VOA标准英语2008年-Russian Activists Condemn Communist Street Name

In 1990, before the collapse¹ of the Soviet² Union, the Moscow City Council changed the names of many, but not all, city streets that honored communist leaders associated with Soviet atrocities³. Today, Russian civic⁴ activists⁵ are calling for a completion of the renaming process. But as VOA Moscow Correspondent Peter Fedynsky reports, many city residents are comfortable with current names and are not aware of the bloody⁶ history they represent.

During the Soviet era, the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg was called Sverdlovsk in honor of Bolshevik revolutionary Yakov Sverdlov, who helped organize the murder of Russia's last czar, Nicholas II and his family 90 years ago. A monument to Sverdlov still stands in the city.

Civic activists in Moscow have launched a campaign to remove monuments and to rename Russian streets and places that honor communist leaders.

Vladimir Lavrov, a historian at the Russian Academy of Sciences, says street names reflect a nation's values.

Lavrov says there is an absence of a certain world view in Russia; an indiscriminate world view and lack of direction, which confuses and disorients people, in particular the youth.

1905 Street in central Moscow is named after a violent uprising against the czarist regime that year. Bolsheviks consider the rebellion to have been a precursor⁷ of the 1917 Communist Revolution.

Activists today are seeking to return the street's pre-Communist name, New Jerusalem Street, saying people would associate it with peace and God, rather than guns and bloodshed.

But an informal sampling of local residents indicates little popular demand for change.

Sergei is a college student. He admits he does not know enough history about the 1905 uprising and the earlier name of his street, New Jerusalem. But given what little he knows, he says he likes the name '1905' better.

Vladimir Lavrov suggests that ignorance of history is reflected in the contradictory⁸ results of a recent public-opinion survey to name the 50 greatest Russians. Coming on top were Czar Nicholas, who was murdered by the communists, and Josef Stalin - arguably the greatest mass murderer in history. The historian says continued veneration⁹ of the communist dictator elicits¹⁰ fear of Russia.

Lavrov says continued reverence¹¹ for Stalin provides an excuse to those who already hate Russia, and a reason for other countries to do everything to wall themselves off from us, which includes joining NATO, or deploying¹² a missile defense¹³ system on their territory.

The headquarters of Russia's Federal Security Service is located on a square once named after Felix Dzherzinsky, former head of FSB's predecessor¹⁴ - the KGB that persecuted¹⁵ countless¹⁶ millions through the 1980's. The square has been renamed Lubyanka Square, a traditional name.

But political observer Masha Lipman of the Moscow Carnegie Center says name changes do not change reality.

"Given the fact that Putin's main pool of personnel was and remains¹⁷ today the successor to the KGB, the Federal Security Service in Russia, this is an issue that the nation is absolutely averse¹⁸ to reckoning with," Lipman said. "And renaming the streets named after figures from the distant past will change nothing in the perception of the Russian people."

Lipman notes that even superficial condemnation¹⁹ of communism is better than none at all. Nonetheless, she says it is important Russians not mistake the superficial with a necessary national reckoning with their country's dark Soviet past.

1 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。

2 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。

3 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》

4 civic   

adj.城市的，都市的，市民的，公民的

参考例句：

• I feel it is my civic duty to vote.我认为投票选举是我作为公民的义务。
• The civic leaders helped to forward the project.市政府领导者协助促进工程的进展。

5 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 bloody   

adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染

参考例句：

• He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
• He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。

7 precursor   

n.先驱者；前辈；前任；预兆；先兆

参考例句：

• Error is often the precursor of what is correct.错误常常是正确的先导。
• He said that the deal should not be seen as a precursor to a merger.他说该笔交易不应该被看作是合并的前兆。

8 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。

9 veneration   

n.尊敬，崇拜

参考例句：

• I acquired lasting respect for tradition and veneration for the past.我开始对传统和历史产生了持久的敬慕。
• My father venerated General Eisenhower.我父亲十分敬仰艾森豪威尔将军。

10 elicits   

引出，探出( elicit的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• You might find that a sympathetic approach elicits kinder and gentler behavior. 你或许会发现用同情的方法，可引出更友善及更温和的行为。
• It presents information, shares ideas and elicits emotions. 它展示信息、流思想和抒发情感。

11 reverence   

n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬

参考例句：

• He was a bishop who was held in reverence by all.他是一位被大家都尊敬的主教。
• We reverence tradition but will not be fettered by it.我们尊重传统，但不被传统所束缚。

12 deploying   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
• Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。

13 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

14 predecessor   

n.前辈，前任

参考例句：

• It will share the fate of its predecessor.它将遭受与前者同样的命运。
• The new ambassador is more mature than his predecessor.新大使比他的前任更成熟一些。

15 persecuted   

（尤指宗教或政治信仰的）迫害(~sb. for sth.)( persecute的过去式和过去分词 )； 烦扰，困扰或骚扰某人

参考例句：

• Throughout history, people have been persecuted for their religious beliefs. 人们因宗教信仰而受迫害的情况贯穿了整个历史。
• Members of these sects are ruthlessly persecuted and suppressed. 这些教派的成员遭到了残酷的迫害和镇压。

16 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

17 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。

18 averse   

adj.厌恶的；反对的，不乐意的

参考例句：

• I don't smoke cigarettes,but I'm not averse to the occasional cigar.我不吸烟，但我不反对偶尔抽一支雪茄。
• We are averse to such noisy surroundings.我们不喜欢这么吵闹的环境。

19 condemnation   

n.谴责; 定罪

参考例句：

• There was widespread condemnation of the invasion. 那次侵略遭到了人们普遍的谴责。
• The jury's condemnation was a shock to the suspect. 陪审团宣告有罪使嫌疑犯大为震惊。