VOA标准英语2013--US Criticized by All Sides in Egypt

 

US Criticized by All Sides in Egypt

On the streets of Cairo many are angry over Washington's inaction as to whether the military's ouster of President Mohamed Morsi was a coup¹ - an important legal distinction that would affect U.S. aid to the country.

Typical is the view of Cairo coffee shop owner Hajj Hosni Mahmoud, who says Egypt doesn't need the United States.

“America or any other [country] has nothing to do with us. We are free in our country, be it with America or without it, with Obama or anyone else. We care about our country and we do not need their aid, let them have their aid, we don’t want it, we only want our nation. Obama, Obama, let Obama keep the aid for themselves," said Mahmoud.

The United States says it does not support any particular political group in Egypt's current upheaval².

But Washington's continuing ambiguity³ angers Egyptians. One group celebrating in Tahrir Square made that clear by chanting, “Crazy America, we don't need your aid.”

When the U.S. recognized and worked with Morsi, the legitimately-elected Muslim Brotherhood⁴ candidate, people like Mahmoud Badr, who founded the Tamarod (rebellion) grassroots campaign that sought Morsi's overthrow⁵, feel Washington sided with the Islamist movement.

“So how come the U.S. administration was and is supporting the Muslim Brotherhood? We are very surprised and strongly condemn⁶ it," said Badr.

On the other side of Cairo, the Muslim Brotherhood is equally critical of Washington.

President Barack Obama should have denounced what was a military coup of a democratically-elected president, said Mohamed Soudan, a top official of the Brotherhood's political wing, speaking to VOA from the Egyptian city of Alexandria.

“It's very clear in the constitution of the United States, they should keep supporting the legitimacy⁷, supporting the democracy, but now we are not seeing this very clear, it's not clear," said Soudan.

For now, condemning⁸ the United States is the only thing the two sides of the political divide here seem to agree on. 

1 coup   

n.政变；突然而成功的行动

参考例句：

• The monarch was ousted by a military coup.那君主被军事政变者废黜了。
• That government was overthrown in a military coup three years ago.那个政府在3年前的军事政变中被推翻。

2 upheaval   

n.胀起，(地壳)的隆起；剧变，动乱

参考例句：

• It was faced with the greatest social upheaval since World War Ⅱ.它面临第二次世界大战以来最大的社会动乱。
• The country has been thrown into an upheaval.这个国家已经陷入动乱之中。

3 ambiguity   

n.模棱两可；意义不明确

参考例句：

• The telegram was misunderstood because of its ambiguity.由于电文意义不明确而造成了误解。
• Her answer was above all ambiguity.她的回答毫不含糊。

4 brotherhood   

n.兄弟般的关系，手中情谊

参考例句：

• They broke up the brotherhood.他们断绝了兄弟关系。
• They live and work together in complete equality and brotherhood.他们完全平等和兄弟般地在一起生活和工作。

5 overthrow   

v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆

参考例句：

• After the overthrow of the government,the country was in chaos.政府被推翻后，这个国家处于混乱中。
• The overthrow of his plans left him much discouraged.他的计划的失败使得他很气馁。

6 condemn   

vt.谴责，指责；宣判(罪犯)，判刑

参考例句：

• Some praise him,whereas others condemn him.有些人赞扬他，而有些人谴责他。
• We mustn't condemn him on mere suppositions.我们不可全凭臆测来指责他。

7 legitimacy   

n.合法，正当

参考例句：

• The newspaper was directly challenging the government's legitimacy.报纸直接质疑政府的合法性。
• Managing from the top down,we operate with full legitimacy.我们进行由上而下的管理有充分的合法性。

8 condemning   

v.（通常因道义上的原因而）谴责( condemn的现在分词 )；宣判；宣布…不能使用；迫使…陷于不幸的境地

参考例句：

• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。
• I concur with the speaker in condemning what has been done. 我同意发言者对所做的事加以谴责。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》