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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
Peru's Toledo Faces Challenges
Greg Flakus
Lima
1 Aug 2001 05:01 UTC
The government of Peru's president-elect, Alejandro Toledo, has left the 1)fanfare of the past weekend's 2)inauguration behind and is into its first week of work. After the turmoil1 of last year, Peru's 25 million people are looking for a period of both political and economic stability. But, President Toledo may have little time to spare in meeting this challenge.
During his campaign and in his inaugural2 address last Saturday, Alejandro Toledo made clear his prime objective was to attack the problem of 3)poverty in Peru.
President Toledo says he is fully3 4)committed to 5)dedicating every minute of his life and his government to a full-scale war on poverty.
But the weapons on hand for this attack are limited and the problem is huge. The government's own 6)statistics show that 54 percent of the population lives below the 7)poverty line and 4.5 million people live in extreme poverty. One out of every four Peruvian children under the age of five is 8)chronically4 9)malnourished.
To make matters worse, Peru's economy is in 10)recession and the government is burdened by commitments to international lenders.
The political scene is fairly calm for the moment, but the 11)turmoil of last year has not been fully left behind. From his self-imposed 12)exile in Japan, former President Alberto Fujimori 13)snipes at the new government from his web site - 14)energizing his supporters back here in Peru.
From his office, with a 15)balcony overlooking Lima's main 16)plaza, Caretas Magazine Publisher Enrique Zileri surveys the difficulties ahead for President Toledo and his team. "This is a government that is going to have big problems, in the beginning," he says. "It has been promising5 a lot. All 17)candidates in the last elections promised a lot. Now is the time to get into the bullring and the bull comes out and let us see how you handle the situation."
Mr. Zileri says part of the problem is there was an eight-month gap between the time when President Alberto Fujimori left Peru, under a cloud of 18)corruption7 charges, and the start of the Toledo Administration. He says the interim8 government's success has set the public's expectations for President Toledo even higher. "He is going to have a very short 19)honeymoon9 because part of his honeymoon has been eaten up by the transition government," says Mr. Zileri, " the government that took power when Fujimori left, or fled, and this transitional government, miraculously10, handled the situation beautifully and it comes out in 20)glory."
Mr. Zileri says that, to some extent, President Toledo will now be judged in comparison to the interim government that preceded him, rather than to the 21)discredited11 Fujimori government.
Mr. Fujimori is now viewed as a villain12 by many Peruvians, but Mr. Zileri notes that not all of his ten years in office was marked by corruption and failure. He says Mr. Fujimori's main achievement was defeating the 22)vicious 23)insurgent13 group known as the Sendero Luminoso, or Shining Path. This Maoist group recruited thousands of poor Indian peasants during the 1970's and 1980's and was responsible for bombings in Lima, as well as murders throughout the countryside. Now that both the Fujimori government and the Peruvian military have been 24)tainted by 25)scandal, there is fear that radical14 elements could see an opportunity to rise again. Enrique Zileri says the breeding ground for such insurgency15 is found in the poverty and 26)desperation prevalent in Peru's rural areas. "The elements for a new Shining Path have not disappeared in this country," he says. "You have a tremendous amount of unemployment. The social ingredients for an insurgency are still here. This is the thing we have to fight, the basis of the whole possibility of violence. The basis for these things are social and economic and the drug-running and so forth16. The best way to deal with them, in the long run, is through democratic solutions."
Mr. Zileri says the Fujimori government succeeded in defeating insurgent groups militarily, but it became autocratic and corrupt6 over time. He says President Toledo must attack poverty and injustice17, but that is not all. He says the president must make clear that there is no alternative to the peaceful, democratic process in Peru and that no attempts to 27)undermine it will be tolerated.
(1) fanfare[5fAnfeE(r)]n.喇叭或号角嘹亮的吹奏声, 吹牛
(2) inauguration[InC:^jJ5reIF(E)n]n.就职典礼, 开幕式
(3) poverty[5pRvEtI]n.贫穷, 贫困, 贫乏, 缺少
(4) committed adj.效忠的;忠于…的
(5) dedicate[5dedIkeIt]vt.献(身), 致力, 题献(一部著作给某人)
(6) statistics[stE5tIstIks]n.统计学, 统计表
(7) poverty line n. 贫困线,贫穷线
(8) chronically adv.慢性地, 习惯性地, 长期地
(9) malnourished[mAl5nQrIFt; (?@) -5n:-]adj.营养失调的, 营养不良的
(10) recession[rI5seF(E)n]n.撤回, 退回,工商业之衰退, 不景气
(11) turmoil[5t:mCIl]n.骚动, 混乱
(12) exile[5eksaIl, 5e^saIl]n.放逐, 充军, 流放vt.流放, 使背井离乡
(13) snipe[snaIp]vi.猎鸟, 狙击, 诽谤vt.狙击
(14) energize[5enEdVaIz]vt.使活跃, 给予精力, 加强vi.用力, 活动
(15) balcony[5bAlkEnI]n.阳台, 包厢, (戏院)楼厅
(16) plaza[5plB:zE; (?@) 5plAzE]n.广场, 露天汽车停车场, 购物中心
(17) candidate[5kAndIdEt; (?@) 5kAndIdeIt]n.候选人, 投考者
(18) corruption[kE5rQpF(E)n]n.腐败, 贪污, 堕落
(19) honeymoon[5hQnImu:n]n.蜜月vi.度蜜月v.度蜜月
(20) glory[5^lC:rI]n.荣誉, 光荣
(21) discredited adj.不足信的, 不名誉的
(22) vicious[5vIFEs]adj.恶的, 堕落的, 品性不端的, 有错误的
(23) insurgent[In5s:dVEnt]adj.起义的
(24) taint[teInt]v.感染n.污点
(25) scandal[5skAnd(E)l]n.丑行,丑闻,诽谤,耻辱,流言蜚语
(26) desperation[despE5reIF(E)n]n.绝望
(27) undermine[QndE5maIn]v.破坏
1 turmoil | |
n.骚乱,混乱,动乱 | |
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2 inaugural | |
adj.就职的;n.就职典礼 | |
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3 fully | |
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地 | |
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4 chronically | |
ad.长期地 | |
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5 promising | |
adj.有希望的,有前途的 | |
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6 corrupt | |
v.贿赂,收买;adj.腐败的,贪污的 | |
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7 corruption | |
n.腐败,堕落,贪污 | |
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8 interim | |
adj.暂时的,临时的;n.间歇,过渡期间 | |
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9 honeymoon | |
n.蜜月(假期);vi.度蜜月 | |
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10 miraculously | |
ad.奇迹般地 | |
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11 discredited | |
不足信的,不名誉的 | |
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12 villain | |
n.反派演员,反面人物;恶棍;问题的起因 | |
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13 insurgent | |
adj.叛乱的,起事的;n.叛乱分子 | |
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14 radical | |
n.激进份子,原子团,根号;adj.根本的,激进的,彻底的 | |
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15 insurgency | |
n.起义;暴动;叛变 | |
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16 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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17 injustice | |
n.非正义,不公正,不公平,侵犯(别人的)权利 | |
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