VOA标准英语2012--S. Korean Activists Resume Protests Against US Beef

（单词翻译）

 S. Korean Activists¹ Resume Protests Against US Beef

Organizers are hoping to revive the street activism of four years ago when South Korea decided² to resume U.S. beef imports. That movement turned into the largest anti-government protests this country had seen in 20 years.

The catalyst³ for this candlelight rally is the first case of Bovine⁴ Spongiform Encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, since 2006 in the United States.

The case involved a 10-year-old dairy cow in the state of California.

Those who want to re-impose the beef ban say they do not trust either the United States or South Korea's government to properly screen cattle for the neurological disorder⁵.

Humans eating meat from affected⁶ animals are at risk to acquire a variant⁷ of the rare, but fatal, brain-wasting disease. Nearly all of the approximately 200 cases in the past six years have been in Europe. There has never been a human case in South Korea.

But that has not kept South Korean consumers like these from shunning⁸ American beef in recent years. The main buyers of U.S. beef in South Korea are schools, the military and some restaurants.

A larger target for the thousands of protesters who have turned out tonight is a recently activated⁹ trade agreement between Seoul and Washington. The political left hopes to turn the trade pact¹⁰ into an election issue during this year's South Korean presidential campaign.

South Korea is the fourth-largest importer of American beef.