VOA标准英语2009-State Funeral for Former Sudanese President

Thousands of Sudanese attended a state funeral for former president Jaafar Nimeiri, who led the country from 1969 to 1985. Mr. Nimeiri died Saturday, at age 79.
　
A Sudanese holds a poster showing former Sudanese President Gaafar Numeiri during his military funeral in Omdurman, Khartoum, 31 May 2009

Sudanese soldiers carried Jaafar Nimeiri's flag-draped body from the presidential palace in Khartoum to a cemetery¹ in Omdurman, the capital's sister city across the Nile river.

President Omar al-Bashir addressed a ceremony at a stadium in Omdurman.

May God bless him and may he rest in peace. He said Mr. Nimeiri would be remembered for bringing Islamic Sharia law to the country, and said he had built the foundations for modern Sudan.

A military officer who had studied at an army staff college in the United States, Colonel Nimeiri seized power from president Ismail Azhari in a coup² in 1969, following the example of Egypt's Gamal Abdel Nasser.

The move had the backing of communist and socialist³ military officers, but he soon fell out with his supporters, embracing an alliance with the United States and surviving coup attempts by communist officers.

In 1972 he signed an agreement to end Sudan's first north-south civil war, which began in 1955. And in 1978, he broke with other Arab leaders in backing the Camp David accords between Egypt and Israel.

While President Nimeiri had initially⁴ cracked down on Islamic activists⁵, by 1983 he had embraced Islamism in an attempt to boost his popularity, which had suffered along with the country's economy. He introduced Islamic law in the country, including in the mostly non-Islamic south, helping⁶ to set off the second north-south civil war, which would last until 2005.

President Nimeiri was overthrown⁷ in a coup in 1985, while on a visit to the United States, and spent 14 years in exile in neighboring Egypt. President Bashir allowed him to return to Sudan in 1999 and he led an unsuccessful run for president in elections in 2000.

The Sudanese government said Mr. Nimeiri had long been suffering form an unspecified illness.

1 cemetery   

n.坟墓，墓地，坟场

参考例句：

• He was buried in the cemetery.他被葬在公墓。
• His remains were interred in the cemetery.他的遗体葬在墓地。

2 coup   

n.政变；突然而成功的行动

参考例句：

• The monarch was ousted by a military coup.那君主被军事政变者废黜了。
• That government was overthrown in a military coup three years ago.那个政府在3年前的军事政变中被推翻。

3 socialist   

n.社会主义者；adj.社会主义的

参考例句：

• China is a socialist country,and a developing country as well.中国是一个社会主义国家，也是一个发展中国家。
• His father was an ardent socialist.他父亲是一个热情的社会主义者。

4 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

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 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

7 overthrown   

adj. 打翻的，推倒的，倾覆的 动词overthrow的过去分词

参考例句：

• The president was overthrown in a military coup. 总统在军事政变中被赶下台。
• He has overthrown the basic standards of morality. 他已摒弃了基本的道德标准。