金融時(shí)報(bào):柏林墻的倒塌與今天

柏林墻的倒塌與今天

柏林墻的倒塌不僅是25年前東歐劇變的象征，直到今天它仍有巨大的現(xiàn)實(shí)意義，它提供了一個(gè)“永久性撫平過(guò)去的傷痕”的機(jī)會(huì)。FT歐洲版主編托尼·巴伯寫道。

測(cè)試中可能遇到的詞匯和知識(shí)：

Yugoslavia 曾經(jīng)的東歐多民族國(guó)家南斯拉夫

goulash communism （匈牙利）“土豆燒牛肉共產(chǎn)主義”，在蘇東陣營(yíng)中匈牙利的經(jīng)濟(jì)和社會(huì)都有更多的自由成分，居民生活水平較高，goulash是世界名菜匈牙利燉牛肉

Solidarity [,s?l?'dær?t?] 波蘭團(tuán)結(jié)工會(huì)，它在1989年的上臺(tái)執(zhí)政是整個(gè)東歐劇變的序幕

homogenous [h?'m?d??n?s] 同質(zhì)化的

megalomaniac [,meɡ?l?u'meiniæk] 妄自尊大的

Fall of Berlin Wall remains region's best chance to heal wounds（717 words）

Tony Barber, FT European edition editor, November 5, 2014

In his new book The Trouble with History, Adam Michnik, a courageous Polish dissident intellectual under communism, writes: “In Budapest in October 1956, officers of the communist apparatus were hanged on lampposts. In Poland [in 1989], not a single window was broken, and the dictatorship was overthrown by the ballot.”

(Budapest in 1956: Hungarians rebelled against soviet control, Soviet Union army later put it down, killing thousands.)

Even at 25 years' distance from that world-changing event, the fall of the Berlin Wall, what inspires admiration is the civilised manner in which the people of Poland, Hungary, East Germany and Czechoslovakia – with varying degrees of help from reformers inside the power apparatus – dismantled communist regimes that had oppressed them since the late 1940s.

The peaceful change that underpinned the rebirth of Poland and Hungary, the unification of East and West Germany in 1990 and Czechoslovakia's “velvet divorce” in 1993 into separate Czech and Slovak states was a precondition for each country's success. Where violence accompanied the end of communism, as in the former Yugoslavia, progress has been more uneven.

The collective term “eastern Europe” made little sense in the communist era, given the conspicuous differences in each country's history, economy, ethnic composition, one-party system and relationship with Moscow. It makes even less sense today – except insofar as all identify security and prosperity with Nato and the EU, of which they are members or partners.

As David Lipton, the International Monetary Fund's first deputy managing director, says in 25 Years of Transition, an IMF report: “After years of isolation from the western economic system, and after the distortions and deprivations of the communist system, most citizens just wanted to live in a normal country with a normal economy and, given their history and geography, that vision was captured in the allure of integrating with western Europe.”

Not everything is “normal” in the region. Per capita gross domestic product in Poland, which in some respects is the star economic performer, is slightly more than half that of Germany. This is a big improvement from 1989, when it was about a third, but there remains much catching up to do.

Hungary used to practise a moderate form of “goulash communism” that augured well for the post-1989 democratic era. Now the government of Viktor Orban, prime minister, stands accused even by Hungary's allies, including the US, of authoritarian tendencies. Elsewhere, post-communist governments struggle with corruption, organised crime and political interference with judiciaries.

Across the region, especially in Poland and the Baltic states, concerns are deepening over Russia's foreign and military policy – in contrast to 1989. For that year's revolutions would never have occurred without bloodshed had not Mikhail Gorbachev, the reformist Kremlin leader, declined to use force – beyond Soviet borders, at least – to retain the European empire conquered in the second world war.

Two other factors were important. Opposition leaders such as Václav Havel, the Czech philosopher-playwright, and Lech Walesa, the Polish shipyard electrician and Solidarity leader, were profoundly committed to non-violence – as were pro-democracy activists in East Germany, who learnt much from West Germany's peace movement in the 1980s.

Meanwhile, forced population transfers after 1945 had removed millions of ethnic Germans from Czechoslovakia and Poland, ensuring that democracy came with a sense of reborn identity embraced by homogenous populations. By contrast, former Yugoslavia – and to a lesser extent Bulgaria, with its Turkish minority – simmered with ethnic rivalries that were manipulated by threatened communist elites playing nationalist cards.

Yugoslavia broke up in a decade-long bloodbath, reminiscent of the 1940s, involving Serbs, Croats, Bosnian Muslims, Macedonians and Kosovo's ethnic Albanians. Slovenia was fortunate, avoiding the fate of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and Kosovo largely because it contained few Serbs.

Outside Yugoslavia the end of communism was not wholly peaceful. Hundreds were killed in the December 1989 revolution that overthrew Nicolae Ceausescu, who, with his wife Elena, had misruled Romania for half the communist era like some megalomaniac Byzantine emperor. Deadly clashes erupted in January 1991 in Latvia and Lithuania as Soviet forces attacked pro-independence Baltic patriots.

Violence and foreign overlordship streak the region's history like awful scars. But the 1989 revolutions were, and remain, its best chance to heal these wounds once and for all.

請(qǐng)根據(jù)你所讀到的文章內(nèi)容，完成以下自測(cè)題目：

1.What had helped Germany's reunification?

A.Poland kicked out its ethnic Germans after that.

B.East German opposition was encouraged by “velvet divorce”.

C.Gorbachev declined to use force in east Europe.

答案(1)

2.Which eastern European country's transition fell into “a decade-long bloodbath”?

A.Latvia.

B.Yugoslavia.

C.Poland.

D.Czechoslovakia.

答案(2)

3.What do some post-socialist governments usually struggle with?

A.Corruption and organized crime.

B.Ethnic conflict.

C.Economic growth.

D.Whether to join the EU or befriend Russia.

答案(3)

* * *

(1)答案：C.Gorbachev declined to use force in east Europe.

解釋：東歐國(guó)家在二戰(zhàn)后將本國(guó)境內(nèi)的德意志人趕走，這幾十年后無(wú)意中避免了轉(zhuǎn)型中的民族沖突。戈?duì)柊蛦谭虿幌駧酌叭文菢訉?duì)東歐的動(dòng)蕩使用武力，促成了德國(guó)的和平統(tǒng)一。“天鵝絨離婚”發(fā)生在德國(guó)統(tǒng)一之后。

(2)答案：B.Yugoslavia.

解釋：波蘭和捷克斯洛伐克是著名的和平轉(zhuǎn)型，而拉脫維亞一度遭到了蘇軍的鎮(zhèn)壓，南斯拉夫則是陷入了血腥的多年內(nèi)戰(zhàn)。

(3)答案：A.Corruption and organized crime.

解釋：這個(gè)問(wèn)題也需要對(duì)通篇有了解，民族沖突在多數(shù)東歐國(guó)家并不常見(jiàn)，因?yàn)樗鼈兌嗍峭|(zhì)化的民族國(guó)家。腐敗和有組織犯罪是不小的問(wèn)題。而幾乎所有東歐國(guó)家都已經(jīng)加入了歐盟和北約。