during the World Cup in Italy.他在意大利的世界杯赛中声名鹊起。
• This young fashion designer is rising to prominence.这位年轻的时装设计师的声望越来越高。

3 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

4 mid   

adj.中央的，中间的

参考例句：

• Our mid-term exam is pending.我们就要期中考试了。
• He switched over to teaching in mid-career.他在而立之年转入教学工作。

5 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

6 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

7 underpins   

n.基础材料( underpin的名词复数 )；基础结构；（学说、理论等的）基础；（人的）腿v.用砖石结构等从下面支撑（墙等）( underpin的第三人称单数 )；加固（墙等）的基础；为（论据、主张等）打下基础；加强

参考例句：

• A powerful sense of mission underpins everything he does. 一种强烈的使命感支撑他所做的一切。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His presence at the crime underpins the case against him. 案子发生时他在场对他更不利。 来自辞典例句

8 seizure   

n.没收；占有；抵押

参考例句：

• The seizure of contraband is made by customs.那些走私品是被海关没收的。
• The courts ordered the seizure of all her property.法院下令查封她所有的财产。

9 outspoken   

adj.直言无讳的，坦率的，坦白无隐的

参考例句：

• He was outspoken in his criticism.他在批评中直言不讳。
• She is an outspoken critic of the school system in this city.她是这座城市里学校制度的坦率的批评者。

10 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

11 lone   

adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的

参考例句：

• A lone sea gull flew across the sky.一只孤独的海鸥在空中飞过。
• She could see a lone figure on the deserted beach.她在空旷的海滩上能看到一个孤独的身影。

12 ranger   

n.国家公园管理员，护林员；骑兵巡逻队员

参考例句：

• He was the head ranger of the national park.他曾是国家公园的首席看守员。
• He loved working as a ranger.他喜欢做护林人。

13 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。

14 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

15 harassment   

n.骚扰，扰乱，烦恼，烦乱

参考例句：

• She often got telephone harassment at night these days.这些天她经常在夜晚受到电话骚扰。
• The company prohibits any form of harassment.公司禁止任何形式的骚扰行为。

16 assassination   

n.暗杀；暗杀事件

参考例句：

• The assassination of the president brought matters to a head.总统遭暗杀使事态到了严重关头。
• Lincoln's assassination in 1865 shocked the whole nation.1865年，林肯遇刺事件震惊全美国。

17 intimidate   

vt.恐吓，威胁

参考例句：

• You think you can intimidate people into doing what you want?你以为你可以威胁别人做任何事？
• The first strike capacity is intended mainly to intimidate adversary.第一次攻击的武力主要是用来吓阻敌方的。

18 authoritarianism   

权力主义，独裁主义

参考例句：

• Modern authoritarianism is a vestige of traditional personal rule. 现代独裁主义则是传统的个人统治的残余。
• In its latter days it was a byword for authoritarianism, incompetence, and corruption. 在后期，它是独裁、无能和腐化的代号。

19 condemnation   

n.谴责; 定罪

参考例句：

• There was widespread condemnation of the invasion. 那次侵略遭到了人们普遍的谴责。
• The jury's condemnation was a shock to the suspect. 陪审团宣告有罪使嫌疑犯大为震惊。

20 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

21 deteriorating   

恶化，变坏( deteriorate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The weather conditions are deteriorating. 天气变得越来越糟。
• I was well aware of the bad morale and the deteriorating factories. 我很清楚，大家情绪低落，各个工厂越搞越坏。

22 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

23 repression   

n.镇压，抑制，抑压

参考例句：

• The repression of your true feelings is harmful to your health.压抑你的真实感情有害健康。
• This touched off a new storm against violent repression.这引起了反对暴力镇压的新风暴。

24 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。

25 factions   

组织中的小派别，派系( faction的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The gens also lives on in the "factions." 氏族此外还继续存在于“factions〔“帮”〕中。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源
• rival factions within the administration 政府中的对立派别