2006年VOA标准英语-UN Envoy Calls on Burma to Produce Reforms

By Roger Wilkison
Bangkok
13 November 2006

Ibrahim Gambari is surrounded by reporters on his arrival at Suvarnbhumi Airport in Thailand, from Myanmar, November 12, 2006  
  
U.N. envoy¹, Ibrahim Gambari, says detained Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi seems to be in good health but needs more medical visits. The envoy spoke² in Bangkok after a four-day trip to Burma - which focused on getting Burma's military rulers to take concrete steps toward political reform and national reconciliation³ with the democratic opposition⁴. 

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Ibrahim Gambari, the U.N.'s Undersecretary-General for Political Affairs, told reporters in Bangkok Monday that Aung San Suu Kyi is reasonably well, considering that she has been under house arrest for most of the past 17 years. But he says the 61-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner requires more regular medical visits.

Aung San Suu Kyi's doctor is one of the few people who have been allowed to visit her home in Rangoon, where she is confined. But he has been quoted as saying that he has not seen her since late August because of what he called "political developments" in Burma. 

Gambari is the only foreigner allowed to meet with Aung Suu Kyi in several years. The first time was in May and they again met Saturday for an hour at a government guesthouse in Rangoon. 

 
UN official Ibrahim Gambari poses for a photo with detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi during discussions in Rangoon, 11 November 2006
  
Gambari says that Aung San Suu Kyi, who heads the National League for Democracy, welcomed the U.N.'s continued commitment to address political and humanitarian⁵ issues in Burma, which has been renamed Myanmar by the military.

"She is very alert. She is concerned not just about her own welfare but the welfare of the people of Myanmar, all of them, and also, of course, the contribution that her party, the NLD, and others can make to peace, development, democracy and enjoyment⁶ of human rights," said Gambari.

Gambari says his talks with the military junta⁷, including the top leader, General Than Shwe, were more frank and constructive⁸ than in May. He says he laid out U.N. concerns about Burma's human rights situation and political stagnation⁹.

"The first meeting was diplomatic. It was an opening," he noted¹⁰. "But now there is some hard bargaining and give and take. But as I said - and the British have an expression - 'the proof of the pudding is in the eating'. So now it is up to the authorities to have some concrete results from that visit."

U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan instructed Gambari to press the Burmese government to release more than 1,100 political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi.

The U.N. also wants the junta to open a political dialogue with the Aung San Suu Kyi's democratic opposition - which won elections in 1990 but has never been allowed to take power. The military has run the country in one form or another since 1962.

The military government has set up a national convention to write a new constitution, as the first step on what it says is a road map to democracy. But the NLD, the U.N. and Western countries regard the process as a sham¹¹ aimed at keeping the military in power permanently¹².

Gambari's visit to Burma came two months after the United States succeeded in putting Burma's human rights situation on the agenda of the U.N. Security Council for the first time.

1 envoy   

n.使节，使者，代表，公使

参考例句：

• Their envoy showed no sign of responding to our proposals.他们的代表对我方的提议毫无回应的迹象。
• The government has not yet appointed an envoy to the area.政府尚未向这一地区派过外交官。

2 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。

3 reconciliation   

n.和解，和谐，一致

参考例句：

• He was taken up with the reconciliation of husband and wife.他忙于做夫妻间的调解工作。
• Their handshake appeared to be a gesture of reconciliation.他们的握手似乎是和解的表示。

4 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

5 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

6 enjoyment   

n.乐趣；享有；享用

参考例句：

• Your company adds to the enjoyment of our visit. 有您的陪同，我们这次访问更加愉快了。
• After each joke the old man cackled his enjoyment.每逢讲完一个笑话，这老人就呵呵笑着表示他的高兴。

7 junta   

n.团体；政务审议会

参考例句：

• The junta reacted violently to the perceived threat to its authority.军政府感到自身权力受威胁而进行了激烈反击。
• A military junta took control of the country.一个军政权控制了国家。

8 constructive   

adj.建设的，建设性的

参考例句：

• We welcome constructive criticism.我们乐意接受有建设性的批评。
• He is beginning to deal with his anger in a constructive way.他开始用建设性的方法处理自己的怒气。

9 stagnation   

n. 停滞

参考例句：

• Poor economic policies led to a long period of stagnation and decline. 糟糕的经济政策道致了长时间的经济萧条和下滑。
• Motion is absolute while stagnation is relative. 运动是绝对的，而静止是相对的。

10 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

11 sham   

n./adj.假冒(的)，虚伪(的)

参考例句：

• They cunningly played the game of sham peace.他们狡滑地玩弄假和平的把戏。
• His love was a mere sham.他的爱情是虚假的。

12 permanently   

adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地

参考例句：

• The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。