VOA标准英语2009-Building New Mosques Encounters Resistance in Eu

Islam is Europe's second largest religion. But in recent years, some members of Europe's 20 million strong Muslim community have met strong resistance as they seek to build mosques² and minarets³, the basic tangible⁴ foundation of their faith.
　
A French flag flies in front of a mosque¹ in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia marking the visit of French President Nicolas Sarkozy (File)

Paris suburb of Montreuil offers a colorful study of immigration in France. There are Asian supermarkets and Arab kebab restaurants. Women in headscarves and colorful African boubous mix with French residents wearing western clothes.

A slice of this diversity can be seen in Montreuil's 12,000-strong Muslim community. Its members, who hail from North and sub-Saharan Africa, represent about 20 percent of the town's population.

Mohammed Abdoulbaki is vice-president of the Cultural Federation⁵ of Muslims of Montreuil, an umbrella group formed to build a central mosque for the city. He shows a visitor the building site for the future, $2.7 million prayer hall, which is now little more than a dusty patch of weeds and litter.

But construction is finally set to begin this fall, ending a years' long fight to build a main mosque for Montreuil. In 2003, a city hall councillor from a right-wing political party filed a legal complaint arguing that a city lease for the site, for a token amount of about $1.30, violated France's 1905 law separating church and state.

Only last year did an appeals court allow building to go ahead. Mohammed Abdoulbaki.

Abdoulbaki says many Muslims were afraid of investing in the mosque because they had heard about the court case. Now, he said, the community has raised about a quarter of the building costs.

Like Muslims elsewhere in Europe, those in Montreuil's have been packed into tiny, makeshift prayer halls. Mahamadou Nimaga, the federation's president, said they wanted a large, formal mosque, complete with minarets, or long slender towers, to accommodate their growing numbers.

Nimaga says the mosque project has united the diverse strands⁶ of Montreuil's Muslim community, which hails from Egypt, Mali and Comoros.

It also appears to have united the town. Jewish and Christian⁷ leaders joined the Muslims in fighting for the mosque. The town mayor has donated about $700 to the project.

Apart from the far-right lawmaker, Abdoulbaki says not a single resident has opposed the new mosque. That includes 42-year-old Laurent Droulez.

Droulez says religious freedom is a basic right, regardless of whether people are Muslim, Catholic or Jewish.

But in many parts of Europe, mosques have generated controversy⁸. Local residents and far-right groups have launched protests, petitioned courts and submitted legislation to prevent mosques from being built.

Some fear mosques, and foreign funding that may go into them, will feed religious extremism. Others argue the Muslim prayer halls have no place in historically Christian, although increasingly secular⁹, Europe.

"Opposition¹⁰ has been there ever since Muslims came to Europe and tried to have mosque prayer halls in neighbourhoods all across Europe," said Saqueb Mueen, an Islamic expert at the Royal United Services Institute, a London-based think tank. "In Britain, for example, it didn't start off with big buildings, it started off with factories for example, or in people's houses. And obviously you have social order issues. Has opposition waned¹¹? Well it depends on the area and the sense of cohesion¹² between the communities."

In London, more than 250,000 people signed a petition two years ago against plans to build a so-called "megamosque" near the site of the 2012 Olympic games. Critics have also protested plans to construct a major mosque near a famous Gothic cathedral in Cologne, Germany.

In Italy, the anti-immigration Northern League party is lobbying to freeze all mosque construction on grounds the prayer houses breed terrorism. And in Switzerland, a committee has gathered enough signatures for the country to hold a referendum on banning minarets.

Ulrich Schluer, a member of the right-wing Swiss People's Party, supports the initiative.

"Everybody in Switzerland has the right to come together with people of the same religion in a special house, the Christians¹³ in their churches, the Muslims in their mosques, the Jews in their synagogues," said Schluer. "Freedom of religion is not the problem. The problem is the Sharia [Islamic] law that is living in Muslim societies and Swiss rights [that is contradicts[."

But in other cases, Muslims are surmounting¹⁴ the odds¹⁵. There are plans to build the first mosque in Athens since Ottoman rule centuries ago, and the first mosque in Catalonia, Spain.

Even secular Muslims have tuned¹⁶ into the mosque debate, aware it reflects deeper misgivings¹⁷, analyst¹⁸ Mueen says. They do not understand why there is so much opposition to such a basic element of the Islamic faith.

1 mosque   

n.清真寺

参考例句：

• The mosque is a activity site and culture center of Muslim religion.清真寺为穆斯林宗教活动场所和文化中心。
• Some years ago the clock in the tower of the mosque got out of order.几年前，清真寺钟楼里的大钟失灵了。

2 mosques   

清真寺； 伊斯兰教寺院，清真寺； 清真寺，伊斯兰教寺院( mosque的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Why make us believe that this tunnel runs underneath the mosques? 为什么要让我们相信这条隧洞是在清真寺下？
• The city's three biggest mosques, long fallen into disrepair, have been renovated. 城里最大的三座清真寺，过去年久失修，现在已经修复。

3 minarets   

n.（清真寺旁由报告祈祷时刻的人使用的）光塔( minaret的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Remind you of a mosque, red baked bricks, the minarets. 红砖和尖塔都会使你联想到伊斯兰教的礼拜寺。 来自互联网
• These purchases usually went along with embellishments such as minarets. 这些购置通常也伴随着注入尖塔等的装饰。 来自互联网

4 tangible   

adj.有形的，可触摸的，确凿的，实际的

参考例句：

• The policy has not yet brought any tangible benefits.这项政策还没有带来任何实质性的好处。
• There is no tangible proof.没有确凿的证据。

5 federation   

n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会

参考例句：

• It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
• Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。

6 strands   

n.（线、绳、金属线、毛发等的）股( strand的名词复数 )；缕；海洋、湖或河的)岸；（观点、计划、故事等的）部份v.使滞留，使搁浅( strand的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Twist a length of rope from strands of hemp. 用几股麻搓成了一段绳子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She laced strands into a braid. 她把几股线编织成一根穗带。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

8 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

9 secular   

n.牧师，凡人；adj.世俗的，现世的，不朽的

参考例句：

• We live in an increasingly secular society.我们生活在一个日益非宗教的社会。
• Britain is a plural society in which the secular predominates.英国是个世俗主导的多元社会。

10 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。

11 waned   

v.衰落( wane的过去式和过去分词 )；（月）亏；变小；变暗淡

参考例句：

• However,my enthusiasm waned.The time I spent at exercises gradually diminished. 然而，我的热情减退了。我在做操上花的时间逐渐减少了。 来自《用法词典》
• The bicycle craze has waned. 自行车热已冷下去了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

12 cohesion   

n.团结，凝结力

参考例句：

• I had to bring some cohesion into the company.我得使整个公司恢复凝聚力。
• The power of culture is deeply rooted in the vitality,creativity and cohesion of a nation. 文化的力量，深深熔铸在民族的生命力、创造力和凝聚力之中。

13 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

14 surmounting   

战胜( surmount的现在分词 )； 克服（困难）； 居于…之上； 在…顶上

参考例句：

• Surmounting the risks and fears of some may be difficult. 解除某些人的疑虑可能是困难的。
• There was high French-like land in one corner, and a tumble-down grey lighthouse surmounting it. 一角画着一块像是法国风光的高地，上面有一座破烂的灰色灯塔。

15 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

16 tuned   

adj.调谐的，已调谐的v.调音( tune的过去式和过去分词 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调

参考例句：

• The resort is tuned in to the tastes of young and old alike. 这个度假胜地适合各种口味，老少皆宜。
• The instruments should be tuned up before each performance. 每次演出开始前都应将乐器调好音。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 misgivings   

n.疑虑，担忧，害怕；疑虑，担心，恐惧( misgiving的名词复数 )；疑惧

参考例句：

• I had grave misgivings about making the trip. 对于这次旅行我有过极大的顾虑。
• Don't be overtaken by misgivings and fear. Just go full stream ahead! 不要瞻前顾后， 畏首畏尾。甩开膀子干吧！ 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

18 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。