2014届高考英语考前突破阅读理解能力：《非洲国民大会举行曼德拉遗体告别仪式》.docVIP

非洲国民大会举行曼德拉遗体告别仪式 Members of the African National Congress have been paying final tributes to Nelson Mandela at a ceremony ahead of Sundays funeral. 非洲国民大会的成员先于周日葬礼前向纳尔逊·曼德拉的遗体做最终告别。 ? President Jacob Zuma and other ANC leaders attended the ceremony at a Pretoria airbase. ? Mr Mandelas coffin, draped with the ANC flag, was taken there from a mortuary（太平间） in the city.? ? After the farewell ceremony, the coffin will be taken to Mr Mandelas ancestral home in Qunu, in the Eastern Cape? ? At least 100,000 people saw the former South African presidents body lying in state in Pretoria over the last three days, but some had to be turned away. ? The 95-year-old former leader died on 5 December. ? Human chain ? More than 1,000 members of the ANC, which Mr Mandela once led, attended the ceremony at the Waterkloof air base.? ? US civil rights activist Jesse Jackson and Irelands Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams were among the foreign guests invited. ? Mourners heard President Zuma pay his own tribute to Nelson Mandela, calling him a towering figure, a man of action and a democrat who understood the world. ? Yes, we will miss him... He was our father, he was our guardian. He was something special. ? Well always keep you in our hearts, Mr Zuma said. ? After the ceremony the coffin will be flown to Mthatha airport in the Eastern Cape ahead of the burial in Qunu.? ? Chief mourners from Mandelas clan and family, as well as senior government officials, would accompany the coffin, army officials said.