VOA标准英语2008年-Malaysia's Anwar Pleads Not Guilty to Sodomy Ch

Malaysia's leading opposition¹ leader Anwar Ibrahim pleaded not guilty to sodomy charges in a Kuala Lumpur court and was freed on bail², allowing him to campaign for a seat in parliament. VOA correspondent Nancy-Amelia Collins in Jakarta has more.
　

Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, center, looks on as he leaves the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 07 Aug 2008

Top opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim called the charges of sodomy against him "treacherous³ and malicious⁴ accusations⁵" after the charges were read out Thursday in a courtroom packed with members of the opposition.

Government prosecutors⁶ accuse Anwar, a former deputy prime minister, of forcibly sodomizing his 23-year-old male aid last June.

Sodomy is illegal in Malaysia, even if it is between consenting adults, and punishable by up to 20 years in jail.

Anwar accuses the government of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi of fabricating the charges against him to prevent his opposition alliance from toppling the government.

"Clearly this political prosecution⁷ is dirty politics of a man who has lost support and very soon will loose power," he said. "We will fight them, we will fight them hard."

The government denies the charges.

Johan Saravanamuttu, a political analyst⁸ from the University of Malaysia and currently a visiting research fellow at Singapore's Institute of Southeast Asian Studies , says support for Anwar is high and polls in Malaysia suggest most people there believe he is innocent.

"What's next for Anwar is that he will probably win that by-election given this charge because he will use it to drum up support and already there is considerable support for him because of this," he said.

Anwar is contesting a parliament seat his wife, Wan⁹ Azizah Wan Ismail vacated, forcing the government to hold a by-election on August 26. If he wins, he promised to topple the government with the help of government defectors after the March elections gave the opposition a third of parliament seats.

In the March general elections, the long time ruling Barisan National coalition¹⁰ hung on to power but lost its two-thirds parliamentary majority control over five of Malaysia's 13
states.

While the ruling coalition has a 30-seat majority in the 222-member parliament, Anwar says he has enough support from lawmakers who have promised to switch sides to enable him to bring down the government.

However, political analyst Saravanamuttu says Anwar's plans could be derailed by the sodomy charges and trial.

"If he's snared¹¹ by the trial, he may not be able to do all the kind of work that he was planning to do to forge a winning coalition in Parliament and to topple the government," said Saravanamuttu. "So this could be seen as a tactic¹² on the part of his political opponents to slow down that effort of his to topple the government as well."

The international human rights group Amnesty International called on the Malaysian government to withdraw it's ''politically motivated" sodomy charges against Anwar and said it appeared the government was "manipulating the legal system to shore up support for its continued rule."

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 bail   

v.舀（水），保释；n.保证金，保释，保释人

参考例句：

• One of the prisoner's friends offered to bail him out.犯人的一个朋友答应保释他出来。
• She has been granted conditional bail.她被准予有条件保释。

3 treacherous   

adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的

参考例句：

• The surface water made the road treacherous for drivers.路面的积水对驾车者构成危险。
• The frozen snow was treacherous to walk on.在冻雪上行走有潜在危险。

4 malicious   

adj.有恶意的，心怀恶意的

参考例句：

• You ought to kick back at such malicious slander. 你应当反击这种恶毒的污蔑。
• Their talk was slightly malicious.他们的谈话有点儿心怀不轨。

5 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

6 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

7 prosecution   

n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营

参考例句：

• The Smiths brought a prosecution against the organizers.史密斯家对组织者们提出起诉。
• He attempts to rebut the assertion made by the prosecution witness.他试图反驳原告方证人所作的断言。

8 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。

9 wan   

(wide area network)广域网

参考例句：

• The shared connection can be an Ethernet,wireless LAN,or wireless WAN connection.提供共享的网络连接可以是以太网、无线局域网或无线广域网。

10 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

11 snared   

v.用罗网捕捉，诱陷，陷害( snare的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He snared a job with IBM. 他以巧妙的手段在 IBM 公司谋得一职。 来自辞典例句
• The hunter snared a skunk. 猎人捕得一只臭鼬。 来自辞典例句

12 tactic   

n.战略，策略；adj.战术的，有策略的

参考例句：

• Reducing prices is a common sales tactic.降价是常用的销售策略。
• She had often used the tactic of threatening to resign.她惯用以辞职相威胁的手法。