VOA标准英语2010年-Tymoshenko Faces Yanukovich in Februar

Current Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko faces former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich in a presidential runoff February 7.  In this report from Washington, Senior Correspondent André de Nesnera profiles Ms. Tymoshenko, a leading figure in what became known as the "Orange Revolution."

Yulia Tymoshenko was born in 1960 in the industrial city of Dnipropetrovsk, in eastern Ukraine.  Her rival for the presidency¹, Viktor Yanukovich, was also born in that city, but 10 years earlier.

University of Alberta Ukraine expert David Marples says she earned a doctorate² in economics, ran a gas corporation and was involved in the privatization schemes of the 1990s.

"Her career really took off when she became president of the United Energy Systems of Ukraine," said Marples.  This was an organization that was involved in importing gas from Russia and getting a kind of monopoly in importing gas." 

"And then, from all accounts, reselling it - I guess you could say quote-unquote 'illegally', because she was not supposed to do it, avoiding any kind of tax.  And at that time she became known as 'the gas princess' because she made a small fortune out of doing this," he added.

Marples says in the late 1990s she met Viktor Yushchenko, who was named prime minister by then president Leonid Kuchma in 1999.  She then served in the Yushchenko administration.

"He was only there for less than two years," said Marples. "She was deputy prime minister for fuel and energy, but she was dismissed - apparently³ on the orders of Kuchma - in early 2001.  A little bit later she was actually arrested and she was charged with smuggling⁴ gas and forging customs forms and things like that.  She did not spend very long in jail, she was released very quickly."

Ironically, says Marples, Viktor Yanukovich also spent time in jail, but for manslaughter and beating someone up. "So both the presidential candidates of Ukraine have been in jail, which I think must be quite unique in the history of presidential elections in any country." he said. 

"They are very different kinds of felonies: one arrested for corrupt⁶ business practices and the other for attacking somebody.  So one is a kind of working class felon⁵ and the other is a kind of middle-class business felon, you could say," he continued.

Soon after her release from jail she formed her own political group in parliament known as the Tymoshenko Bloc⁷.

University of Toronto Ukrainian expert  Frank Sysyn says Ms. Tymoshenko burst on the international scene as one of the leaders of the 2004 "Orange Revolution", along with Viktor Yushchenko.

"She took on, in many ways, in the 'Orange Revolution,' her Joan of Arc status, by putting on the braid which many associate with traditional Ukrainian culture," said Sysyn. "[She] certainly learned to speak a language that resonated among the national democratic forces and the language of the West. She was the revolutionary of 2004 in that she wanted to storm the barricades⁸ at one point - literally⁹ - and certainly was against coming to a compromise with the old elite¹⁰."

The "Orange Revolution" brought to power Mr. Yushchenko, who was elected president after hundreds of thousands of his supporters took to the streets. They were protesting the results of an earlier election declared fraudulent by the Ukrainian Supreme¹¹ Court and international monitors. In a subsequent election, Mr. Yushchenko defeated Viktor Yanukovich.

Ms. Tymoshenko became prime minister in the first Yushchenko cabinet, which lasted only about nine months.

But David Marples says the two former allies became bitter foes¹². "Over the period of Yushchenko's presidency, there was a lot of bitterness between them," he said. "And in the end, I would say the last year or so, absolute, total animosity. There was no hope at all of any kind of rapprochement between Yushchenko and Tymoshenko."

Yulia Tymoshenko now faces Viktor Yanukovich in a presidential runoff February 7.  Whoever is elected chief executive will face the same problems that outgoing President Yushchenko was unable to adequately tackle: a dismal¹³ economy, corruption¹⁴, and a Ukrainian electorate¹⁵ disillusioned¹⁶ with the country's political leaders.

 
 
 

1 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。

2 doctorate   

n.(大学授予的)博士学位

参考例句：

• He hasn't enough credits to get his doctorate.他的学分不够取得博士学位。
• Where did she do her doctorate?她在哪里攻读博士？

3 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

4 smuggling   

n.走私

参考例句：

• Some claimed that the docker's union fronted for the smuggling ring.某些人声称码头工人工会是走私集团的掩护所。
• The evidence pointed to the existence of an international smuggling network.证据表明很可能有一个国际走私网络存在。

5 felon   

n.重罪犯；adj.残忍的

参考例句：

• He's a convicted felon.他是个已定罪的重犯。
• Hitler's early "successes" were only the startling depredations of a resolute felon.希特勒的早期“胜利 ”，只不过是一个死心塌地的恶棍出人意料地抢掠得手而已。

6 corrupt   

v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的

参考例句：

• The newspaper alleged the mayor's corrupt practices.那家报纸断言市长有舞弊行为。
• This judge is corrupt.这个法官贪污。

7 bloc   

n.集团；联盟

参考例句：

• A solid bloc of union members support the decision.工会会员团结起来支持该决定。
• There have been growing tensions within the trading bloc.贸易同盟国的关系越来越紧张。

8 barricades   

路障，障碍物( barricade的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The police stormed the barricades the demonstrators had put up. 警察冲破了示威者筑起的街垒。
• Others died young, in prison or on the barricades. 另一些人年轻时就死在监牢里或街垒旁。

9 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

10 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

11 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

12 foes   

敌人，仇敌( foe的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They steadily pushed their foes before them. 他们不停地追击敌人。
• She had fought many battles, vanquished many foes. 她身经百战，挫败过很多对手。

13 dismal   

adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的

参考例句：

• That is a rather dismal melody.那是一支相当忧郁的歌曲。
• My prospects of returning to a suitable job are dismal.我重新找到一个合适的工作岗位的希望很渺茫。

14 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

15 electorate   

n.全体选民；选区

参考例句：

• The government was responsible to the electorate.政府对全体选民负责。
• He has the backing of almost a quarter of the electorate.他得到了几乎1/4选民的支持。

16 disillusioned   

a.不再抱幻想的，大失所望的，幻想破灭的

参考例句：

• I soon became disillusioned with the job. 我不久便对这个工作不再抱幻想了。
• Many people who are disillusioned in reality assimilate life to a dream. 许多对现实失望的人把人生比作一场梦。