美国国家公共电台 NPR Opinion: Hong Kong Protesters Might Bother Tourists, Or Pierce Their Conscience

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

It may be strange for tourists to land in Hong Kong to find throngs¹ of impassioned protesters. They might wonder, what do they expect me to do about the Chinese government?

Tourists come from all over the world to see the elegantly industrious² city-state. It is like a cauldron, Jan Morris wrote in her book "Hong Kong," seething³, hissing⁴, hooting⁵, arguing, enmeshed in a labyrinth⁶ of tunnels and overpasses⁷ with those skyscrapers⁸ erupting everywhere into view, with those ferries churning and hovercraft splashing and great jets flying in.

But there are also visitors who come to Hong Kong from China's mainland. They're citizens of a country in which they have no political freedom, little uncensored information and live under threat of imprisonment⁹ if they dissent¹⁰. They come from the country the Hong Kong protesters don't want to be their future, even as they know each day brings them closer to 2047, when Hong Kong is absorbed into the whole of China.

President Trump¹¹ is vocal¹² when he decries¹³ China's trade policies. China was killing¹⁴ us with unfair trade deals, he said again this month. But he's not raised his voice against China's human rights crimes, including the mass detention¹⁵ of Chinese Uighurs in reeducation camps or the widespread imprisonment of political dissidents.

To be sure, even those U.S. and world leaders who criticize China about human rights have been reluctant to risk losing any of the lucrative¹⁶ trade between the two countries. Their moral indignation has mostly stayed rhetorical. But when President Trump was asked about the protests in Hong Kong this week, he once more praised China's President Xi as a very great leader and called for a happy and enlightened ending to the Hong Kong problem, which seems to say protesters are the problem, not China's increasingly steely rule of a place to which it has promised autonomy for 50 years.

I think a reason protesters have descended¹⁷ on Hong Kong's vast international airport is to appeal personally to people from all over the world. Their protest might inconvenience tourists, but it might also pierce their conscience and make them consider if China's vast wealth can buy the silence of the world.

The protesters have made a song from "Les Miserables," a Western musical, their anthem¹⁸, as they sing, who will be strong and stand with me?

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: (Singing) It is the music of a people who will not be slaves again. When the beating of your heart echoes the beating of the drums, there is a life about to start when tomorrow comes. Do you hear the people sing, singing a song of angry men?

1 throngs   

n.人群( throng的名词复数 )v.成群，挤满( throng的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She muscled through the throngs of people, frantically searching for David. 她使劲挤过人群，拼命寻找戴维。 来自辞典例句
• Our friends threaded their way slowly through the throngs upon the Bridge. 我们这两位朋友在桥上从人群中穿过，慢慢地往前走。 来自辞典例句

2 industrious   

adj.勤劳的，刻苦的，奋发的

参考例句：

• If the tiller is industrious,the farmland is productive.人勤地不懒。
• She was an industrious and willing worker.她是个勤劳肯干的员工。

3 seething   

沸腾的，火热的

参考例句：

• The stadium was a seething cauldron of emotion. 体育场内群情沸腾。
• The meeting hall was seething at once. 会场上顿时沸腾起来了。

4 hissing   

n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The steam escaped with a loud hissing noise. 蒸汽大声地嘶嘶冒了出来。
• His ears were still hissing with the rustle of the leaves. 他耳朵里还听得萨萨萨的声音和屑索屑索的怪声。 来自汉英文学 - 春蚕

5 hooting   

（使）作汽笛声响，作汽车喇叭声( hoot的现在分词 )； 倒好儿； 倒彩

参考例句：

• He had the audience hooting with laughter . 他令观众哄堂大笑。
• The owl was hooting. 猫头鹰在叫。

6 labyrinth   

n.迷宫；难解的事物；迷路

参考例句：

• He wandered through the labyrinth of the alleyways.他在迷宫似的小巷中闲逛。
• The human mind is a labyrinth.人的心灵是一座迷宫。

7 overpasses   

n.立交桥，天桥，高架道路( overpass的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Is that why they're constructing so many underpasses, overpasses and highways? 那就是他们建这么多天桥、地下通道和公路的原因吗？ 来自辞典例句
• I also find more overpasses and elevated highways have been built. 我也发现建造了更多人行天桥和高架道路。 来自互联网

8 skyscrapers   

n.摩天大楼

参考例句：

• A lot of skyscrapers in Manhattan are rising up to the skies. 曼哈顿有许多摩天大楼耸入云霄。
• On all sides, skyscrapers rose like jagged teeth. 四周耸起的摩天大楼参差不齐。

9 imprisonment   

n.关押，监禁，坐牢

参考例句：

• His sentence was commuted from death to life imprisonment.他的判决由死刑减为无期徒刑。
• He was sentenced to one year's imprisonment for committing bigamy.他因为犯重婚罪被判入狱一年。

10 dissent   

n./v.不同意，持异议

参考例句：

• It is too late now to make any dissent.现在提出异议太晚了。
• He felt her shoulders gave a wriggle of dissent.他感到她的肩膀因为不同意而动了一下。

11 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

12 vocal   

adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目

参考例句：

• The tongue is a vocal organ.舌头是一个发音器官。
• Public opinion at last became vocal.终于舆论哗然。

13 decries   

v.公开反对，谴责( decry的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Mr Basescu decries communism as criminal, but Bulgarian leaders only mumble. 巴塞斯库总统将共产主义比作犯罪，而对这个问题，保加利亚的领导人却避而不谈。 来自互联网
• A staunch materialist,he decries economy. 一个坚定的唯物主义者公开谴责经济。 来自互联网

14 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

15 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

16 lucrative   

adj.赚钱的，可获利的

参考例句：

• He decided to turn his hobby into a lucrative sideline.他决定把自己的爱好变成赚钱的副业。
• It was not a lucrative profession.那是一个没有多少油水的职业。

17 descended   

a.为...后裔的，出身于...的

参考例句：

• A mood of melancholy descended on us. 一种悲伤的情绪袭上我们的心头。
• The path descended the hill in a series of zigzags. 小路呈连续的之字形顺着山坡蜿蜒而下。

18 anthem   

n.圣歌，赞美诗，颂歌

参考例句：

• All those present were standing solemnly when the national anthem was played.奏国歌时全场肃立。
• As he stood on the winner's rostrum,he sang the words of the national anthem.他站在冠军领奖台上，唱起了国歌。