美国国家公共电台 NPR--Sri Lanka's prime minister resigns after weeks of protests

Sri Lanka's prime minister resigns after weeks of protests

Transcript¹

People in Sri Lanka have endured months of food and fuel shortages — the island nation's worst economic crisis in decades. The prime minister tendered his resignation amid violent protests.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Here is the sound of politics in Sri Lanka right now.

(CROSSTALK)

INSKEEP: Supporters and critics of the government clashed overnight in Colombo. That's the capital of the Indian Ocean nation. People have endured months of food and fuel shortages there. That led to protests, and now the prime minister has resigned. NPR's Lauren Frayer covers Sri Lanka and has been monitoring these events from our bureau in Mumbai. Welcome.

LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE²: Hi, Steve.

INSKEEP: What's happening there now?

FRAYER: Well, at first, it was sort of an eerie³ calm this morning after a night of violence, even the highway toll⁴ booths were empty. Everything was deserted⁵. Trade unions have called a nationwide strike. But protesters are now amassing⁶ once again in the capital, Colombo, and that's despite a curfew that's in place till at least tomorrow. The prime minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa - or actually ex-prime minister - he resigned yesterday - and his family were evacuated⁷ from their Colombo home in a pre-dawn special forces operation. Their ancestral home in another part of the island was set on fire by protesters. Here's the thing - the prime minister's brother is still the democratically elected president of Sri Lanka, Gotabaya Rajapaksa. And the Rajapaksa brothers have been the focus of weeks of protests by some of their countrymen who blame them for mismanaging an economic crisis. Some protesters are now lining⁸ routes to the airport. They want to prevent the Rajapaksa brothers from leaving the country. There's no indication they're trying to do that. Opposition⁹ leaders are calling for them to face charges, though. So there's a real political crisis here on top of a very dire¹⁰ economic one.

INSKEEP: I'm obliged to make sure of one thing here. You said the prime minister and his family were evacuated in a special forces operation. This isn't a military coup¹¹, right? This was actually the special forces, the military, helping¹² them get away from protesters?

FRAYER: Yeah, protecting them from angry protesters outside. Yeah.

INSKEEP: How did people get so angry?

FRAYER: It's been a couple years of really difficult times for Sri Lanka. The economy relies on tourism and remittances¹³ from abroad. Both of those were really hard hit by the pandemic. Tourism was actually hurt in 2019, earlier than the pandemic, with these horrible Easter Sunday terror attacks, Islamist terror attacks that killed more than 200 people in Sri Lanka. And the tourism industry just hasn't recovered from that. So the country's low on foreign currency, which the government needs - U.S. dollars to buy fuel to keep the lights on. So there have been shortages of cooking gas, fuel for power plants. And then the Ukraine war has also sent oil and coal prices through the roof, exacerbating¹⁴ an already pretty dire situation for Sri Lanka. So, you know, we're all suffering inflation around the world, a lot of countries. Sri Lanka's inflation tops 20% right now. And we're seeing rolling blackouts, food shortages. It's a really desperate situation. And on top of all that, there's a heat wave now.

INSKEEP: So if the prime minister has resigned, who's in charge, and what's next?

FRAYER: Yeah, I mean, hopefully what's next is not more violence. Today, the government gave the military soldiers more emergency powers to detain suspects without charge. The prime minister's resignation means the Cabinet is dissolved. So that means there's no finance minister in the role. And that person's job is to negotiate a bailout with the International Monetary¹⁵ Fund. Those are bail-out loans that Sri Lanka desperately¹⁶ needs right now. So there's a bit of a power vacuum in Colombo right now.

INSKEEP: Always appreciate your insights, Lauren. Thanks so much.

FRAYER: Thank you.

INSKEEP: That's NPR's Lauren Frayer.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 eerie   

adj.怪诞的；奇异的；可怕的；胆怯的

参考例句：

• It's eerie to walk through a dark wood at night.夜晚在漆黑的森林中行走很是恐怖。
• I walked down the eerie dark path.我走在那条漆黑恐怖的小路上。

4 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

5 deserted   

adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的

参考例句：

• The deserted village was filled with a deathly silence.这个荒废的村庄死一般的寂静。
• The enemy chieftain was opposed and deserted by his followers.敌人头目众叛亲离。

6 amassing   

v.积累，积聚( amass的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The study of taxonomy must necessarily involve the amassing of an encyclopaedic knowledge of plants. 分类学研究一定要积累广博的植物知识。 来自辞典例句
• Build your trophy room while amassing awards and accolades. 建立您的奖杯积累奖项和荣誉。 来自互联网

7 evacuated   

撤退者的

参考例句：

• Police evacuated nearby buildings. 警方已将附近大楼的居民疏散。
• The fireman evacuated the guests from the burning hotel. 消防队员把客人们从燃烧着的旅馆中撤出来。

8 lining   

n.衬里，衬料

参考例句：

• The lining of my coat is torn.我的外套衬里破了。
• Moss makes an attractive lining to wire baskets.用苔藓垫在铁丝篮里很漂亮。

9 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。

10 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

11 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。

12 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

13 remittances   

n.汇寄( remittance的名词复数 )；汇款，汇款额

参考例句：

• He sends regular remittances to his parents. 他定期汇款给他父母。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Remittances sometimes account for as much as 20% of GDP. 在这些国家中，此类汇款有时会占到GDP的20%之多。 来自互联网

14 exacerbating   

v.使恶化，使加重( exacerbate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• This pedagogical understretch is exacerbating social inequalities. 这种教学张力不足加重了社会不平等。 来自互联网
• High fertilizer prices are exacerbating the problem. 高涨的肥料价格更加加剧了问题的恶化。 来自互联网

15 monetary   

adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的

参考例句：

• The monetary system of some countries used to be based on gold.过去有些国家的货币制度是金本位制的。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

16 desperately   

adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地

参考例句：

• He was desperately seeking a way to see her again.他正拼命想办法再见她一面。
• He longed desperately to be back at home.他非常渴望回家。