閱讀理解
This year's Noble peace prize has been awarded jointly to three women- Liberian President Ellen Johnso Sirleaf, Liberian Leymah Gbowee and Tawakul Karman of Yemen．
They were recognised for their “non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace-building work”．Mrs Sirleaf is Africa's first female elected head of state, Ms Gbowee is a Liberian peace activist and Ms Karman is a leading figure in Yemen's pro-democracy movement．
“We cannot achieve democracy(民主)and lasting peace in the world unless women achieve the same opportunities as men to influence developments at all levels of society, ” said Nobel Committee chairman Thorbjorn Jagland in Oslo．He said the committee hoped the prize would “help to bring an end to the suppression(壓制)of women that still occurs in many countries, and to realise the great potential for democracy and peace that women can represent”．
But Mrs Sirleaf's main competitor this coming Tuesday, Winston Tubman, told the BBC she did not deserve the prize and was a “warmonger(好戰(zhàn)者)”。
Mrs Karman was recognised for playing a leading part in the struggle for women's rights in Yemen's pro-democracy protests “in the most trying circumstances” and is the first Arab woman to win the prize．
As the head of Yemeni organisation Women Journalists without Chanis, Mrs Karman has been imprisoned several times．
Mrs Karman told BBC she was dedicating(獻(xiàn)給) it to “all the dead and the wounded of the Arab Spring”- the wave of unrest which has swept the Middle East and North Africa in the past year-and to “all the free people who are fighting for their rights”．
