This Day in History August 20

In Warsaw, Poland in 1955, a treaty had been made among eight communist countries in Eastern Europe. This became known as the Warsaw Pact, which ensured that each member state would defend the others if attacked. No one would have expected the members of the Pact to attack one of its own, but that's exactly what happened on this date in 1968. Roughly one hour before midnight, military forces from five Pact countries, predominately from the Soviet Union, invaded Czechoslovakia. The reason was that the leader of Czechoslovakia was promoting democracy by way of political reform, which was contrary to the spirit of communism.

歷史上的今天 8月20日…

1955 年8個東歐的共產國家在波蘭華沙簽署一項協定，這就是後來眾所皆知的「華沙公約」，目的是確保其中的會員國遭受攻擊時，其他會員國必須協同抵禦。沒人能預 料，他們竟會攻擊自己其中的一個會員國，但在1968年的今天，這樣的事確實發生了。大約在晚上11點，5個會員國軍隊（其中大多數來自蘇聯）入侵捷克斯 洛伐克，原因是捷克斯洛伐克領導人正藉由政治改革推動民主，而這和共產主義的精神背道而馳。

知識大補帖

1968年1月5日，捷克斯洛伐克境內的一場政治民主化 （democratization）運動正式展開，時稱「布拉格之春」（Prague Spring）。在國家領導人亞歷山大．度布切克（Alexander Dubček）的領導下，捷克斯洛伐克愈來愈有強烈獨立（independence）傾向，他當時提出「帶有人性面孔的社會主義」構想，但蘇聯卻視它為對 其領導地位的挑戰，也對東歐地區的政治穩定造成威脅，便於同年8月20日和華沙公約組織（Warsaw Treaty Organization）的會員國，以武裝入侵捷克斯洛伐克（圖，網路照片），結束了這場民主化運動。

單字片語

◎treaty
n.協定，條約
˙peace treatyn.和平條約
◎communist
a.共產主義的& n.共產主義者
◎communism
n.共產主義
◎pact
n.協定；條款
◎ensure
vt.確保，保證
˙ensure + that子句
保證／確保……
˙ensure sth 確保某事
例：The company took measures to ensure its products success.（該公司採取措施以確保其產品大賣。）
◎defend
vt.保衛；防禦
◎roughly
adv.大致地，大約
◎predominately
adv.佔絕大多數地
◎invade
vt.入侵，侵略
◎democracy
n.民主