时间:2019-01-13 作者:英语课 分类:VOA标准英语2011年(十二月)


英语课

Burma’s Year of Change Raises Hopes


Burma’s military-backed, but nominally 1 civilian 2, government has surprised critics with its political and economic reforms this past year. The liberal moves resulted in a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in December. During her trip, VOA’s Daniel Schearf spoke 3 with residents of the main city, Rangoon, about what they think of the changes, so far.



U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s December visit to Burma was both a reward and encouragement for authorities after a year of unexpected reforms.



President Thein Sein, despite being a former general, is slowly moving away from decades of military rule and economic problems.



Although still made up of former officers, his government ordered the release of hundreds of political prisoners, relaxed media censorship and held separate talks with ethnic 5 rebel groups and pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.



The Nobel Prize winner was released from 15 years of house arrest in 2010 and plans to run for parliament in next year's by-election.



Meeting with Clinton at the home where she was detained, Aung San Suu Kyi sounded optimistic about the direction of the country.



“This will be the beginning of a new future for all of us, provided we can maintain it. And, we hope to be able to do so,” she said.



Burma was once the star of Southeast Asia but, much like Rangoon's British colonial-era buildings, crumbled 6 under military rule. Just months ago most people in Burma were too afraid to talk openly about politics, especially to journalists, who are rarely allowed into the country.



But, since March, the new government's moves toward reform are encouraging some to speak up.



Riding past Rangoon’s colonial Customs House, trishaw driver Maung Than Zaw says, despite reform efforts, he can barely make ends meet. Things have not gotten better for ordinary people like him; it is getting worse, he says, adding that is difficult to earn four or five dollars per day.



Rangoon fruit vendor 7 Mi Mi Aye says she worries about being arrested, but still wants to criticize the so-called civilian government. She says nothing has changed, the new government is just the same people as before.



There are others who say the economy and the government are improving.



At the Golden Palace jewelry 8 store, in Rangoon’s Chinatown, a crowd of shoppers press against a long glass display case, clamoring for attention from sales staff.



Owner Aung Kyaw Win has one of Burma’s most famous chains of gold and gem 4 stores. He says business is good and would be even better if European Union and U.S. sanctions were lifted.



“I think our government, economically, they are trying to change a lot. We are sincerely hoping, because we heard from the newspaper and we can able to see they are changing.”



The government is slowly reducing cumbersome 9 regulations and monopolies that crippled the economy. One key step is unifying 10 the exchange rate to curb 11 corruption 12. The official rate is seven kyat to the dollar. The actual market rate is 100 times higher.



A money counting machine flips 13 through a stack of Burma’s currency. At this currency exchange center in Rangoon, U.S. dollars are traded for bricks of kyat.



Many in Burma, like Lwin Aung Zaw, are paid in American dollars, but they are not legally allowed to possess foreign currency without a permit and have to exchange their salaries every month or risk jail.



He says they can exchange foreign currency at these counters. But, according to the law, they are not legally allowed to have foreign money. He believes it would be better if authorities changed this rule.



At a tea shop in Rangoon a young man rolls dough 14 balls into thin pancakes, called roti, and fries them in oil.



Tea shops are a center of Rangoon social life, where people meet for a snack, but also to talk business and about how Burma is changing. Taxi driver Tint 15 Lwin says, like most people, he is focused more on earning a living than politics.



He says he sees a lot of developments. Because he is a taxi driver he can only comment from a driver’s point of view. The roads are getting better, he says, but they still have heavy traffic jams.



Retired 16 civil servant Thaung Htwe says he hopes Clinton's visit will spur more reforms. He hopes that Burma will be developed more in the future. And he says by having good relations with the United States, they might see development in all sectors 17; economy, society, politics and so on.



Despite a more open environment, not everyone welcomes foreign journalists asking questions.



In a Rangoon market, an older man approaches VOA and demands we stop video taping, saying we need permission from local authorities.



“I don’t like it. We don’t like it…Yeah, this [is] the poor area. Not for news,” he says. He recommends we go to a wealthier area to show how rich Burma is.



But locals in the market argue back that they are poor.



Although hopes are raised that Burma's economy may revive and the country may finally turn the corner to democracy the road ahead is still uncertain. Rights groups point out military abuses continue in ethnic areas, including murder and rape 18.



And, despite reforms so far, there are still hundreds of political prisoners behind bars which authorities have yet to acknowledge.



在名义上,表面地; 应名儿
  • Dad, nominally a Methodist, entered Churches only for weddings and funerals. 爸名义上是卫理公会教徒,可只去教堂参加婚礼和葬礼。
  • The company could not indicate a person even nominally responsible for staff training. 该公司甚至不能指出一个名义上负责职员培训的人。
adj.平民的,民用的,民众的
  • There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
  • He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。
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
  • 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。
n.宝石,珠宝;受爱戴的人 [同]jewel
  • The gem is beyond my pocket.这颗宝石我可买不起。
  • The little gem is worth two thousand dollars.这块小宝石价值两千美元。
adj.人种的,种族的,异教徒的
  • 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。
(把…)弄碎, (使)碎成细屑( crumble的过去式和过去分词 ); 衰落; 坍塌; 损坏
  • He crumbled the bread in his fingers. 他用手指把面包捻碎。
  • Our hopes crumbled when the business went bankrupt. 商行破产了,我们的希望也破灭了。
n.卖主;小贩
  • She looked at the vendor who cheated her the other day with distaste.她厌恶地望着那个前几天曾经欺骗过她的小贩。
  • He must inform the vendor immediately.他必须立即通知卖方。
n.(jewllery)(总称)珠宝
  • The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。
  • Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。
adj.笨重的,不便携带的
  • Although the machine looks cumbersome,it is actually easy to use.尽管这台机器看上去很笨重,操作起来却很容易。
  • The furniture is too cumbersome to move.家具太笨,搬起来很不方便。
使联合( unify的现在分词 ); 使相同; 使一致; 统一
  • In addition, there were certain religious bonds of a unifying kind. 此外,他们还有某种具有一种统一性质的宗教上的结合。
  • There is a unifying theme, and that is the theme of information flow within biological systems. 我们可以用一个总的命题,把生物学系统内的信息流来作为这一研究主题。
n.场外证券市场,场外交易;vt.制止,抑制
  • I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
  • You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。
n.腐败,堕落,贪污
  • 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。
轻弹( flip的第三人称单数 ); 按(开关); 快速翻转; 急挥
  • Larry flips on the TV while he is on vacation in Budapest. 赖瑞在布达佩斯渡假时,打开电视收看节目。
  • He flips through a book before making a decision. 他在决定买下一本书前总要先草草翻阅一下。
n.生面团;钱,现款
  • She formed the dough into squares.她把生面团捏成四方块。
  • The baker is kneading dough.那位面包师在揉面。
n.淡色,浅色;染发剂;vt.着以淡淡的颜色
  • You can't get up that naturalness and artless rosy tint in after days.你今后不再会有这种自然和朴实无华的红润脸色。
  • She gave me instructions on how to apply the tint.她告诉我如何使用染发剂。
adj.隐退的,退休的,退役的
  • The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
  • Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。
n.部门( sector的名词复数 );领域;防御地区;扇形
  • Berlin was divided into four sectors after the war. 战后柏林分成了4 个区。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Industry and agriculture are the two important sectors of the national economy. 工业和农业是国民经济的两个重要部门。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
n.抢夺,掠夺,强奸;vt.掠夺,抢夺,强奸
  • The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
  • He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。
学英语单词
-gon
1-chloronaphthalene
account receivable insurance
american association for health physical science
analysis of source program
and-white
antivenoms
aphakial
assembly joint
Austronesianist
axiomaticity
back-hand
bakemeats
beadily
bed-blockers
berberidaceaes
Big Look, big look
Carex tatsiensis
cdlf
circular spline
Clonea
co-registering
cognitive
collineation axis
colour charge
condition of moulding
Coutol
crataemone
die clamp
diffraction geometry
direct mapped cache
dispersal area
dorsal digital nerves of foot
dystrophic calcinosis cutis
Echinobothrium
enance
enforced deportation
error detection rate
external urinary diversion
Ferdinand III
gauge setting
general dry cargo ship
grey cast iron screwed pipe flange
group language
gut-shots
half-drill strip method
heat island (effect)
hemp seed calculus
horizontal project
hydraulic fracture
Hydrokassite
imaginal organogenesis
immunoexpressing
isotope enrichment
jargonized
jerkin head
kovochich
ladle car
lamina propria mucos?
linespersons
Lurigaon
madang
Mam'selle
mariage
marine air fog
mattus
microaerophillic bacteria
misdeeming
molybdenum(vi) oxybromide
mooring ring
networking platform
nfol
ostman
page fault cluster size
peroxysome
philologie
piston pin circlip
plasmodium berghei
pneumalgia
premium rebate
Propylisopropyl
related subject
religiophobia
reward function
scent-markings
set function
sickle cell retinopathy
simultaneous equationss
sonic and ultrasonic equipment
steeds
stink gland
surveying stake
sustentation of forest
Tavella
unlimb
uptightnesses
us oe
vacufuge
Venae centrales
walston
Warr.
yellow weasel