VOA标准英语2010年-US Very Popular in Most Populous Musli

Indonesian filmmaker Damien Dematra talks during a press conference about his upcoming movie about the childhood of U.S. President Barack Obama that portrays¹ how the diversity of Jakarta influenced the future president [file photo]

A recent Pew survey indicates a majority of people in most Muslim countries hold overwhelmingly negative views of the United States. The one exception is Indonesia, where President Barack Obama lived as a boy. Despite the fact that President Obama has twice canceled state visits there, he and the U.S. remain popular.

A new movie entitled Obama Anak Mentang, about President Barack Obama's teen years living in Indonesia, will debut² soon in Jakarta. The film's director Damien Dematra says his movie reinforces the strong personal connection most Indonesians feel with the U.S. president.

"We just love the idea of having the most powerful man on Earth, you know, raised in a country like us. So we produce a world leader anyway and we should be proud of that," Dematra said.

According to a recent Pew survey, Indonesia is virtually the only Muslim majority country where the United States is popular. Anis Baswedan a political analyst³ and president of Paramadina University in Jakarta, says most people understood the ongoing⁴ oil spill in the Gulf⁵ and other domestic concerns that forced Mr. Obama to twice cancel state visits to Indonesia. For Indonesians, he says the U.S. President remains⁶ a symbol of America's promise of inclusion and equality.

"The the United States is a melting pot of any nations you can name it on earth," said Baswedan. "It's there. Same like Indonesia, we have hundreds of languages and we live under the same principle unity⁷ in diversity."

Some reasons for negative views of U.S. in Muslim countries:

Indonesian views of the United States have been tempered by what many say has been the lack of change in U.S. foreign policy toward the Muslim world. Critics say there has been little progress in ending the ongoing U.S. military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan.

And President Obama's refusal to strongly condemn⁸ Israel after it attacked a flotilla carrying activists⁹ and aid to the blockaded Palestinian city of Gaza, angered demonstrators like university student Sahid Sundana.

He says President Obama has to prevent Israel from doing this kind of thing, and not to protect or cover up for Israel.

Baswedan says there is growing concern that President Obama cannot live up to high expectations Indonesians have set for him.

"We are seeing the same one who has legitimacy¹⁰ on both sides of the world and able to capitalize those, but the progress we have seen is rather minimal," Baswedan said.

Baswedan says the personal affection Indonesians hold for President Obama and the United States will not last if he does not deliver on his promise of change.

 

1 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》

2 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

3 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

4 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

5 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

6 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。

7 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

8 condemn   

vt.谴责，指责；宣判(罪犯)，判刑

参考例句：

• Some praise him,whereas others condemn him.有些人赞扬他，而有些人谴责他。
• We mustn't condemn him on mere suppositions.我们不可全凭臆测来指责他。

9 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》

10 legitimacy   

n.合法，正当

参考例句：

• The newspaper was directly challenging the government's legitimacy.报纸直接质疑政府的合法性。
• Managing from the top down,we operate with full legitimacy.我们进行由上而下的管理有充分的合法性。