必克BBC新聞：與美國建交能否令古巴走向自由？

 

必克BBC新聞，每日一聽，聆聽世界，提升自我。

小編與您共進步！

Good morning. As we heard on this programme yesterday Cuba still arouses strong feelings. On the one hand there are severe restrictions on personal freedoms, with political opponents of the regime still in jail.

On the other hand Cuba’s outstanding medical service is put at the service of the rest of the world. Since the revolution in 1959 30,000 health professionals have been deployed in 103 countries.

More than 250 Cuban are now fighting Ebola in West Africa, more than any other country.

What we have in Cuba is just one example of an issue which dominated the 20th century and which is still present with us in one form or another.

It is what happens when a self-selected elite obtains power and seeks to rule in the name of a greater justice-that justice might be ideological as in Cuba, political as in Putin’s Russia or religious.

The key point is that those in power decide what this justice is. What they forget is that all our human motives are mixed, that however sincere we think we are there will almost certainly be an element of self-interest, and we will try to hang on to power if we feel our self-interest is threatened.

It is an example of what the Christian Church means by that very unfashionable word “Original sin”-though as someone once said it is in fact the one Christian doctrine we should have no problem at all in believing.

That’s why no elite, however seemingly wise or good, should be trusted with absolute power. Liberty, said Thomas Hobbes, is power cut up into little pieces.

But if it is all cut up into little pieces, with everyone out for themselves, what happens to justice for the weak?

One of my intellectual heroes is the American thinker Reinhold Niebuhr. He once wrote: Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible; but man’s inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.

There is a strain of decency in every human being, a desire for justice-and that is the positive argument for democracy. But the inclination to injustice also has to be taken into account.

Because no elite can be totally trusted there must be checks and balances on governments and in the end a way of getting rid of them peacefully.

Cuba may not have got it right yet. Nevertheless is there something other societies, including our own, can learn from them?- In how we can best hold together those two crucial values of liberty and justice?

詞匯解析

survey

難度：5星基本詞匯，屬常用1000詞

英漢解釋

n.問卷；測量；調查；縱覽；視察

v.調查；審視；研究；測量；勘定；環視

參考例句

用作名詞 (n.)

A recent survey of public opinions shows that most people are worried about the increasing crime.

一份最近的民意調查表明,大多數人對不斷增長的犯罪率表示憂慮。

用作動詞 (v.)

They surveyed the damage inflicted by the storm.

他們調查了暴風雨造成的損失。

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switch

難度：4星核心詞匯，屬常用3000詞

英漢解釋

n.轉換；開關；鞭子

v.改變；交換；轉換；鞭打

參考例句

用作名詞 (n.)

In his hand he held a switch which was as supple as a vine-shoot and as heavy as iron.

他手里拿著一條鞭子，象葡萄藤那樣軟，又象鐵那么重。

用作動詞 (v.)

No, hold it a second, switch that to roast chicken.

不，等一等，把那個換成烤子雞。

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rely

難度：4星核心詞匯，屬常用3000詞

英漢解釋

vi.依靠；信任

參考例句

用作不及物動詞 (vi.)

We are relying on your decision.

我們相信你的判斷。

I rely on getting my money back in due time.

我相信到期時可以收回我的錢。

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strategic

難度：3星常用詞匯，屬常用6000詞

英漢解釋

adj.戰略的；重要的；基本的

參考例句

用作形容詞 (adj.)

We made a strategic withdrawal, so that we could build up our forces for a renewed attack.

我們作了一次戰略性退卻，以便我們能積蓄力量再次進攻。

At this meeting we grappled with the most important, strategic issues in our economic relationship.

在本次會議期間，我們重點討論了兩國經濟關系中最重要的戰略問題。

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employer

英漢解釋

n.雇主

參考例句

用作名詞 (n.)

He sued his employer for wrongful dismissal.

他控告雇主非法解雇他。

He was in his employer's good graces.

他深得雇主的賞識。

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Soviet

難度：3星常用詞匯，屬常用6000詞

英漢解釋

adj.蘇聯的；蘇維埃的

n.蘇維埃

參考例句

用作形容詞 (adj.)

Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.

朱可夫是前蘇聯的一位元帥。

用作名詞 (n.)

The Soviet base would not soon collapse.

蘇維埃的基礎不會馬上崩潰的。

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satellite

難度：4星核心詞匯，屬常用3000詞

英漢解釋

n.衛星；人造衛星

參考例句

用作名詞 (n.)

The bbc is hooked up with Australian television by satellite.

英國廣播公司通過衛星與澳大利亞電視實行聯播。

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