VOA标准英语2008年-Zimbabwe Herald: Top Army General Urges Soldier

By Peta Thornycroft
Harare
31 May 2008

A senior military officer in Zimbabwe is quoted as calling on the country's troops to vote for President Robert Mugabe in the upcoming presidential runoff election against opposition¹ leader Morgan Tsvangirai.  With voting due to take place in less than four weeks (June 27), violence is continuing and tensions are rising.  The U.N. children's fund says the situation in Zimbabwe has displaced up to 10,000 children.  Peta Thornycroft reports for VOA, a prominent member of the opposition party says his family was beaten.

The state controlled daily,The Herald², quoted the army chief of staff, Major General Martin Chedondo, as saying that all soldiers should vote for President Mugabe or quit the army.

The paper quotes him as saying, "Soldiers are not apolitical.  We have signed and agreed to fight and protect the ruling party's principles of defending the revolution." 

He claimed that the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) was attacking supporters of the ruling ZANU-PF party.  The Movement for Democratic Change says 50 of its supporters have been killed and thousands more beaten since the first round of voting March 29, and that the attackers have often been in uniform. Human rights groups blame the government for the violence, which the government denies.

A spokesman and leading member of the opposition party, Nelson Chamisa, said Saturday his family and other members of his village in rural Zimbabwe were severely³ beaten.  Chamisa himself was one of more than 30 top MDC officials who were detained in early 2007 and severely injured while in police custody⁴.  Days after his release from hospital, he was severely beaten outside Harare International Airport and hospitalized again.

Calls to police for comment were not answered.

Much of the violence has been in rural areas, and residents living near Zimbabwe's sugar estates in Chiredzi, in southeastern Zimbabwe, said they were attacked by armed men.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said this week that it estimates 10,000 children have been displaced by political violence in Zimbabwe. It says many aid agencies report restricting aid to children, due to the general uncertainty⁵ and what UNICEF describes in a statement as "threats" or "requests to do so by authorities."

The MDC won a parliamentary majority in the March elections, and party leader Morgan Tsvangirai won more votes than President Mugabe, but not the majority needed for an outright⁶ victory, meaning a second round of voting was required.

Zimbabwe's Election Commission announced Friday that all domestic observers have to be re-accredited⁷ for the second round voting. The independent Zimbabwe Election Support Network said many of its 9,400 observers live too far from the major cities of Harare and Bulawayo to get accredited before the June 27 poll.

There are expected to be about 300 foreign observers for more than nine-thousand polling stations.

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 herald   

vt.预示...的来临，预告，宣布，欢迎

参考例句：

• In England, the cuckoo is the herald of spring.在英国杜鹃鸟是报春的使者。
• Dawn is the herald of day.曙光是白昼的先驱。

3 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。

4 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

5 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

6 outright   

adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的

参考例句：

• If you have a complaint you should tell me outright.如果你有不满意的事，你应该直率地对我说。
• You should persuade her to marry you outright.你应该彻底劝服她嫁给你。

7 accredited   

adj.可接受的；可信任的；公认的；质量合格的v.相信( accredit的过去式和过去分词 )；委托；委任；把…归结于

参考例句：

• The discovery of distillation is usually accredited to the Arabs of the 11th century. 通常认为，蒸馏法是阿拉伯人在11世纪发明的。
• Only accredited journalists were allowed entry. 只有正式认可的记者才获准入内。