2007年VOA标准英语-Yeltsin Leaves Behind Mixed Legacy

By Andre de Nesnera
Washington
23 April 2007

Former Russian President Boris Yeltsin has died in Moscow at the age of 76. In this report from Washington, Senior Correspondent André de Nesnera looks at the Russian leader's legacy¹.

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Russian President Boris Yeltsin waves as he arrives at Helsinki airport (File photo - 20 Mar 1997)

Western experts on Russia use one word to describe Boris Yeltsin's presidency³ from 1991 to 1999 - "contradictory⁴."

Marshal Goldman is a Russia expert at Harvard University.

"The positive side, he helped bring about the collapse⁵ of the Soviet⁶ system, of communism - he brought in democracy, he brought in the market system," said Marshal Goldman. "But the negative side, from a Russian point of view, if you were Russian - under his administration, Russia lost its status as a superpower."

Few can forget the sight of Yeltsin - newly elected president of Russia - standing⁷ atop a tank in , declaring illegal an attempted hardline coup⁸ against Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev.

Several months later - in December - Gorbachev resigned, bringing to an end the existence of the Soviet Union.

But in October 1993, President Yeltsin stunned⁹ the world by ordering the army to shell the parliament building occupied by anti-Yeltsin forces, including lawmakers.

Dale Herspring, a Russia expert with Kansas State University, says Yeltsin had no choice.

"He was working with a parliament that was pretty-much communist dominated and what he did was completely illegal but he felt that he had to destroy them in order to get communism out," said Dale Herspring.

Boris Yeltsin (file photo)

Experts say Yeltsin did introduce many aspects of democracy such as multi-party elections, private property and the right to free speech. But they point out that the single military action against the parliament tarnished¹⁰ his image as a democratic leader.

Analysts¹¹ say on the economic front, Yeltsin's record was also mixed.

Robert Legvold, a Russia expert with Columbia University, says the Russian president wanted to introduce economic reforms to break with the Soviet past.

"But it was not well-designed and the West was not terribly effective, including the United States, in providing sound advice to him on how he might go about something that he didn't understand," said Legvold. "And so in effect he did smash the soviet economic machinery¹², but he put in its place a kind of ruthless, even crony - and in the public mind - discredited¹³ form of capitalism¹⁴ which has since then created basic problems of legitimacy¹⁵ for the economic system that the Russians have."

Legvold says corruption¹⁶ was not a new phenomenon either in the Soviet Union or in Russia. But he says it reached unprecedented¹⁷ heights in the Yeltsin era because of the nature of the reforms - privatization of state-owned enterprises.

"He continually said that his regime needs to fight against it [corruption], just as the Putin regime has said they must fight against it - but they've never found an effective way to do it," he said.

Experts say history will remember Boris Yeltsin as a leader who fluctuated between democratic tendencies and authoritarian¹⁸ actions. They say Russia under his watch was a far more open place than it was under soviet times. But they also say Yeltsin's hand-picked successor - Vladimir Putin - is reverting¹⁹ back to authoritarian rule to correct what the current Russian government believes was the chaos²⁰ and uncertainty²¹ of the Yeltsin years.

1 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

2 mar   

vt.破坏，毁坏，弄糟

参考例句：

• It was not the custom for elderly people to mar the picnics with their presence.大人们照例不参加这样的野餐以免扫兴。
• Such a marriage might mar your career.这样的婚姻说不定会毁了你的一生。

3 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。

4 contradictory   

adj.反驳的，反对的，抗辩的；n.正反对，矛盾对立

参考例句：

• The argument is internally contradictory.论据本身自相矛盾。
• What he said was self-contradictory.他讲话前后不符。

5 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。

6 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。

7 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

8 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。

9 stunned   

adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The fall stunned me for a moment. 那一下摔得我昏迷了片刻。
• The leaders of the Kopper Company were then stunned speechless. 科伯公司的领导们当时被惊得目瞪口呆。

10 tarnished   

（通常指金属）（使）失去光泽，（使）变灰暗( tarnish的过去式和过去分词 )； 玷污，败坏

参考例句：

• The mirrors had tarnished with age. 这些镜子因年深日久而照影不清楚。
• His bad behaviour has tarnished the good name of the school. 他行为不轨，败坏了学校的声誉。

11 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

12 machinery   

n.(总称)机械，机器；机构

参考例句：

• Has the machinery been put up ready for the broadcast?广播器材安装完毕了吗？
• Machinery ought to be well maintained all the time.机器应该随时注意维护。

13 discredited   

不足信的，不名誉的

参考例句：

• The reactionary authorities are between two fires and have been discredited. 反动当局弄得进退维谷，不得人心。
• Her honour was discredited in the newspapers. 她的名声被报纸败坏了。

14 capitalism   

n.资本主义

参考例句：

• The essence of his argument is that capitalism cannot succeed.他的论点的核心是资本主义不能成功。
• Capitalism began to develop in Russia in the 19th century.十九世纪资本主义在俄国开始发展。

15 legitimacy   

n.合法，正当

参考例句：

• The newspaper was directly challenging the government's legitimacy.报纸直接质疑政府的合法性。
• Managing from the top down,we operate with full legitimacy.我们进行由上而下的管理有充分的合法性。

16 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。

17 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

18 authoritarian   

n./adj.专制(的)，专制主义者，独裁主义者

参考例句：

• Foreign diplomats suspect him of authoritarian tendencies.各国外交官怀疑他有着独裁主义倾向。
• The authoritarian policy wasn't proved to be a success.独裁主义的政策证明并不成功。

19 reverting   

恢复( revert的现在分词 )； 重提； 回到…上； 归还

参考例句：

• The boss came back from holiday all relaxed and smiling, but now he's reverting to type. 老板刚度假回来时十分随和，满面笑容，现在又恢复原样了。
• The conversation kept reverting to the subject of money. 谈话的内容总是离不开钱的事。

20 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。

21 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。