VOA标准英语2012--Immigration Tensions Grow as Far Right Plots Pan-European League

Immigration Tensions Grow as Far Right Plots Pan-European League

Around 200 members of far-right movements from across Europe came together in Aarhus, Denmark last Saturday. 

“This day will be remembered and etched into history, 31st of the third 2012. The date where people came together from all European countries to give birth to the European Defense¹ League," said Tommy Robinson, one of the organizers. A member of the English Defense League, he took to the stage to hail the meeting. 

Even if the numbers did not match the rhetoric², radicalism³ expert Matthew Feldman of the University of Northampton says the meeting was a landmark⁴.

“It does represent the first attempt at a really pan-European linking of the ‘defense leagues’ to counter what they see as an Islamization of Europe,” Feldman noted⁵.

Just days earlier, an Islamist gunman, Mohamed Merah, launched a series of attacks around the French city of Toulouse, killing⁶ seven people. Among the victims were three Jewish schoolchildren. 

In addition, last August in Norway, right-wing extremist Anders Breivik set off explosives in Oslo before carrying out a mass shooting at a youth summer camp - killing 77 people in all. He has since been diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Analyst⁷ Feldman says right-wing groups like the English Defense League try to avoid being labeled as extremist by adopting new ideologies⁸.

“What we see now is what’s called an ethno-differentialist perspective in the literature," explained Feldman, "which says, ‘We actually don’t think that any group is better or worse than others. We simply think that cultural mixing, that multiculturalism⁹ is the great evil, because it destroys both cultures that are mixing."”

Such ideas have long been espoused¹⁰ by far-right political parties like the Front Nationale in France. Its leader, Marine¹¹ Le Pen, is expected to do well in next month’s presidential election.

In the Netherlands, Geert Wilders’ anti-Islam platform gave his Freedom party more than 15 percent of the vote in the 2010 elections. VOA spoke¹² to him before the poll.

“I have nothing against Muslims but I believe that Islam is a totalitarian ideology¹³ and it goes against our freedom,” Wilders said.

Feldman believes new technologies are changing the far-right politics of old.

“For example, the software Facebook, where it’s very easy to quickly coordinate¹⁴ something like a street demonstration¹⁵ or to be able to have the grassroots communicating with each other and with the leadership,” noted Feldman.

The analyst adds that the number of anti-fascist protestors who turned out to counter last week's rally exceeded the far right numbers by 20 to one.

1 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

2 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

3 radicalism   

n. 急进主义, 根本的改革主义

参考例句：

• His radicalism and refusal to compromise isolated him. 他的激进主义与拒绝妥协使他受到孤立。
• Education produced intellectual ferment and the temptations of radicalism. 教育带来知识界的骚动，促使激进主义具有了吸引力。

4 landmark   

n.陆标，划时代的事，地界标

参考例句：

• The Russian Revolution represents a landmark in world history.俄国革命是世界历史上的一个里程碑。
• The tower was once a landmark for ships.这座塔曾是船只的陆标。

5 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。

6 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

7 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。

8 ideologies   

n.思想（体系）( ideology的名词复数 )；思想意识；意识形态；观念形态

参考例句：

• There is no fundamental diversity between the two ideologies. 这两种思想意识之间并没有根本的分歧。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Radical ideologies require to contrast to their own goodness the wickedness of some other system. 凡是过激的意识形态，都需要有另外一个丑恶的制度作对比，才能衬托出自己的善良。 来自辞典例句

9 multiculturalism   

n.多元文化

参考例句：

• Switzerland is well known for cheese fondue, penguin parades and its multiculturalism. 瑞士一向以芝士火锅，企鹅游行和多元文化等特色闻名于世。
• That may be one reason why multiculturalism came easily to it. 这也是多元文化容易适应发展的原因之一。

10 espoused   

v.（决定）支持，拥护（目标、主张等）( espouse的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They espoused the notion of equal opportunity for all in education. 他们赞同在教育方面人人机会均等的观念。
• The ideas she espoused were incomprehensible to me. 她所支持的意见令我难以理解。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

12 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

13 ideology   

n.意识形态，(政治或社会的)思想意识

参考例句：

• The ideology has great influence in the world.这种思想体系在世界上有很大的影响。
• The ideal is to strike a medium between ideology and inspiration.我的理想是在意识思想和灵感鼓动之间找到一个折衷。

14 coordinate   

adj.同等的，协调的；n.同等者；vt.协作，协调

参考例句：

• You must coordinate what you said with what you did.你必须使你的言行一致。
• Maybe we can coordinate the relation of them.或许我们可以调和他们之间的关系。

15 demonstration   

n.表明，示范，论证，示威

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。