VOA常速英语2008年-Anti-Semitism Overshadows Award Ceremony In Hun

By Stefan Bos
Budapest
29 February 2008

Sixteen Hungarians received Israel's Righteous Among the Nations award for saving Jews during the Holocaust¹. But as Stefan Bos reports, the ceremony was overshadowed by concerns over renewed anti-Semitism in Hungary and other parts of Europe.

 

Hungarian Jewish youngsters dedicated² their music to the relative few Hungarians who saved Jews during World War II, when Hungary was for the most part a close ally of Nazi³ Germany.

 

About 600,000 Hungarian Jews died in the Holocaust, carried out by German Nazis⁴ and Hungarian fascists⁵.

 

But at least 16 Hungarians risked their lives to help Jews survive the war. At a ceremony in the Hungarian Holocaust Memorial Center in Budapest Thursday, they received one of Israel's highest honors, The Righteous Among the Nations award.

 

It is given by Israel's Jerusalem-based Holocaust memorial authority, Yad Vashem, to non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust

 

In most cases only surviving relatives received medals, but some elderly rescuers managed to attend the ceremony. Trembling of old age and emotion, they stood on the platform, in front of the Hungarian president and other high ranking diplomats⁶.

 

Among those honored Thursday were workers hiding one or more Jews in their basements and a supervisor⁷ of a Budapest Hotel who managed to save the lives of 100 Jews by using double lists of guests and false names.

 

And then there was Gizella Csertan, who was a young Christian⁸ girl inviting⁹ a Jewish family to stay in her village.

 

"One day a family without a man was knocking on the door… They were not wailing¹⁰, they were not complaining, only their eyes spoke¹¹ to us… The friendship of these two families, a Jewish and a Christian, brought together by the war, and this good friendship had cemented and is still cultivated.

Hungarian President Laszlo Solyom said in a brief speech that many more Hungarians saved Jews. But that view was not shared by Israeli officials.

 

Yad Vashem Chairman Yosef Lapid, a former Justice Minister, told VOA News that as a Hungarian Holocaust survivor¹² he has mixed feelings about Budapest.

 

He still recalls the Budapest Jewish ghetto¹³ and Hungary's controversial role in the war. "I have very hard feelings about the behavior of the Hungarians in the Holocaust. Because most of them kept silent. And when you keep silent, you collaborate¹⁴ with those who do terrible things," he said.

Lapid is also concerned about a rise of anti Semitism in Europe, and especially in Hungary. "Yes, unfortunately there are now neo-Nazis very active in Hungary. And we don't have here the law that exists in Germany, for instance, which makes it a crime when someone uses religious or racial hatred¹⁵ to inspire crimes. I hope that the Hungarian authorities will pass such a law, because there have been atrocities¹⁶ [here] which are unthinkable nowadays."

While these controversial issues were not solved at Thursday's ceremony, organizers made it clear this event showed that at least some Hungarians risked their lives to save the others during the Holocaust era.

1 holocaust   

n.大破坏；大屠杀

参考例句：

• The Auschwitz concentration camp always remind the world of the holocaust.奥辛威茨集中营总是让世人想起大屠杀。
• Ahmadinejad is denying the holocaust because he's as brutal as Hitler was.内贾德否认大屠杀，因为他像希特勒一样残忍。

2 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

3 Nazi   

n.纳粹分子，adj.纳粹党的，纳粹的

参考例句：

• They declare the Nazi regime overthrown and sue for peace.他们宣布纳粹政权已被推翻，并出面求和。
• Nazi closes those war criminals inside their concentration camp.纳粹把那些战犯关在他们的集中营里。

4 Nazis   

n.（德国的）纳粹党员( Nazi的名词复数 )；纳粹主义

参考例句：

• The Nazis worked them over with gun butts. 纳粹分子用枪托毒打他们。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Nazis were responsible for the mass murder of Jews during World War Ⅱ. 纳粹必须为第二次世界大战中对犹太人的大屠杀负责。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 fascists   

n.法西斯主义的支持者( fascist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists. 老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Zoya heroically bore the torture that the Fascists inflicted upon her. 卓娅英勇地承受法西斯匪徒加在她身上的酷刑。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 diplomats   

n.外交官( diplomat的名词复数 )；有手腕的人，善于交际的人

参考例句：

• These events led to the expulsion of senior diplomats from the country. 这些事件导致一些高级外交官被驱逐出境。
• The court has no jurisdiction over foreign diplomats living in this country. 法院对驻本国的外交官无裁判权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 supervisor   

n.监督人，管理人，检查员，督学，主管，导师

参考例句：

• Between you and me I think that new supervisor is a twit.我们私下说，我认为新来的主管人是一个傻瓜。
• He said I was too flighty to be a good supervisor.他说我太轻浮不能成为一名好的管理员。

8 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。

9 inviting   

adj.诱人的，引人注目的

参考例句：

• An inviting smell of coffee wafted into the room.一股诱人的咖啡香味飘进了房间。
• The kitchen smelled warm and inviting and blessedly familiar.这间厨房的味道温暖诱人，使人感到亲切温馨。

10 wailing   

v.哭叫，哀号( wail的现在分词 )；沱

参考例句：

• A police car raced past with its siren wailing. 一辆警车鸣着警报器飞驰而过。
• The little girl was wailing miserably. 那小女孩难过得号啕大哭。

11 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

12 survivor   

n.生存者，残存者，幸存者

参考例句：

• The sole survivor of the crash was an infant.这次撞车的惟一幸存者是一个婴儿。
• There was only one survivor of the plane crash.这次飞机失事中只有一名幸存者。

13 ghetto   

n.少数民族聚居区，贫民区

参考例句：

• Racism and crime still flourish in the ghetto.城市贫民区的种族主义和犯罪仍然十分猖獗。
• I saw that achievement as a possible pattern for the entire ghetto.我把获得的成就看作整个黑人区可以仿效的榜样。

14 collaborate   

vi.协作，合作；协调

参考例句：

• The work gets done more quickly when we collaborate.我们一旦合作，工作做起来就更快了。
• I would ask you to collaborate with us in this work.我们愿意请你们在这项工作中和我们合作。

15 hatred   

n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨

参考例句：

• He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
• The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。

16 atrocities   

n.邪恶，暴行( atrocity的名词复数 )；滔天大罪

参考例句：

• They were guilty of the most barbarous and inhuman atrocities. 他们犯有最野蛮、最灭绝人性的残暴罪行。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The enemy's atrocities made one boil with anger. 敌人的暴行令人发指。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》