VOA标准英语2009年-Winners of Video Challenge Create Videos o

By Deborah Block
Washington
24 September 2009

What is democracy? That is the question more than 900 people from 95 countries answered by submitting original, short videos to the first Democracy Video Challenge. The competition was sponsored by several private groups in the United States as well as the U.S. State Department.  Six winners were selected from different regions of the world.

 
Chansa Tembo accepts an award from US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton
The videos that won the Democracy Video Challenge show that democracy can be interpreted in many ways, such as by fruits blended together, or a tree planted in the desert. 

The winners come from Zambia, Brazil, Nepal, Poland, Philippines and the United Arab Emirates. 

Zambian Chansa Tembo owns a small video production business. He compares democracy to a blend of different fruits called a smoothie. "And I thought about democracy, and I thought we all have to get along somehow. You might not like an orange, you might not like a banana by itself, but if you combine different fruits together, you might actually be able to produce something which is consumable by the whole society," he states.

In Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton handed out the awards and quoted some of the words about democracy in the videos. "It is fueled by the voice of the masses. It empowers the individual to make the individual powerful.  It's a smoothie, 'I like that,' blending philosophical¹ ideas, cultural norms and aesthetic² values," Mrs. Clinton said.

 
Rodin Hamidi illustrates³ democracy by planting a tree in the desert
Photographer Rodin Hamidi lives in the United Arab Emirates. He left his native Iran three years ago because of a lack of creative freedom. His video shows that democracy requires persistence⁴, even when others try to destroy it.

"Everywhere you can plant this tree of democracy, which I use as a symbol. The guy is the symbol of intellectuals, people who believe in democracy. He's responsible for planting a plant, even if there are so many obstacles in his way," Hamidi states.

Lukasz Szozda is a video animator from Poland. His video maintains that democracy incorporates many ideas.  "There are some simple truths in it that can be used for good like tolerance⁵, freedom of speech and," he says, "freedom of decision."

Anna Carolina does Santos Israel from Brazil borrowed a non-professional camera to create her video. She used her 13 year old sister as a model and shot different parts of her body to show that democracy is about working together. 

"Society has all these different parts which are made up of different people who want different things. Democracy should be a dialogue among all these parts, so they can reach a consensus," Carolina states.

The winners from Nepal and the Philippines examine the problems of democracy. 

Filipino filmmaker Aissa Penafiel looks at what she believes is the abuse of democracy by her country's government. She portrays⁶ a man isolated⁷ in the darkness. "Even if there's a movement of the people, the ones in power still use democracy for their own sake, not for the sake of the people," she says, "which is completely the opposite of what democracy should be."

Magazine editor Tsering Choden from Nepal says democracy in her country is in chaos⁸. "Because of everybody trying to move together but having different ideologies⁹ and opinions. And that chaos I thought would be shown perfectly¹⁰ through the traffic and the movement we have," she explains.

The winners received a free trip to the United States, and are meeting with film directors, public officials, and democracy advocates.

1 philosophical   

adj.哲学家的，哲学上的，达观的

参考例句：

• The teacher couldn't answer the philosophical problem.老师不能解答这个哲学问题。
• She is very philosophical about her bad luck.她对自己的不幸看得很开。

2 aesthetic   

adj.美学的，审美的，有美感

参考例句：

• My aesthetic standards are quite different from his.我的审美标准与他的大不相同。
• The professor advanced a new aesthetic theory.那位教授提出了新的美学理论。

3 illustrates   

给…加插图( illustrate的第三人称单数 )； 说明； 表明； （用示例、图画等）说明

参考例句：

• This historical novel illustrates the breaking up of feudal society in microcosm. 这部历史小说是走向崩溃的封建社会的缩影。
• Alfred Adler, a famous doctor, had an experience which illustrates this. 阿尔弗莱德 - 阿德勒是一位著名的医生，他有过可以说明这点的经历。 来自中级百科部分

4 persistence   

n.坚持，持续，存留

参考例句：

• The persistence of a cough in his daughter puzzled him.他女儿持续的咳嗽把他难住了。
• He achieved success through dogged persistence.他靠着坚持不懈取得了成功。

5 tolerance   

n.宽容；容忍，忍受；耐药力；公差

参考例句：

• Tolerance is one of his strengths.宽容是他的一个优点。
• Human beings have limited tolerance of noise.人类对噪音的忍耐力有限。

6 portrays   

v.画像( portray的第三人称单数 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• The museum collection vividly portrays the heritage of 200 years of canals. 博物馆的藏品让运河200 年的历史再现眼前。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The film portrays Gandhi as a kind of superman. 这部电影把甘地描绘成一个超人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

8 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

9 ideologies   

n.思想（体系）( ideology的名词复数 )；思想意识；意识形态；观念形态

参考例句：

• There is no fundamental diversity between the two ideologies. 这两种思想意识之间并没有根本的分歧。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Radical ideologies require to contrast to their own goodness the wickedness of some other system. 凡是过激的意识形态，都需要有另外一个丑恶的制度作对比，才能衬托出自己的善良。 来自辞典例句

10 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。