VOA标准英语2010-Poland Mourns President

Besides the presidential couple, all other people on board the plane reportedly died, including the country's army chief, its deputy foreign minister, the Central Bank governor and scores of other officials, legislators and crew members.

Stefan Bos | Budapest 10 April 2010

 
Photo: AP
A huge crowd of mourners gathered in front of the Presidential Palace to pay tribute to late Polish President Lech Kaczynski, in Warsaw, Poland, 10 Apr 2010

Poles are mourning their president Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria who were among those killed in a plane crash in Western Russia. The speaker of parliament has taken over presidential duties in preparation for what will be early elections.

 

Poland's speaker of parliament, Bronislaw Komorowski, became the country's interim¹ head of state Saturday after Polish radio adjusted its regular programming to announce that President Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria were among those killed in a plane crash in Western Russia.

New presidential elections are expected no later than June 20.

Officials said Prime Minister Donald Tusk², who held an emergency meeting of his Cabinet, wept when hearing about the plane crash.

Besides the presidential couple, all other people on board the plane reportedly died, including the country's army chief, its deputy foreign minister, the Central Bank governor and scores of other officials, legislators and crew members.

The aircraft crashed while the 60-year old President Kaczynski was on his way to memorial ceremonies at Russia's Katyn area, where 22,000 Poles were killed by Soviet³ forces, 70 years ago.

Previous Polish President Alexander Kwasniewski described the accident on Polish television as one of his country's biggest tragedies since the Katyn massacre⁴.

He said people often say that nobody is indispensable. But, in his words, those who were killed on board the plane were all "irreplaceable". He explained that 70 years after thousands of Poles were wiped out during the Katyn massacre, "once again the elite⁵ of the country have been killed."

At the site where the commemoration was to take place a funeral service was held with people, some of them crying, saying prayers for those who died.

Poland's first post communist president, and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Lech Walesa also mourned Mr. Kaczynski's death Saturday, despite tensions between the two men.

The late president had accused Walesa of spying for the Communist-secret service. Walesa, who has denied the charges, told Polish television however he will miss the president.

He explains that despite their differences the plane crash in Russia is "a great loss for the nation, which will be difficult to overcome."

And as the country prepared for a period of mourning, people were seen lighting⁶ candles and placing flowers in front of the Presidential Palace in Poland's capital Warsaw.

Special masses to remember the victims were also to be held later Saturday in Poland, a heavily Catholic nation, including in Warsaw and the city of Krakow.

 

1 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。

2 tusk   

n.獠牙，长牙，象牙

参考例句：

• The wild boar had its tusk sunk deeply into a tree and howled desperately.野猪的獠牙陷在了树里，绝望地嗥叫着。
• A huge tusk decorated the wall of his study.他书房的墙上装饰着一支巨大的象牙。

3 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。

4 massacre   

n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀

参考例句：

• There was a terrible massacre of villagers here during the war.在战争中，这里的村民惨遭屠杀。
• If we forget the massacre,the massacre will happen again!忘记了大屠杀，大屠杀就有可能再次发生！

5 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

6 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。