2007年VOA标准英语-Cuban Exiles Wait for Change of Leadership Back

By Steve Mort
Miami, Florida
13 August 2007
 

Acting¹ Cuban President Raul Castro is promising² to introduce changes on the island a year after taking power. Castro's older brother Fidel turns 81 today and has not appeared in public since having emergency surgery in 2006. Raul Castro is beginning to put his own stamp on Cuba's communist government. But his pledges to implement³ economic reforms and improve relations with the United States fall short of the dramatic political changes predicted by many Cuban exiles in Florida 12 months ago. Steve Mort reports from Miami for VOA.

Fidel Castro (file photo)

Many Cuban exiles in Miami hoped that when Fidel Castro was hospitalized at the end of July 2006, just before turning 80, he would not live to celebrate his 81st birthday.

"Please don't turn 81. That's what I would wish. Don't turn 81. Eighty is the last one, OK?" said a Miami resident.

But pictures showing an improving Mr. Castro, and regular essays from the communist leader continue to appear in Cuba's state newspaper.

Raul Castro took the ailing⁴ leader's place at the most recent National Revolution Day celebrations -- the first time Fidel Castro has missed the event in 48 years.

Cuba's acting President Raul Castro delivers a speech during a ceremony to mark the 54th anniversary of the Revolution in Camaguey, Cuba, 26 Jul 2007

But Jamie Suchliki from the University of Miami says Raul Castro's speech indicates the Communist Party maintains a strong grip on power. "People are afraid of him. The military is totally loyal to him – the party apparatus⁵ he controls. So he has the levers of power and the ministry⁶ of interior and the security. So I think he can keep the pieces together for an indefinite period."

In Cuba, day-to-day life remains⁷ unchanged, despite predictions that Fidel Castro's illness would prompt an uprising against communist rule.

Raul Castro is even outlining his own long-term agenda, including Chinese-style economic reforms, particularly in agriculture. He admits that food shortages and low wages mean Cubans often struggle to get by. Cuban government statistics show that approximately 60 percent of farms are state-run, but nearly 80 percent of Cuban-produced food comes from private growers.

Paolo Spadoni from Florida's Rollins College says Raul Castro has pledged to attract foreign investment and implement "structural⁸ and conceptual changes" to fix the problem.

"Raul Castro will probably introduce some limited and gradual market reforms,” he says. “So I do see some changes, but I don't see a complete and sudden change of the system".

While showing a willingness to consider economic reform, Raul Castro has a reputation as a political hard-liner.

But Paolo Spadoni says he has allowed limited dissent⁹ in Cuban politics since taking the helm. "A bit more space for political debate – debating the system, the legalities, the corruption¹⁰, the shortcomings of the system. There has been a bit more of that and some Cuban academics have been quoted in newspapers providing some sort of criticism of the system. This is something new".

Raul Castro has also made overtures¹¹ towards the United States, even calling for talks with the U.S. once President Bush leaves office.

Fidel and Raul's sister, Juanita Castro, lives in Miami. She believes reforms may happen even without a change in government in Havana. "Right now, Raul is the only thing that we can have at this moment. Perhaps he can produce the changes that the Cuban people need, that our country needs, in order to live in the future in democracy".

Meanwhile, Fidel Castro turns 81 on August 13th and he says he is being consulted on every government decision.

And with little sign Raul Castro is willing to hold democratic elections, Cuban exiles seem resigned to the fact that a transition to democracy may be many years away.

1 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

2 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

3 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

4 ailing   

v.生病

参考例句：

• They discussed the problems ailing the steel industry. 他们讨论了困扰钢铁工业的问题。
• She looked after her ailing father. 她照顾有病的父亲。

5 apparatus   

n.装置，器械；器具，设备

参考例句：

• The school's audio apparatus includes films and records.学校的视听设备包括放映机和录音机。
• They had a very refined apparatus.他们有一套非常精良的设备。

6 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

7 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

8 structural   

adj.构造的，组织的，建筑（用）的

参考例句：

• The storm caused no structural damage.风暴没有造成建筑结构方面的破坏。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities.北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。

9 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。

10 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。

11 overtures   

n.主动的表示，提议；（向某人做出的）友好表示、姿态或提议( overture的名词复数 )；（歌剧、芭蕾舞、音乐剧等的）序曲，前奏曲

参考例句：

• Their government is making overtures for peace. 他们的政府正在提出和平建议。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He had lately begun to make clumsy yet endearing overtures of friendship. 最近他开始主动表示友好，样子笨拙却又招人喜爱。 来自辞典例句