VOA标准英语2013--斯里兰卡称抵制阻碍不了英联邦峰会成功召开

 

Some Boycott¹ Sri Lanka Commonwealth² Meeting 斯里兰卡称抵制阻碍不了英联邦峰会成功召开

LONDON — The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting gets underway Friday in Sri Lanka.  Critics say Colombo should not host the summit because of widespread  allegations of human rights abuses by Sri Lankan government forces.  Those ciritcs warn the Commonwealth, which has its roots in the former British empire, risks  losing relevance³ if it fails to confront the issue.  

Human rights groups allege⁴ up to 40,000 civilians⁵ were killed in 2009 as Sri Lankan government forces waged a final assault against ethnic⁶ Tamil separatists.  The  battle ended the three-decade long war against the Tamil Tiger militants⁷, but at a huge cost, says Yolanda Foster of Amnesty International.

“We are talking about deliberate shelling of civilians, targeting of hospitals; and the U.N. described these violations⁸ as a grave assault on international law," said  Foster.

The war may be over, but Foster says allegations of human rights abuses continue to emerge from Sri Lanka.

“We receive reports of enforced disappearances⁹, attacks on journalists, and there is also rampant¹⁰ custodial¹¹ torture in the country," she said.

Sri Lanka’s government has strongly denied the claims of human rights abuses.  

But the allegations prompted Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to boycott the heads of government meeting.  Indian officials say Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has  also decided¹² not to attend.

Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron says Sri Lanka has serious questions to answer - but he did not accede¹³ to demands to pull out of the summit.

The decision to hold the biennial¹⁴ meeting in Colombo was a long process, says Richard Uku of the Commonwealth Secretariat, the coordinating¹⁵ body of the organization.

“That decision is made by the Commonwealth leaders, the heads themselves.  And they took that decision.  They considered it three times in 2007, in 2009 they  considered it favorably, and they confirmed that when they met in Perth in 2011," said Uku.

Campaigners say the Commonwealth must tackle allegations of abuses by its members head-on, or else risk sliding into irrelevancy¹⁶.  Again, Yolanda Foster of Amnesty  International.

 “The Commonwealth has a set of human rights principles enshrined in its charter in the Harare declaration, and Sri Lanka is trampling¹⁷ on some of these very important  Commonwealth principles," she said.

Last month Gambia announced it was withdrawing from the Commonwealth, saying it was a ‘neo-colonialist institution’. The decision was criticized by human rights  groups.

Richard Uku denies there is a crisis in the Commonwealth, and says 62 years after it was founded, the organization retains great relevance.

 “We are a voice for small states and vulnerable states at international forums¹⁸ where many of these small countries do not often have an opportunity to make their  concerns heard," he said.

This year Britain’s Prince Charles will represent his mother the Queen in Sri Lanka.  The 87-year-old monarch¹⁹ is head of the Commonwealth and observers say her  diplomatic skills have held the organization together during the past six decades. 

1 boycott   

n./v.(联合)抵制，拒绝参与

参考例句：

• We put the production under a boycott.我们联合抵制该商品。
• The boycott lasts a year until the Victoria board permitsreturn.这个抗争持续了一年直到维多利亚教育局妥协为止。

2 commonwealth   

n.共和国，联邦，共同体

参考例句：

• He is the chairman of the commonwealth of artists.他是艺术家协会的主席。
• Most of the members of the Commonwealth are nonwhite.英联邦的许多成员国不是白人国家。

3 relevance   

n.中肯，适当，关联，相关性

参考例句：

• Politicians' private lives have no relevance to their public roles.政治家的私生活与他们的公众角色不相关。
• Her ideas have lost all relevance to the modern world.她的想法与现代社会完全脱节。

4 allege   

vt.宣称，申述，主张，断言

参考例句：

• The newspaper reporters allege that the man was murdered but they have given no proof.新闻记者们宣称这个男人是被谋杀的，但他们没提出证据。
• Students occasionally allege illness as the reason for absence.学生时不时会称病缺课。

5 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

6 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

7 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

8 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

9 disappearances   

n.消失( disappearance的名词复数 )；丢失；失踪；失踪案

参考例句：

• Most disappearances are the result of the terrorist activity. 大多数的失踪案都是恐怖分子造成的。 来自辞典例句
• The espionage, the betrayals, the arrests, the tortures, the executions, the disappearances will never cease. 间谍活动、叛党卖国、逮捕拷打、处决灭迹，这种事情永远不会完。 来自英汉文学

10 rampant   

adj.(植物)蔓生的；狂暴的，无约束的

参考例句：

• Sickness was rampant in the area.该地区疾病蔓延。
• You cannot allow children to rampant through the museum.你不能任由小孩子在博物馆里乱跑。

11 custodial   

adj.监护的，照管的

参考例句：

• The teenagers were convicted of manslaughter and given a two-year custodial sentence. 这些青少年被判过失杀人罪，及二年的监禁（拘留）刑罚。
• This article interrogates the cultural experience of being a non custodial mother. 本文审视一位无监护权的母亲所感受到的文化体验。

12 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

13 accede   

v.应允，同意

参考例句：

• They are ready to accede to our request for further information.我们要是还需要资料，他们乐于随时提供。
• In a word,he will not accede to your proposal in the meeting.总而言之，他不会在会中赞成你的提议。

14 biennial   

adj.两年一次的

参考例句：

• The workers were strongly against the biennial election.工人们强烈反对两年一次的选举。
• His is a biennial,and one of the most useful pasture plants we have.这是两年生植物，也是我们最有用的牧草之一。

15 coordinating   

v.使协调，使调和( coordinate的现在分词 )；协调；协同；成为同等

参考例句：

• He abolished the Operations Coordinating Board and the Planning Board. 他废除了行动协调委员会和计划委员会。 来自辞典例句
• He's coordinating the wedding, and then we're not going to invite him? 他是来协调婚礼的，难道我们不去请他？ 来自电影对白

16 irrelevancy   

n.不恰当，离题，不相干的事物

参考例句：

17 trampling   

踩( trample的现在分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯

参考例句：

• Diplomats denounced the leaders for trampling their citizens' civil rights. 外交官谴责这些领导人践踏其公民的公民权。
• They don't want people trampling the grass, pitching tents or building fires. 他们不希望人们踩踏草坪、支帐篷或生火。

18 forums   

讨论会； 座谈会； 广播专题讲话节目； 集会的公共场所( forum的名词复数 )； 论坛，讨论会，专题讨论节目； 法庭

参考例句：

• A few of the forums were being closely monitored by the administrators. 有些论坛被管理员严密监控。
• It can cast a dark cloud over these forums. 它将是的论坛上空布满乌云。

19 monarch   

n.帝王，君主，最高统治者

参考例句：

• The monarch's role is purely ceremonial.君主纯粹是个礼仪职位。
• I think myself happier now than the greatest monarch upon earth.我觉得这个时候比世界上什么帝王都快乐。