2006年VOA标准英语-Bush Says Iran Must Face Economic Isolation for

By Paula Wolfson
White House
13 November 2006 

		President Bush shakes hands with Israeli PM Ehud Olmert in Oval Office of the White House, Nov. 13, 2006

President Bush says the world must speak with one voice about Iran's nuclear ambitions and that Tehran should realize its continued defiance¹ will lead to sanctions. Mr. Bush spoke² at the end of talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

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Iran is a major concern for both the United States and Israel.

Iranian leaders have vowed³ to destroy Israel, and Iranian nuclear ambitions are a top security issue for the Jewish state.

President Bush has advocated a multilateral approach to the problem. And when reporters were brought in at the end of his meeting with Prime Minister Olmert, the president raised the prospect⁴ of U.N. sanctions, should Iran proceed with uranium enrichment activities.

"I think it is very important for the world to unite with one common voice, to say to the Iranians, if you choose to move forward, you will be isolated," said President Bush. "One form of isolation⁵ would be economic isolation."

The president stressed Iran must realize it will pay a price for its intransigence⁶.

"A lot of the world has made it clear that the Iranian nuclear weapons ambitions are not in the world's interests," he said. "And therefore, if they continue to move forward with the program, there has got to be a consequence."

Iran says its nuclear program is purely⁷ civilian⁸ in nature, and designed to meet the nation's civilian energy needs. But the United States and many of its allies maintain the program is likely to be a cover for the development of nuclear arms.

Britain, France and Germany have tried to negotiate a settlement with Iran, and Russia has offered to provide and monitor the nuclear fuel needed for Iranian nuclear power plants so there would be no need for Iran's government to enrich uranium.

But the Iranians have been resistant⁹, and President Bush warns that if Iran does produce nuclear weapons, that would have a destabilizing effect throughout the Middle East.

"I say this in the interest of world peace, if Iran has a nuclear weapon, it will be incredibly destabilizing and obviously threatening of our strong ally [Israel]," noted¹⁰ President Bush. "And so my attitude is, let's work in concert to convince the government [of Iran] that it is just not the Israeli voice speaking or the United States voice speaking, but there are a lot of other voices saying the exact same thing."

During a session with reporters, the president rejected direct talks with Iran, saying the United States will engage in dialogue only if Iran follows through on U.N. demands to suspend uranium enrichment.

Prime Minister Olmert said he shares the president's views on Iran. Earlier, during an appearance on NBC television, the Israeli leader said he hoped efforts to resolve the matter diplomatically would yield results, adding he is not looking for war.

"Every compromise that will stop Iran from acquiring nuclear capabilities¹¹, which will be acceptable to President Bush, would be acceptable to me," said Ehud Olmert.

Mr. Olmert was asked if his country might consider a preemptive strike on Iran's nuclear facilities. He responded by saying he hopes the situation will not reach that stage, but he stressed Israel will not tolerate a nuclear armed Iran.

1 defiance   

n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗

参考例句：

• He climbed the ladder in defiance of the warning.他无视警告爬上了那架梯子。
• He slammed the door in a spirit of defiance.他以挑衅性的态度把门砰地一下关上。

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 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。

4 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

5 isolation   

n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离

参考例句：

• The millionaire lived in complete isolation from the outside world.这位富翁过着与世隔绝的生活。
• He retired and lived in relative isolation.他退休后，生活比较孤寂。

6 intransigence   

n.妥协的态度；强硬

参考例句：

• He often appeared angry and frustrated by the intransigence of both sides.他似乎常常为双方各不相让而生气沮丧。
• Yet for North Korea,intransigence is the norm.不过对朝鲜来说，决不妥协是其一贯作风。

7 purely   

adv.纯粹地，完全地

参考例句：

• I helped him purely and simply out of friendship.我帮他纯粹是出于友情。
• This disproves the theory that children are purely imitative.这证明认为儿童只会单纯地模仿的理论是站不住脚的。

8 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

9 resistant   

adj.(to)抵抗的，有抵抗力的

参考例句：

• Many pests are resistant to the insecticide.许多害虫对这种杀虫剂有抵抗力。
• They imposed their government by force on the resistant population.他们以武力把自己的统治强加在持反抗态度的人民头上。

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 capabilities   

n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力

参考例句：

• He was somewhat pompous and had a high opinion of his own capabilities. 他有点自大，自视甚高。 来自辞典例句
• Some programmers use tabs to break complex product capabilities into smaller chunks. 一些程序员认为，标签可以将复杂的功能分为每个窗格一组简单的功能。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓