VOA标准英语2012--Mubarak Verdict Resounds Through Divided Egypt

（单词翻译）

Mubarak Verdict Resounds¹ Through Divided Egypt

The crowd outside the courthouse gathered around any screen they could find to see the historic moment unfold.

"Firstly, Mohammed Hosni al-Sayyid Mubarak is sentenced to life in prison for his role in the killing² of protesters," the judge announced.

The reaction was instant. Anti-Mubarak protesters embraced, fell to their knees in prayer, and wept. The sound of fireworks echoed through the crowd.

For some, it was a moment of celebration, but also remembrance. Mohammed held a picture of his brother Bilal, killed during the first days of the uprising.

“Like all the martyrs³, he went out to ask for bread, freedom and equality, but he got a bullet from - I don't want to use a dirty word, but I'll say it - one of the dogs of the deposed⁴ regime,” Mohammed said angrily.

Row after row of security forces secured the courthouse. On the far side, a handful of supporters of the man who led Egypt for nearly 30 years. They recalled a more stable nation before the revolution. 

“Supposedly he wasted money. Maybe he did. Maybe he didn't. But look what happened after him - what Egypt has lost,” supporter Hamada Abbas declared.

Defenders⁵ of the 84-year-old ex-president got some good news. Mubarak and his sons Gamal and Alaa were acquitted⁶ of corruption⁷ charges. And while the former leader's dreaded⁸ interior minister, Habib al-Adly, was also found guilty in the killings⁹, other top security officials were cleared.

It reminded some of the revolution itself: the leaders fell, but the next tier remained. The verdicts resounded¹⁰ through a nation divided over its next president: Islamist Mohamed Morsi, or Ahmed Shafiq, Mubarak's last prime minister.

But whatever lies ahead, for these Egyptians, this was a brief moment to savor¹¹.