VOA标准英语2009年-Iran Protests Subside, but Internal Squabb

The street protests in Iran have faded in the face of the government's security crackdown. But the political squabbles and bickering¹ continue. Internal feuds² that were once kept behind closed doors have erupted into the open, providing a rare glimpse of political tensions in the Islamic Republic.

Suzanne Maloney of the Saban Center for Middle East Policy told a recent congressional hearing that the level of squabbling among Iran's political heavyweights is unprecedented³.
　
Iranian supreme⁴ leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 06 Jul 2009

"The other profound consequence for the Iranian regime ... is the cleavage within the political elite⁵. There is always been factional bickering within Iran, but we have never seen anything at this level, and we have never seen the direct assault on the authority of the office of the supreme leader," she said.

When President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was ordered by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to drop his choice of Rahim Esfandiar Mashaei to be first vice-president, he initially⁶ refused.

Mashaei is controversial in Iranian conservative political circles for favorable comments he once made about the Israeli people. Mr. Ahmadinejad subsequently gave in to the Supreme Leader's demand after conservatives called on him to do so. But in an apparent show of defiance⁷, he then appointed Mashaei his chief of staff. Commentators⁹ have pointed⁸ out that Mashaei's daughter is married to the president's son.
　
Rahim Mashaei (File)

Then on Sunday, with his re-inauguration on the horizon, he fired his hardline intelligence minister and the culture minister resigned. No official reasons were given for the moves. But, according to the English-language Tehran Times, both men had strongly objected to the Mashaei vice-presidential appointment.

On Sunday, Mr. Ahmadinejad also appointed Ali Kordan as special inspector¹⁰. Kordan resigned as interior minister last year after it emerged that his claim of an Oxford¹¹ University law degree was false. Kordan's new job is to investigate fraud and corruption¹² in government.

Analysts¹⁴ say the president is also facing internal pressure from reformists as well as conservatives. Middle East analyst¹³ Reva Bhalla of the private intelligence firm Stratfor says former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani - who is one of President Ahmadinejad's chief political rivals - is trying to limit the president's ability to politically maneuver¹⁵ in office.
　
Iranian influential¹⁶ cleric and former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani delivers his sermon during Friday prayers at Tehran University in the Iranian capital, 17 Jul 2009

"Rafsanjani is making clear that they have boundaries set on how far he [Ahmadinejad] is going to go, and that the Supreme Leader should respect those boundaries. And so that is what we need to see moving forward - how far is Ahmadinejad going to be able to go," said Bhalla.

Stanford University director of Iranian Studies Abbas Milani says the opposition¹⁷ itself is split.

"I think the opposition, in my mind, is divided in two groups. Some, like Rafsanjani, are more moderate. Rafsanjani, I think, wants a more refined version of the status quo. Mousavi and the rest of them, although they have not articulated, I think want a return, some of them have implicitly¹⁸ said they want a return, to the first draft of the constitution," said Milani.

That first draft of the 1979 constitution did not confer any special role to the clergy¹⁹ or contain any reference to velayat-e faqih, the concept under which final state authority rests with one religious leader.

The balance of power could rest in the hands of the powerful Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps²⁰. The Revolutionary Guard was created in 1979 because the leader Ayatollah Khomenei did not trust the military. It is a parallel force, separate from the regular military with its own ground, sea, and air units. It has also has internal security functions, it controls the Basij militia²¹, and has built up considerable economic power as well. President Ahmadinejad is a Revolutionary Guard veteran.
　
Iranian Revolutionary Guards members march during a parade ceremony outside Tehran (file photo)

Iran analyst Karim Sadjapour of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace told a congressional hearing the president's and supreme leader's real worries would be if cracks start appearing the Revolutionary Guard.

"What would truly be devastating²² for Khamenei and Ahmadinejad would be fissures²³ among the regime's security forces, mainly the Revolutionary Guards. So far, we have not seen that, but the Revolutionary Guards are a very large entity²⁴, 120,000 men," he said. "And whereas the senior commanders are hand-picked by Khamenei and they are going to likely remain loyal to him, the rank-and-file, both empirically and anecdotally, we have seen, are much more representative of Iranian society at large," he added.

President Ahmadinejad is due to be sworn in for his new term August 5.

1 bickering   

v.争吵( bicker的现在分词 )；口角；（水等）作潺潺声；闪烁

参考例句：

• The children are always bickering about something or other. 孩子们有事没事总是在争吵。
• The two children were always bickering with each other over small matters. 这两个孩子总是为些小事斗嘴。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 feuds   

n.长期不和，世仇( feud的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Quarrels and feuds between tribes became incessant. 部落间的争吵、反目成仇的事件接连不断。 来自英汉非文学 - 文明史
• There were feuds in the palace, no one can deny. 宫里也有斗争，这是无可否认的。 来自辞典例句

3 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

4 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

5 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

6 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

7 defiance   

n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗

参考例句：

• He climbed the ladder in defiance of the warning.他无视警告爬上了那架梯子。
• He slammed the door in a spirit of defiance.他以挑衅性的态度把门砰地一下关上。

8 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

9 commentators   

n.评论员( commentator的名词复数 )；时事评论员；注释者；实况广播员

参考例句：

• Sports commentators repeat the same phrases ad nauseam. 体育解说员翻来覆去说着同样的词语，真叫人腻烦。
• Television sports commentators repeat the same phrases ad nauseam. 电视体育解说员说来说去就是那么几句话，令人厌烦。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 inspector   

n.检查员，监察员，视察员

参考例句：

• The inspector was interested in everything pertaining to the school.视察员对有关学校的一切都感兴趣。
• The inspector was shining a flashlight onto the tickets.查票员打着手电筒查看车票。

11 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

12 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

13 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。

14 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

15 maneuver   

n.策略[pl.]演习；v.(巧妙)控制；用策略

参考例句：

• All the fighters landed safely on the airport after the military maneuver.在军事演习后，所有战斗机都安全降落在机场上。
• I did get her attention with this maneuver.我用这个策略确实引起了她的注意。

16 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

17 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。

18 implicitly   

adv. 含蓄地, 暗中地, 毫不保留地

参考例句：

• Many verbs and many words of other kinds are implicitly causal. 许多动词和许多其他类词都蕴涵着因果关系。
• I can trust Mr. Somerville implicitly, I suppose? 我想，我可以毫无保留地信任萨莫维尔先生吧？

19 clergy   

n.[总称]牧师，神职人员

参考例句：

• I could heartily wish that more of our country clergy would follow this example.我衷心希望，我国有更多的牧师效法这个榜样。
• All the local clergy attended the ceremony.当地所有的牧师出席了仪式。

20 corps   

n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组

参考例句：

• The medical corps were cited for bravery in combat.医疗队由于在战场上的英勇表现而受嘉奖。
• 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。

21 militia   

n.民兵，民兵组织

参考例句：

• First came the PLA men,then the people's militia.人民解放军走在前面，其次是民兵。
• There's a building guarded by the local militia at the corner of the street.街道拐角处有一幢由当地民兵团守卫的大楼。

22 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

23 fissures   

n.狭长裂缝或裂隙( fissure的名词复数 )；裂伤；分歧；分裂v.裂开( fissure的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Rising molten rock flows out on the ocean floor and caps the fissures, trapping the water. 上升熔岩流到海底并堵住了裂隙，结果把海水封在里面。 来自辞典例句
• The French have held two colloquia and an international symposium on rock fissures. 法国已经开了两次岩石裂缝方面的报告会和一个国际会议。 来自辞典例句

24 entity   

n.实体，独立存在体，实际存在物

参考例句：

• The country is no longer one political entity.这个国家不再是一个统一的政治实体了。
• As a separate legal entity,the corporation must pay taxes.作为一个独立的法律实体，公司必须纳税。