VOA标准英语2008年-Zimbabwe Majority Party Boos Mugabe Parliament

President Robert Mugabe opened Zimbabwe's parliament in a ceremony marked by colonial-era symbols and defiant¹ protest songs by the majority Movement for Democratic Change legislators, which drowned out parts of his speech. Peta Thornycroft reports for VOA from Harare.
　
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, second from left, inspects guard of honor at opening of parliament in Harare, Zimbabwe, 26 Aug 2008

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe could barely be heard during parts of his opening speech. MDC legislators booed and back benches sang through some of his long address.

Mr. Mugabe had to raise his voice to be heard, but appeared unruffled.

A flick² of his eye was his only reaction when the MDC legislators all refused to stand up for him when he walked into parliament. They also remained seated when he left the house.

Mr. Mugabe's speech was similar to most he has made for the past eight years. He blamed targeted western sanctions against ZANU-PF leaders for the catastrophic state of the economy. He also accused the west of manipulating food prices.

On June 4th, Mr. Mugabe banned western humanitarian³ agencies from field work, effectively preventing them from feeding people in need.

He referred to recent deadlocked⁴ South African mediation⁵ on a power-sharing agreement between his ZANU-PF and MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who won the most votes in the presidential election on March 29th. Mr. Mugabe claimed there was "every expectation that everyone will sign up" to the deal.

This prompted MDC legislators to heap scorn on him by booing and singing songs mocking ZANU-PF.

Tsvangirai's MDC faction⁶ has a one-seat majority in parliament over ZANU-PF and a third party, the minority faction of the MDC has 10 seats.

Overall, with the Senate included, ZANU-PF still has majority control of the House of Assembly, but Mr. Mugabe can no longer change the constitution without the MDC. The opposition⁷ party will also be able to introduce new legislation and stop ZANU-PF passing laws it does not approve.

After the address one analyst⁸ noted⁹ it is now up to the MDC to take control of parliament, and stop laws it does not want and repeal¹⁰ offensive ones.

The interior of Zimbabwe's parliament remains¹¹ colonial in style with judges in wigs¹² and red gowns, and the offices of state unchanged from the Rhodesian era.

When Mr. Mugabe, accompanied by about two-dozen mounted soldiers, walked to his antique open-topped Rolls Royce in the street outside parliament he was greeted by a small crowd of enthusiastic ZANU-PF supporters.

 

1 defiant   

adj.无礼的，挑战的

参考例句：

• With a last defiant gesture,they sang a revolutionary song as they were led away to prison.他们被带走投入监狱时，仍以最后的反抗姿态唱起了一支革命歌曲。
• He assumed a defiant attitude toward his employer.他对雇主采取挑衅的态度。

2 flick   

n.快速的轻打，轻打声，弹开；v.轻弹，轻轻拂去，忽然摇动

参考例句：

• He gave a flick of the whip.他轻抽一下鞭子。
• By a flick of his whip,he drove the fly from the horse's head.他用鞭子轻抽了一下，将马头上的苍蝇驱走。

3 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

4 deadlocked   

陷入僵局的；僵持不下的

参考例句：

• The plan deadlocked over the funds. 这个计划由于经费问题而搁浅了。
• The meeting deadlocked over the wage issue. 会议因工资问题而停顿下来。

5 mediation   

n.调解

参考例句：

• The dispute was settled by mediation of the third country. 这场争端通过第三国的斡旋而得以解决。
• The dispute was settled by mediation. 经调解使争端得以解决。

6 faction   

n.宗派，小集团；派别；派系斗争

参考例句：

• Faction and self-interest appear to be the norm.派系之争和自私自利看来非常普遍。
• I now understood clearly that I was caught between the king and the Bunam's faction.我现在完全明白自己已陷入困境，在国王与布纳姆集团之间左右为难。

7 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。

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 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

10 repeal   

n.废止，撤消；v.废止，撤消

参考例句：

• He plans to repeal a number of current policies.他计划废除一些当前的政策。
• He has made out a strong case for the repeal of the law.他提出强有力的理由，赞成废除该法令。

11 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

12 wigs   

n.假发，法官帽( wig的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They say that wigs will be coming in again this year. 据说今年又要流行戴假发了。 来自辞典例句
• Frank, we needed more wigs than we thought, and we have to do some advertising. 弗兰克，因为我们需要更多的假发，而且我们还要做点广告。 来自电影对白