VOA标准英语2008年-Two Journalists Shot in Russia's Caucasus Regio

A second journalist is dead of gunshot wounds fired under suspicious circumstances in Russia's volatile¹ Caucasus region this week. VOA Moscow correspondent Peter Fedynsky reports the death of the first journalist sparked an anti-government demonstration² in one of the republics of southern Russia.

Police in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan in the northern Caucasus region of Russia, say Islamic TV journalist Abdulla Alishayev died early Wednesday following an attack by two unknown assailants the previous evening. A police spokesman says he was shot in the shoulder and head as he sat in his car, and died in a local hospital, where surgeons were unable to save his life. Officials say Alishayev was a proponent³ of radical⁴ Wahhabi Islam. Human rights activists⁶ say authorities falsely accuse devout⁷ and independent Muslims of being Wahhabi extremists.

The Associated Press reports another journalist was left with a fractured skull⁸ after a beating in Nalchik, the capital of the Kabardino-Balkar Republic, also in the Caucasus.

On Sunday in Nazran, the main city of Ingushetiya, yet another journalist was shot and killed in police custody⁹. Mahomet Yevloyev, owner of the independent Ingushetiya.ru Web site was detained by police at the city's Magas Airport. He had been critical of Ingush authorities, including President Murat Zyazikov who is reported to have been on a flight from Moscow with Yevloyev.

Both men reportedly got into in a heated argument on board and police were waiting for the journalist as he deplaned. Officials say the victim was accidentally shot after he tried to grab a gun from an officer. Opposition¹⁰ activists say a number of armed men, including the Interior Minister, met Yevloyev, who was allegedly shot in a police car and his body was simply thrown onto a street near a hospital.

Ingush opposition activist⁵ Mahomet Khazbiyev told VOA Yevloyev made very critical allegations about President Zyazikov.

Khazbiyev says the journalist published accounts of everything in Ingushetiya; that Zyazikov lies, that no factories or homes are being built, that authorities kill five or six people every day.

Islambek Apayev, a north Caucasus expert with the Moscow Helsinki Group says many people have turned to the human rights organization for help dealing¹¹ with repression¹² in Ingushetiya. He says there has been increased talk in the North Caucasus of seceding¹³ from Russia after Moscow's recent recognition of Georgia's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. However, Apayev notes that economic hardships force many people in Ingushetiya to find jobs elsewhere in Russia to feed their families.

The human rights activist says some people do not understand the arrangement with Russia, and want to secede¹⁴, all the more so after Moscow recognized Abkhaz and South Ossetian independence. Apayev quotes such people as saying, "we don't want to live in this kind of Russia."

U.S. State Department Spokesman Sean McCormick said Tuesday that Russian officials need to investigate the circumstances of Yevloyev's death and people need to be held to account for what happened. An Ingush Interior Ministry¹⁵ spokesman told VOA the case is being investigated.

1 volatile   

adj.反复无常的，挥发性的，稍纵即逝的，脾气火爆的；n.挥发性物质

参考例句：

• With the markets being so volatile,investments are at great risk.由于市场那么变化不定，投资冒着很大的风险。
• His character was weak and volatile.他这个人意志薄弱，喜怒无常。

2 demonstration   

n.表明，示范，论证，示威

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。

3 proponent   

n.建议者；支持者；adj.建议的

参考例句：

• Stapp became a strong early proponent of automobile seat belts.斯塔普是力主在汽车上采用座椅安全带的早期倡导者。
• Halsey was identified as a leading proponent of the values of progressive education.哈尔西被认为是进步教育价值观的主要支持者。

4 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

5 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

6 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》

7 devout   

adj.虔诚的，虔敬的，衷心的 (n.devoutness)

参考例句：

• His devout Catholicism appeals to ordinary people.他对天主教的虔诚信仰感染了普通民众。
• The devout man prayed daily.那位虔诚的男士每天都祈祷。

8 skull   

n.头骨；颅骨

参考例句：

• The skull bones fuse between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five.头骨在15至25岁之间长合。
• He fell out of the window and cracked his skull.他从窗子摔了出去，跌裂了颅骨。

9 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

10 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

11 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

12 repression   

n.镇压，抑制，抑压

参考例句：

• The repression of your true feelings is harmful to your health.压抑你的真实感情有害健康。
• This touched off a new storm against violent repression.这引起了反对暴力镇压的新风暴。

13 seceding   

v.脱离，退出( secede的现在分词 )

参考例句：

14 secede   

v.退出，脱离

参考例句：

• They plotted to make the whole Mississippi Valley secede from the United States.他们阴谋策划使整个密西西比流域脱离美国。
• We won't allow Tibet to secede from China and become an independent nation.我们决不允许西藏脱离中国独立。

15 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。