布什会见危地马拉总统讲话(2008-04-28)

PRESIDENT BUSH: It's been my honor to welcome to the Oval Office the President and First Lady of a close friend of the United States. Mr. President, thank you for coming.
　　We've had a good discussion about a variety of issues. We discussed bilateral¹ relations between Guatemala and the United States, which are very strong. We are friends. We treat each other with respect. Our objective with U.S. foreign policy is to have a neighborhood that is peaceful and prosperous, where social justice is important; want to achieve social justice through good health policy, good education policy, good judicial² policy. The United States is pleased to help this government as best as we possibly can help the average citizen get a good education and have good health care.
　　We talked about how CAFTA is working. Exports to the United States have increased; exports from the United States have increased. And that's good. We talked about security and the need for the region -- Mexico, the United States and the countries of Central America -- to fight drug trafficking. I told the President that we are working hard to reduce demand for drugs here in America. And at the same time, we want to work in conjunction with strong leaders to make sure these drug traffickers don't get a stronghold. And that's why it's very important for Congress to fund the Merida project.
　　We talked about the reforms that the government is instituting inside of Guatemala, including tax reform, and reform to make sure that people who break the law are held to account.
　　I was particularly pleased to note that the Guatemalan government and its leadership is promoting laws to make sure women are treated well and that violence against women is prosecuted³.
　　And so -- and we're going to talk a little later on about the Millennium⁴ Challenge Account. And by the way, we talked about blueberries, and -- so that blueberries are able to come off-season here to the United States, which is a positive development for Guatemalan farmers.
　　And finally, of course, the President brought up the issue of immigration. And he wanted to urge me to think about TPS -- TPS for citizens, as well as comprehensive immigration reform. I assured him that I will consider his request, and I assured him that I believe comprehensive immigration reform is in our nations' best interests.
　　And so we've had a good discussion, and right after this press availability, I'll be taking he and the First Lady to lunch. And I'm looking forward to serving them lunch, and I bet you're looking forward to eating lunch. Thanks for coming.
　　PRESIDENT COLOM: (As translated.) I want to thank President Bush for his hospitality. We've spent a couple of days working here, and we are very happy to hold this meeting, in which we have discussed strengthening our relationship -- an already a strong relationship, in fact.
　　We discussed, as the President mentioned, the fight against drug trafficking. We are doing everything necessary to eliminate drug trafficking and drug traffickers from our territory. We discussed the issue of social investment. We have received support from USAID. We, our two countries, have common aims in this regard.
　　We also discussed the issue of our migrants. We brought up TPS with the President; we will be awaiting a response on that. We described our recent tax reform to the President; that is something we're starting in Guatemala because we need to ensure that we have the public funds to be able to carry out the reforms in the areas of social justice and others that we have discussed.
　　We want to express our appreciation⁵ for the support that we have received from the United States to combat drug trafficking. Recently we received four helicopters; this has been extremely helpful to us. We've also achieved good success on this front with the recent cocaine⁶ seizures⁷. In fact, an operation was just carried out last night; a very large one, very successful. And on that, we are working not just with the United States but also with Mexico and the entire neighborhood in Central America, because all of us must be involved, as President Bush said, in order to combat that scourge⁸ at all levels.
　　And so we are very happy to be here and very happy to be moving forward. Thank you.
　　PRESIDENT BUSH: Gracias, señor. Thank you all.

1 bilateral   

adj.双方的，两边的，两侧的

参考例句：

• They have been negotiating a bilateral trade deal.他们一直在商谈一项双边贸易协定。
• There was a wide gap between the views of the two statesmen on the bilateral cooperation.对双方合作的问题，两位政治家各自所持的看法差距甚大。

2 judicial   

adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的

参考例句：

• He is a man with a judicial mind.他是个公正的人。
• Tom takes judicial proceedings against his father.汤姆对他的父亲正式提出诉讼。

3 prosecuted   

a.被起诉的

参考例句：

• The editors are being prosecuted for obscenity. 编辑因刊载污秽文字而被起诉。
• The company was prosecuted for breaching the Health and Safety Act. 这家公司被控违反《卫生安全条例》。

4 millennium   

n.一千年，千禧年；太平盛世

参考例句：

• The whole world was counting down to the new millennium.全世界都在倒计时迎接新千年的到来。
• We waited as the clock ticked away the last few seconds of the old millennium.我们静候着时钟滴答走过千年的最后几秒钟。

5 appreciation   

n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨

参考例句：

• I would like to express my appreciation and thanks to you all.我想对你们所有人表达我的感激和谢意。
• I'll be sending them a donation in appreciation of their help.我将送给他们一笔捐款以感谢他们的帮助。

6 cocaine   

n.可卡因，古柯碱（用作局部麻醉剂）

参考例句：

• That young man is a cocaine addict.那个年轻人吸食可卡因成瘾。
• Don't have cocaine abusively.不可滥服古柯碱。

7 seizures   

n.起获( seizure的名词复数 )；没收；充公；起获的赃物

参考例句：

• Seizures of illicit drugs have increased by 30% this year. 今年违禁药品的扣押增长了30%。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Other causes of unconsciousness predisposing to aspiration lung abscess are convulsive seizures. 造成吸入性肺脓肿昏迷的其他原因，有惊厥发作。 来自辞典例句

8 scourge   

n.灾难，祸害；v.蹂躏

参考例句：

• Smallpox was once the scourge of the world.天花曾是世界的大患。
• The new boss was the scourge of the inefficient.新老板来了以后，不称职的人就遭殃了。