PBS高端访谈:津巴布韦总统穆加比的统治恐将终结

 　　The ruthless rule of the world's oldest head of state appears to be coming to an end.

　　Zimbabwe's 93-year-old President Robert Mugabe is the only leader his nation has known since its independence from Britain in 1980.

　　And, tonight, he is under house arrest in his gilded¹ mansion², detained by elements of his own military.

　　We begin with a report from Martin Geissler of Independent Television News in the capital, Harare.

　　There is a new authority in Zimbabwe today, and it wears military fatigues³.

　　The generals say this is not a coup⁴, but with soldiers on the streets in Harare and army hardware stationed at the junctions⁵, it looks a lot like one.

　　We wish to make it abundantly clear that this is not a military takeover of government.

　　What the Zimbabwe Defense⁶ Forces is doing is to pacify⁷ a degenerating⁸ political, social and economic situation in our country,

　　which, if not addressed, may result in a violent conflict.

　　The other message the military wanted to broadcast today was that President Robert Mugabe is safe.

　　The man who's ruled Zimbabwe with an iron grip for nearly 40 years is now under house arrest,

　　but evidently still able to contact his friends and allies abroad.

　　I have also contacted his excellency, President Mugabe, whom I had time to talk to, and he is fine, but confined in his home.

　　Mugabe's government has turned this once-rich country into a place where people queue outside the banks to collect enough cash to buy bread.

　　Increasingly frail⁹, the dictator wanted to hand the presidency¹⁰ to his wife, Grace.

　　But the events over the past 24 hours could see Mugabe replaced instead by Emmerson Mnangagwa, the deputy he sacked earlier this month

　　Longstanding Mugabe allies now speak out against him.

　　What Zimbabwe's been sliding into was a state of chaos¹¹.

　　And, for that reason, war veterans here do stand with the Zimbabwe defense forces.

　　As the armored personnel carriers roll along Zimbabwe's roads, the military has called for calm, but nothing is certain here, not yet.

　　The atmosphere in Harare is subdued¹². It's not oppressive, but it's certainly not celebratory. The people here are understandably cautious.

　　They're just waiting and watching to see what happens next. There was gunfire in Harare overnight.

　　Some elements of the security forces seemingly still loyal to the president,

　　but many of the men who used to do his bidding are now trying to push this crippled country into a new era.

　　Since Martin Geissler filed that story, there are reports that government ministers have been arrested and others are fleeing their homes.

　　In addition, the police have reportedly been shut down, and their commissioner¹³ detained.

　　For more on the situation on the ground and the wider country,

　　I spoke¹⁴ earlier via Skype with freelance journalist Tatira Zwinoira. I began by asking him the general mood.

　　Believe it or not, people are actually happy. They say it's a military takeover, but, in actual essence, it's a coup,

　　because President Mugabe is an elected president. So, people don't want to use the word, but then, by definition of the actions, it's a coup.

　　But people are not upset. People are actually happy.

　　Actually, some people who were interviewed by some of the local media houses were actually saying that this was actually too long,

　　it took too long, military intervention¹⁵. So, people were actually happy. Businesses were carried on as usual

　　although banks closed and other companies closed around 1 o'clock during the day.

　　Are the people that took over fundamentally different from those people who are in power now?

　　Well, at the end of the day, these are the same people who are being used by the government under ZANU-PF,

　　the ZANU-PF party, the ruling party headed by President Robert Mugabe.

　　These are the same people who are being used to kind of control the economy, control the government, and control the citizens of the country.

　　So, you have to ask yourself then, are they going to bring anything different at the end of the day?

　　I mean, if these are the same people who are being used, what can they bring which is different?

　　Well, what can neighboring nations, say, South Africa, or even the African Union, do about this, or what are they interested in doing about this?

　　Well, that's another reason -- before I answer your question, I just wanted to highlight this point.

　　That's another reason why they're not calling it a coup, because they are afraid of the A.U., SADC, and international community coming in.

　　If they call it a coup, then they will have precedence to come into Zimbabwe and say, look, hold on.

　　This is what's happening in Zimbabwe. We should come in.

　　Now coming back to your question, A.U. seems to be saying that, you know, this military intervention is not wanted.

　　It's unwarranted. That things must return back to normal. Things must remain calm. SADC is saying the same thing.

　　President Jacob Zuma of South Africa actually called for calm and actually promised to send two envoys¹⁶, special envoys,

　　to Zimbabwe to talk with Mugabe and try and mediate¹⁷ between the army and Mugabe.

　　So, we wait and see what happens there. But, generally, they don't want this military intervention.

　　All right, Tatira Zwinoira, joining us via Skype from just outside Harare, thanks so much. All right. undefined

1 gilded   

a.镀金的，富有的

参考例句：

• The golden light gilded the sea. 金色的阳光使大海如金子般闪闪发光。
• "Friends, they are only gilded disks of lead!" "朋友们，这只不过是些镀金的铅饼！ 来自英汉文学 - 败坏赫德莱堡

2 mansion   

n.大厦，大楼；宅第

参考例句：

• The old mansion was built in 1850.这座古宅建于1850年。
• The mansion has extensive grounds.这大厦四周的庭园广阔。

3 fatigues   

n.疲劳( fatigue的名词复数 )；杂役；厌倦；（士兵穿的）工作服

参考例句：

• The patient fatigues easily. 病人容易疲劳。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Instead of training the men were put on fatigues/fatigue duty. 那些士兵没有接受训练，而是派去做杂务。 来自辞典例句

4 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。

5 junctions   

联结点( junction的名词复数 )； 会合点； （公路或铁路的）交叉路口； （电缆等的）主结点

参考例句：

• Metals which were mutually soluble would tend to give strong junctions. 可互溶的金属趋向于产生牢固的结合点。
• Some adhering junctions are present as narrow bands connecting two cells. 有些粘附连接以一窄带的形式连接两个细胞。

6 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

7 pacify   

vt.使(某人)平静(或息怒)；抚慰

参考例句：

• He tried to pacify the protesters with promises of reform.他试图以改革的承诺安抚抗议者。
• He tried to pacify his creditors by repaying part of the money.他为安抚债权人偿还了部分借款。

8 degenerating   

衰退，堕落，退化( degenerate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He denied that some young people today were degenerating. 他否认现在某些青年在堕落。
• Young people of today are not degenerating. 今天的青年并没有在变坏。

9 frail   

adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的

参考例句：

• Mrs. Warner is already 96 and too frail to live by herself.华纳太太已经九十六岁了，身体虚弱，不便独居。
• She lay in bed looking particularly frail.她躺在床上，看上去特别虚弱。

10 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

11 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

12 subdued   

adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He seemed a bit subdued to me. 我觉得他当时有点闷闷不乐。
• I felt strangely subdued when it was all over. 一切都结束的时候，我却有一种奇怪的压抑感。

13 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

14 spoke   

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

参考例句：

• 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。

15 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

16 envoys   

使节( envoy的名词复数 )； 公使； 谈判代表； 使节身份

参考例句：

• the routine tit for tat when countries expel each other's envoys 国家相互驱逐对方使节这种惯常的报复行动
• Marco Polo's travelogue mentions that Kublai Khan sent envoys to Malgache. 马可波罗游记中提到忽必烈曾派使节到马尔加什。

17 mediate   

vi.调解，斡旋；vt.经调解解决；经斡旋促成

参考例句：

• The state must mediate the struggle for water resources.政府必须通过调解来解决对水资源的争夺。
• They may be able to mediate between parties with different interests.他们也许能在不同利益政党之间进行斡旋。