2007年VOA标准英语-Britain Marks 10 Years of Princess Diana's Deat

By Tendai Maphosa
London
30 August 2007

Even 10 years after her death, Princess Diana's legacy¹ continues to stir controversy².   From London, Tendai Maphosa has more on the eve of a 10th anniversary memorial service organized by her sons, Princes William and Harry³.

Princess Diana (file photo)

The 10th anniversary of Princess Diana's death has resurrected old controversies⁴ about the "People's Princess."

Since her death in a car crash in Paris in 1997, Diana's legacy has been hotly debated. Some see a troubled woman who courted media attention. Others recall a warm, generous person who focused her energy on charitable causes and dared to hug AIDS victims.

Australian feminist⁵ Germaine Greer described Diana as "a moron⁶" this month, but Prime Minister Gordon Brown hailed her as "an extraordinary woman" who "still has the remarkable⁷ ability to move and inspire."

Despite the debate, there is no doubt that Diana spent much of her time doing humanitarian⁸ work. She was involved in such organizations as the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children in London, the National Aids Trust and The Leprosy Mission.

The Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Fund was established in September 1997 to continue the Princess's humanitarian work in the United Kingdom and overseas. The fund was established with the proceeds from sales of the recording⁹ of Elton John's performance of Candle in the Wind, which was played at Diana's funeral.

Samantha Rennie is a spokesperson for the fund. She said Diana used her celebrity¹⁰ status to draw attention to unpopular causes.

"She supported causes that were in her life unpopular you might remember pictures of her shaking hands with someone who had HIV/AIDS at a time that this was thought horrific and yet now 10 years on it seems quiet normal," she noted¹¹.  "Similarly she was photographed walking through minefields at a time that this was considered hugely controversial and yet now landmines¹³ have been stigmatized¹⁴ so in the intervening years of course peoples' attitudes change, but in many ways they change for the better."

Simon Conway is the director of Landmine¹² Action, which has received support from the Diana fund.  He said Diana's work with landmines continues to help the cause.

"I think we have seen significant progress in the last 10 years," he said.  "We now have a 153 nations, three quarters of the world, have signed up to the Ottawa Treaty banning landmines, but perhaps more important in purely¹⁵ practical terms, the weapon has been completely stigmatized."

Samantha Rennie says that though the Diana fund is no longer actively¹⁶ raising money, people are still making donations.

"We are making what we are calling proactive grants so in a small number of very specific areas such as palliative care, care for the dying in Africa, refugee and asylum¹⁷ seekers in the U.K. and other areas such as cluster munitions¹⁸ we are working towards an international ban on cluster munitions in these specific areas we are actually identifying organizations with whom we have worked in the past in order to carry forward those very specific goals," she said.

Nearly 500 invited guests are expected to attend a memorial service in the historic Guards Chapel¹⁹ at Wellington Barracks in central London, where her two sons are officers in the British Army.  The royal memorial service is not open to the public.  Shoppers at Harrods' department store have been invited to remain silent for two minutes on Friday along with Mohamed al Fayed, the owner, whose son, Emad, known as Dodi, died with Diana in the car crash.

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 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

3 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

4 controversies   

争论

参考例句：

• We offer no comment on these controversies here. 对于这些争议，我们在这里不作任何评论。 来自英汉非文学 - 历史
• The controversies surrounding population growth are unlikely to subside soon. 围绕着人口增长问题的争论看来不会很快平息。 来自辞典例句

5 feminist   

adj.主张男女平等的，女权主义的

参考例句：

• She followed the feminist movement.她支持女权运动。
• From then on,feminist studies on literature boomed.从那时起，男女平等受教育的现象开始迅速兴起。

6 moron   

n.极蠢之人，低能儿

参考例句：

• I used to think that Gordon was a moron.我曾以为戈登是个白痴。
• He's an absolute moron!他纯粹是个傻子！

7 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

8 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

9 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

10 celebrity   

n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望

参考例句：

• Tom found himself something of a celebrity. 汤姆意识到自己已小有名气了。
• He haunted famous men, hoping to get celebrity for himself. 他常和名人在一起, 希望借此使自己获得名气。

11 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

12 landmine   

n.地雷

参考例句：

• A landmine is a kind of weapon used in war.地雷是一种运用于战争的武器。
• The treaty bans the use,production and trade of landmine.那条约禁止使用生产和交易雷。

13 landmines   

潜在的冲突； 地雷，投伞水雷( landmine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The treaty bans the use production and trade of landmines. 该条约规定，禁止使用地雷相关产品及贸易。
• One of the weapon's of special concern was landmines. 在引起人们特别关注的武器中就有地雷。

14 stigmatized   

v.使受耻辱，指责，污辱( stigmatize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was stigmatized as an ex-convict. 他遭人污辱，说他给判过刑。 来自辞典例句
• Such a view has been stigmatized as mechanical jurisprudence. 蔑称这种观点为机械法学。 来自辞典例句

15 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。

16 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

17 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

18 munitions   

n.军火，弹药；v.供应…军需品

参考例句：

• The army used precision-guided munitions to blow up enemy targets.军队用精确瞄准的枪炮炸掉敌方目标。
• He rose [made a career for himself] by dealing in munitions.他是靠贩卖军火发迹的。

19 chapel   

n.小教堂，殡仪馆

参考例句：

• The nimble hero,skipped into a chapel that stood near.敏捷的英雄跳进近旁的一座小教堂里。
• She was on the peak that Sunday afternoon when she played in chapel.那个星期天的下午，她在小教堂的演出，可以说是登峰造极。