VOA慢速英语20061028a

IN THE NEWS - Women Journalists From Lebanon, China and U.S. Are Honored for Brave ReportingBy Brianna Blake

Broadcast: Saturday, October 28, 2006

This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.


From left: Gao Yu, May Chidiac and Elena Poniatowska



The International Women's Media Foundation presented three Courage in Journalism¹ Awards this week at a ceremony in New York. One went to May Chidiac, a Lebanese broadcaster who survived a bomb attack last year.

Another went to Gao Yu, a Chinese journalist who was jailed for six years. And the third went to American reporter Jill Carroll who was held by kidnappers² in Iraq.

Each year the foundation honors women journalists whose work has made them champions of a free press. The Courage in Journalism Award is for reporting the news under dangerous or difficult conditions.

Jill Carroll was reporting for the Christian³ Science Monitor newspaper when she was kidnapped on January seventh. Her interpreter, Alan Eniwya, was killed.

Miz Carroll was held hostage for eighty-two days. She was released on March thirtieth and, a few days later, she returned to the United States. She had reported from Iraq for three years before her kidnapping.

May Chidiac of the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation is one of the best known faces on Lebanese television. In September of two thousand five, a bomb exploded under the driver's seat of her car. She lost her left hand and left leg in the explosion.

She had just completed a show about the suspected involvement of Syria in the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri. May Chidiac required nine months of treatment and twenty-six operations. In May, she won the UNESCO World Press Freedom Prize. She returned to her job in July.

Chinese economic and political reporter Gao Yu also won the Courage in Journalism Award in nineteen ninety-five. But she was not able to accept the award the first time because she was being held in prison.

Gao Yu was sentenced to six years in prison in nineteen ninety-three. She was found guilty of leaking state secrets through a Hong Kong newspaper. She received a medical release in March of nineteen ninety-nine.

She was also arrested in connection with the nineteen eighty-nine pro-democracy movement in China.

The foundation also gave Elena Poniatowska of Mexico a Lifetime Achievement Award for her work as a newspaper reporter and author. She is well known for fighting against corruption⁴ and for the rights of women and the poor.

During the ceremony on Tuesday, a moment of silence was observed in memory of Russian investigative reporter Anna Politkovskaya. She was murdered in Moscow on October seventh. She won the Courage in Journalism Award in two thousand two.

Anna Politkovskaya wrote for the Novaya Gazeta newspaper. She was a strong critic of Russia's human rights record in Chechnya. The International Women's Media Foundation is leading a campaign to call on the Russian government to fully⁵ investigate her murder.

IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English was written by Brianna Blake. You can find MP3 files and transcripts⁶ of our reports at www.unsv.com. I'm Steve Ember.

1 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。

2 kidnappers   

n.拐子，绑匪( kidnapper的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They were freed yesterday by their kidnappers unharmed. 他们昨天被绑架者释放了，没有受到伤害。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The kidnappers had threatened to behead all four unless their jailed comrades were released. 帮匪们曾经威胁说如果印度方面不释放他们的同伙，他们就要将这四名人质全部斩首。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

4 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。

5 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

6 transcripts   

n.抄本（ transcript的名词复数 ）；转写本；文字本；副本

参考例句：

• Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样，都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
• You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书，你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句