Obama Meets With European Leaders In Poland

     President Barack Obama is in Poland, in an effort to strengthen relationships in Eastern and Central Europe, and to ask support for emerging Arab democracies(民主国家).  Our correspondent reports from Warsaw, the final stop on the president's six-day, four-nation European tour.

    President Obama Friday began his first trip to Poland by paying tribute to the country's 20th-century war dead at its Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

    Then, the president laid a wreath at the Monument to the Ghetto¹ Heroes.  The granite² monument marks the 1943 uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto and the persecution³ of Polish Jews.

    Later, Mr. Obama hosted a working dinner for the presidents of 18 countries taking part in the Central European summit.

    As the dinner began, Mr. Obama told the leaders the United States has taken great inspiration from the blossoming of freedom and economic growth in Eastern and Central Europe.

    Serbia and Romania boycotted⁴ the dinner, to protest the inclusion of the president of Kosovo, a country they do not recognize.

    The folliwing countries were represented at the dinner: Albania, Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine, as well as Poland.

    Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski officially welcomes Mr. Obama on Saturday.  The two leaders will discuss trade issues, including the exploration of the shale⁵ gas found under Poland.

    They will also likely talk about an agreement to station U.S. F-16 fighter jets in Poland, a deal Russia opposes.  Cooperation on the war in Afghanistan will probably be on the agenda as well.

    Another likely topic of conversation is support for emerging democracies in the Middle East and North Africa, which administration officials have compared to the former communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe two decades ago.

    And Polish officials may bring up the problem of Poles having to obtain visas to travel to the U.S.

    Mr. Obama is expected to discuss many of the same issues later in the day with Prime Minister Donald Tusk⁶.

    Former Polish president and Solidarity⁷ labor⁸ leader Lech Walesa declined an invitation to meet with Mr. Obama and Polish political leaders on Saturday.  His only explanation was, “It did not suit me.”  Previous U.S. presidents have met with Mr. Walesa one-on-one.

    Before returning to Washington, Mr. Obama will lay a wreath in memory of Polish President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others who died in a plane crash in Russia last year.

    Mr. Obama had planned to attend memorial services for the crash victims, but was prevented from flying to Poland by a large cloud of volcanic⁹ ash blanketing much of Europe.(本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑)

1 ghetto   

n.少数民族聚居区，贫民区

参考例句：

• Racism and crime still flourish in the ghetto.城市贫民区的种族主义和犯罪仍然十分猖獗。
• I saw that achievement as a possible pattern for the entire ghetto.我把获得的成就看作整个黑人区可以仿效的榜样。

2 granite   

adj.花岗岩，花岗石

参考例句：

• They squared a block of granite.他们把一块花岗岩加工成四方形。
• The granite overlies the older rocks.花岗岩躺在磨损的岩石上面。

3 persecution   

n. 迫害,烦扰

参考例句：

• He had fled from France at the time of the persecution. 他在大迫害时期逃离了法国。
• Their persecution only serves to arouse the opposition of the people. 他们的迫害只激起人民对他们的反抗。

4 boycotted   

抵制，拒绝参加( boycott的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Athletes from several countries boycotted the Olympic Games. 有好几国的运动员抵制奥林匹克运动会。
• The opposition party earlier boycotted the Diet agenda, demanding Miyaji's resignation. 反对党曾杯葛国会议程，要宫路下台。

5 shale   

n.页岩，泥板岩

参考例句：

• We can extract oil from shale.我们可以从页岩中提取石油。
• Most of the rock in this mountain is shale.这座山上大部分的岩石都是页岩。

6 tusk   

n.獠牙，长牙，象牙

参考例句：

• The wild boar had its tusk sunk deeply into a tree and howled desperately.野猪的獠牙陷在了树里，绝望地嗥叫着。
• A huge tusk decorated the wall of his study.他书房的墙上装饰着一支巨大的象牙。

7 solidarity   

n.团结；休戚相关

参考例句：

• They must preserve their solidarity.他们必须维护他们的团结。
• The solidarity among China's various nationalities is as firm as a rock.中国各族人民之间的团结坚如磐石。

8 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

9 volcanic   

adj.火山的；象火山的；由火山引起的

参考例句：

• There have been several volcanic eruptions this year.今年火山爆发了好几次。
• Volcanic activity has created thermal springs and boiling mud pools.火山活动产生了温泉和沸腾的泥浆池。