VOA标准英语2010年-Zimbabwe's Mugabe Speaks Out on Diamon

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe addresses mourners at the burial of his sister Sabina Mugabe at Heroes Acre in Harare, 1 Aug. 2010

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe says windfall revenues from recently approved diamond sales must benefit the whole country and not just a few individuals.  Speaking at the funeral of his sister, he also lashed¹ out at Western governments for refusing to lift sanctions against senior officials.

 

President Mugabe urged what he called greedy people to curb² their drive for self-enrichment and ensure that revenues from an upcoming sale of Zimbabwean diamonds benefit the entire country.

The Zimbabwean leader was speaking to several-thousand mourners at the funeral of his younger sister, Sabina, who died last week after a lengthy³ illness.

The diamond control body, the Kimberley Process, recently approved the sale of some rough diamonds from fields in eastern Zimbabwe.

Human-rights groups opposed the sale saying members of the military and Mr. Mugabe's ZANU-PF party had committed human rights abuses there and were smuggling⁴ some of the diamonds for their personal gain.

The Zimbabwean government says it has mined nearly $175 million worth of the precious stones in the past seven years.  It hopes their sale will boost an 18-month-old economic turn-around.

Mr. Mugabe criticized Western governments for failing to support the recovery and not ending sanctions against senior ZANU-PF leaders.

"Sanctions must go.  They are hurting our people, regardless of political affiliation," he said.  "We just had our inclusive delegation⁵ paying a visit to Europe to seek the removal of sanctions, and the delegation came back empty handed."

Western governments 10 years ago imposed travel, banking⁶ and business bans on more than 100 senior Zimbabwean leaders and dozens of state-owned companies because of human-rights abuses.

Mr. Mugabe says they are an attempt by former colonial powers to control his country.

"They [Western governments] think they can then dictate⁷, 'Do a, b and c, remove so and so,' and of course it is Mugabe first who must go, according to them, and then 'we will relate with you,'" he said.  "To hell with them."

The president's campaign against the sanctions is supported by former opposition⁸ leader and now Prime Minster Morgan Tsvangirai who joined Mr. Mugabe in a power sharing government last year.

The unity⁹ government succeeded in reversing years of hyper-inflation and economic decline, but has not been able to attract the foreign investment needed to boost employment and government revenues.

Mr. Mugabe's supporters blame Western imperialism¹⁰, but his critics say policies such as a proposal to require large companies to transfer 51 percent ownership to black Zimbabweans discourage new foreign investment.

 

1 lashed   

adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥

参考例句：

• The rain lashed at the windows. 雨点猛烈地打在窗户上。
• The cleverly designed speech lashed the audience into a frenzy. 这篇精心设计的演说煽动听众使他们发狂。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

3 lengthy   

adj.漫长的，冗长的

参考例句：

• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
• The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。

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 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。

6 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

7 dictate   

v.口授；(使)听写；指令，指示，命令

参考例句：

• It took him a long time to dictate this letter.口述这封信花了他很长时间。
• What right have you to dictate to others?你有什么资格向别人发号施令？

8 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。

9 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

10 imperialism   

n.帝国主义，帝国主义政策

参考例句：

• They held the imperialism in contempt.他们鄙视帝国主义。
• Imperialism has not been able to subjugate China.帝国主义不能征服中国。