VOA常速英语2007-Putin Commemorates Victims of Soviet Repression

By Peter Fedynsky
Moscow
30 October 2007

Russian President Vladimir Putin has commemorated¹ more than 20,000 people executed at a Moscow killing² field during the height of Stalinist terror in 1937 to 1938. Mr. Putin said those who perished included the Soviet³ Union's most outspoken⁴ and effective people. VOA Moscow Correspondent Peter Fedynsky has this report.

Under gray skies, President Putin laid flowers at a cross erected⁵ in memory of more than 20,000 people shot at the Butovo firing range on Moscow's southern edge. Mr. Putin said Russians should do their best to remember the tragedy, which occurred in 1937 and 1938.

The Russian leader says millions of people were destroyed, shot, sent to labor⁶ camps, and tortured. As a rule, he says, these were people with their own ideas and were not afraid to express them - the most effective people, the flower of the nation.

Vyacheslav Nikonov, the grandson of Stalin's deputy, Vyacheslav Molotov told the VOA that he talked about the Great Terror with his grandfather. While Nikonov condemns⁷ the repression⁸, he says Molotov and other Communists felt justified⁹.

Nikonov says the terror was justified by the logic¹⁰ of the time, based, first of all, on the life experience of the Bolsheviks, which meant the horrors of the Russian Civil War, and also the Communists' firm conviction of an imminent¹¹ war for survival with Germany.

Also in Moscow, Memorial, a Russian human rights organization, has been reading the names of repression victims at a square in front of the former headquarters of the Russian Secret Police, which carried out the Great Terror.

Among those participating is activist¹² Lev Ponomarev, who says Russia once again has at least 100, and perhaps as many as 1,000 political prisoners.

Ponomarev told the VOA that imprisonment¹³ for political reasons is the work of people, who continue to believe in the principles of the Cheka, the first of several repressive Soviet secret police organizations. Mr. Putin continues to speak highly of the Cheka and the KGB, of which he was an agent. The Cheka was reorganized in 1922 into the NKVD, which carried out the Great Terror. The KGB maintained secret prisons almost until the Soviet collapse¹⁴.

Ponomarev says people who show solidarity¹⁵ with the Cheka follow their personal beliefs to repress others for political reasons. The activist accuses Mr. Putin and others of commemorating¹⁶ Soviet repression victims for the benefit of the West and purely¹⁷ for the sake of public relations.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Great Terror. A survey by the Russian Public Opinion Center indicates 44 percent of this country's citizens are not aware of that historical period. But only two percent agree that the repression was justified.

1 commemorated   

v.纪念，庆祝( commemorate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Lincoln commemorated the soldiers killed in the battle in his address. 林肯在演说中表扬阵亡将士。 来自辞典例句
• You'll be commemorated for killing a spy, and be specially discharged. 你们每杀一个间谍将会被记录到特殊档案。 来自电影对白

2 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。

3 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

4 outspoken   

adj.直言无讳的，坦率的，坦白无隐的

参考例句：

• He was outspoken in his criticism.他在批评中直言不讳。
• She is an outspoken critic of the school system in this city.她是这座城市里学校制度的坦率的批评者。

5 ERECTED   

adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立

参考例句：

• A monument to him was erected in St Paul's Cathedral. 在圣保罗大教堂为他修了一座纪念碑。
• A monument was erected to the memory of that great scientist. 树立了一块纪念碑纪念那位伟大的科学家。

6 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

7 condemns   

v.（通常因道义上的原因而）谴责( condemn的第三人称单数 )；宣判；宣布…不能使用；迫使…陷于不幸的境地

参考例句：

• Her widowhood condemns her to a lonely old age. 守寡使她不得不过着孤独的晚年生活。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The public opinion condemns prostitution. 公众舆论遣责卖淫。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

8 repression   

n.镇压，抑制，抑压

参考例句：

• The repression of your true feelings is harmful to your health.压抑你的真实感情有害健康。
• This touched off a new storm against violent repression.这引起了反对暴力镇压的新风暴。

9 justified   

a.正当的，有理的

参考例句：

• She felt fully justified in asking for her money back. 她认为有充分的理由要求退款。
• The prisoner has certainly justified his claims by his actions. 那个囚犯确实已用自己的行动表明他的要求是正当的。

10 logic   

n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性

参考例句：

• What sort of logic is that?这是什么逻辑？
• I don't follow the logic of your argument.我不明白你的论点逻辑性何在。

11 imminent   

adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的

参考例句：

• The black clounds show that a storm is imminent.乌云预示暴风雨即将来临。
• The country is in imminent danger.国难当头。

12 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

13 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。

14 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

15 solidarity   

n.团结；休戚相关

参考例句：

• They must preserve their solidarity.他们必须维护他们的团结。
• The solidarity among China's various nationalities is as firm as a rock.中国各族人民之间的团结坚如磐石。

16 commemorating   

v.纪念，庆祝( commemorate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He was presented with a scroll commemorating his achievements. 他被授予一幅卷轴，以表彰其所做出的成就。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The post office issued a series commemorating famous American entertainers. 邮局发行了一个纪念美国著名演艺人员的系列邮票。 来自互联网

17 purely   

adv.纯粹地，完全地

参考例句：

• I helped him purely and simply out of friendship.我帮他纯粹是出于友情。
• This disproves the theory that children are purely imitative.这证明认为儿童只会单纯地模仿的理论是站不住脚的。