VOA标准英语2010-Racial Tensions High in South Africa Day

Joe DeCapua 07 April 2010

Racial tensions remain high in South Africa following the recent murder of white supremacist Eugene Terre’Blanche.

Wednesday, the ruling ANC party issued a statement urging restraint among its members.

 

Thousands of people showed up at the court house Tuesday when two blacks – a 15-year-old boy and a man in his late 20s – were arraigned¹ in the bludgeoning death.  Both had worked for Terre’Blanche. 

“Tensions are quite high in certain sections of the population at the moment,” says VOA reporter Delia Robertson in Johannesburg.

Color divide

“On the right, of course, there’s a lot of anger at Mr. Terre’Blanche’s murder.  And the AWB, or the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging, which is the organization he founded, is once again today threatening to avenge² his death,” she says.

 

Delia Robertson

Eugene Terreblanche at start of his 2001 manslaughter trial. He was convicted and served 3 years of a 6 year sentence for assaulting a black security guard

There’s also a lot of anger in many black communities, including many young South Africans.

“They feel that he was a divisive figure and had treated blacks poorly, particularly his employees,” she says.  “And…many of the people that I have spoken to have said one of the biggest issues being discussed in those communities is concern about retaliation³.”

Robertson says despite the perception of a unified⁴ country following the end of apartheid and the 1994 democratic elections, many social problems have been simmering.

“And it’s particularly caused by failure by some people to recognize that things need to change.  In youthful communities, certainly, it’s been caused by them leaving school and being unable to access jobs and living in poverty and looking a bleak⁵ future in the face,” she says.

She says Terre’Blanche’s murder has “exacerbated it.”

Motive⁶?

Police investigators⁷ allege⁸ the April 3rd killing⁹ stemmed from an argument over wages.  The mother of the younger suspect has said they had not been paid, despite repeated requests for the money.

“I think that we need to wait until the trial to determine whether in fact that was the cause, or whether anything else entered into it.  We don’t know,” Robertson says, “whether they had access to newspapers or radios where they might have heard the singing of the song Kill the Boer by ANC Youth League president Julius Malema.  We just don’t know what their state of mind was at the time, accepting that they seem to have been extremely angry given the type of assault that occurred.”

The courts have ordered Malema to refrain from singing the song out of concern that it could incite¹⁰ violence.

AWB

While Terre’Blanche was widely heard from during the apartheid years, he had not been in the media nearly as much since 1994.  But that may have been about to change.

“Just a few months ago,” Robertson says, “he announced that he was going to revive the AWB and that they would be holding meetings to do that.  And that they were going to launch a program working toward an independent country for Afrikaners.  But it’s unclear how far that had progressed.”

She adds, “The AWB movement had essentially¹¹ sort of disintegrated¹².  Now people are coalescing¹³ a bit.  But once again it remains¹⁴ to be seen by just how much they will regroup.” 

 

1 arraigned   

v.告发( arraign的过去式和过去分词 )；控告；传讯；指责

参考例句：

• He was arraigned for murder. 他因谋杀罪而被提讯。
• She was arraigned for high treason. 她被控叛国罪。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

2 avenge   

v.为...复仇，为...报仇

参考例句：

• He swore to avenge himself on the mafia.他发誓说要向黑手党报仇。
• He will avenge the people on their oppressor.他将为人民向压迫者报仇。

3 retaliation   

n.报复，反击

参考例句：

• retaliation against UN workers 对联合国工作人员的报复
• He never said a single word in retaliation. 他从未说过一句反击的话。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 unified   

(unify 的过去式和过去分词)； 统一的； 统一标准的； 一元化的

参考例句：

• The teacher unified the answer of her pupil with hers. 老师核对了学生的答案。
• The First Emperor of Qin unified China in 221 B.C. 秦始皇于公元前221年统一中国。

5 bleak   

adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的

参考例句：

• They showed me into a bleak waiting room.他们引我来到一间阴冷的会客室。
• The company's prospects look pretty bleak.这家公司的前景异常暗淡。

6 motive   

n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的

参考例句：

• The police could not find a motive for the murder.警察不能找到谋杀的动机。
• He had some motive in telling this fable.他讲这寓言故事是有用意的。

7 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 allege   

vt.宣称，申述，主张，断言

参考例句：

• The newspaper reporters allege that the man was murdered but they have given no proof.新闻记者们宣称这个男人是被谋杀的，但他们没提出证据。
• Students occasionally allege illness as the reason for absence.学生时不时会称病缺课。

9 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

10 incite   

v.引起，激动，煽动

参考例句：

• I wanted to point out he was a very good speaker, and could incite a crowd.我想说明他曾是一个非常出色的演讲家，非常会调动群众的情绪。
• Just a few words will incite him into action.他只需几句话一将，就会干。

11 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

12 disintegrated   

v.（使）破裂[分裂，粉碎]，（使）崩溃( disintegrate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The plane disintegrated as it fell into the sea. 飞机坠入大海时解体了。
• The box was so old;it just disintegrated when I picked it up. 那箱子太破旧了，我刚一提就散了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 coalescing   

v.联合，合并( coalesce的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• A mental model begins coalescing in their minds. 一个意识模型开始结合到他们的脑子里。 来自互联网
• On the basis of coalescing this kind of element can separate oil from compressed air. 采用凝聚原理，分离压缩空气中的油份。 来自互联网

14 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。