英语六级听力训练

Patrick Wells

March 21,2014

DONETSK, UKRAINE In Ukraines eastern city of Donetsk, locals remain divided about Crimeas recent vote to secede from Ukraine and join the Russian Federation. Residents are debating whether to hold a referendum on the future of their own region.

In central Donetsk, a core of pro-Russian activists can be found under the giant statue of Lenin, collecting signatures and money for their campaign.

Many are pensioners filled with nostalgia for Ukraines Soviet past and worried about what a future under the countrys new Europe-facing prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, might mean. Everything is unknown, we dont know what will happen to us, he said. He doesnt tell us anything.

And its not hard to see where this nostalgia for Soviet rule might come from. The boulevards of this divided city are filled with beautiful Soviet libraries, theaters and opera houses. There are also monuments to the dead of World War II, an event that still profoundly shapes the world view of many people here.

But among the younger generation, those legacies have faded. Lenins statue now faces a McDonalds fast-food restaurant packed with young students, many of whom question Russias stated motive of protecting ethnic Russians in Ukraine.