U.S., Russia Committed to Geneva Meeting on Syria

　　Foreign and defense¹ ministers from the United States and Russia have agreed to host a peace conference on Syria in Geneva as soon as possible.

 

　　The consensus² was reached between the two sides following their "2+2" meeting in Washington.

 

　　Sergei Lavrov is the Russian Foreign Minister.

 

　　"Regarding the international agenda, we spoke³ a lot about Syria. Our opinions are very much the same about what we need to do. We must convene⁴ Geneva II as quickly as possible, with the US Russian initiative that came out of John Kerry's visit to Moscow on July 7th this year."

 

　　The ministers also agreed to meet again by the end of the moth⁵ to prepare for the talks.

 

　　The meeting between Lavrov, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and their U.S counterparts comes as relations between the two sides chilled following Moscow's decision to grant asylum⁶ to former U.S intelligence contractor⁷ Edward Snowden.

 

　　Earlier, U.S president Barack Obama called off a planned summit with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

 

　　Both Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry acknowledged their sharp differences over Snowden and other issues going into the talks.

 

　　However, Kerry says the two countries need to find ways to work around their differences and make progress on issues including Afghanistan, Iran, North Korea and Syria.

 

　　Washington was also invited to observe a joint⁸ Russia-Belarus military drill that will involve some 13,000 troops.

 

　　Russia and the U.S initially⁹ announced that they would try to hold the peace conference on Syria by the end of May.

 

　　However the date has kept being pushed back partly due to disagreement among the Syrian rebels over who should represent them.

 

　　The exact date for the conference is yet to be decided¹⁰. 

1 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

2 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 convene   

v.集合，召集，召唤，聚集，集合

参考例句：

• The Diet will convene at 3p.m. tomorrow.国会将于明天下午三点钟开会。
• Senior officials convened in October 1991 in London.1991年10月，高级官员在伦敦会齐。

5 moth   

n.蛾，蛀虫

参考例句：

• A moth was fluttering round the lamp.有一只蛾子扑打着翅膀绕着灯飞。
• The sweater is moth-eaten.毛衣让蛀虫咬坏了。

6 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

7 contractor   

n.订约人，承包人，收缩肌

参考例句：

• The Tokyo contractor was asked to kick $ 6000 back as commission.那个东京的承包商被要求退还6000美元作为佣金。
• The style of house the contractor builds depends partly on the lay of the land.承包商所建房屋的式样，有几分要看地势而定。

8 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

9 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

10 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。