2006年VOA标准英语-EU Official in Mideast in Effort to Calm F

By Lisa Bryant
Paris
13 February 2006

Javier Solana  
  
Europe's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, is in the Middle East this week to try to calm outrage¹ over cartoons of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad. Meanwhile, an Iranian newspaper is inviting² people to submit cartoons on the Holocaust³ as a way to test press freedom in the West.

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Mr. Solana's trip to the Middle East began Monday with a visit to Saudi Arabia. Saudi authorities recalled their ambassador from Denmark last month to protest the original publication of the cartoons in a Danish newspaper last September. Solana told reporters that Brussels would do its utmost to ensure a similar event would not happen again - in part, he said, because Europe and the Islamic world need each other.

But Daud Abdullah, assistant secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, said he doubted whether Solana will be able calm popular anger in the Middle East over the drawings of the prophet.

"He's speaking to governments and political leaders. But the fact of the matter is the people across the Islamic world have taken this issue to heart and are acting⁵ as a popular movement," he said. "As you know, political leaders across the Middle East have very little contact with the people. They live in one world and the people live in another."

The publication of the cartoons by a number of European countries has sparked anger, and sometimes violent demonstrations⁶ across the Muslim world. The violence appears to have abated⁷ somewhat. But on Monday, several thousand students protested against the images in Pakistan. There were also protests by Muslims in Turkey, France and Britain on Saturday and Sunday against the cartoons, which were most recently republished Friday by an anti-immigration group in Finland.

Meanwhile, a series of polls show many Europeans are divided over the images. A survey published Friday in France found that 54 percent of French believe that reprinting the images in the European press amounted to unnecessary provocation⁸. But another poll published in Denmark found that, while most respondents said they understand Muslim anger, fewer than half believe it was wrong for the Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, to first publish the images.

Muslims are finding other ways to vent⁴ their anger against the cartoons besides demonstrating. Members of France's Muslim Council announced they would take legal action against at least one of five French newspapers which reprinted the cartoons.

And in Iran, a leading newspaper Monday began soliciting⁹ cartoons, in English and Farsi, about the Holocaust. The paper says it will post the cartoon's on its Internet site. The paper's cartoon editor told The Associated Press that it had done so not as a retaliation¹⁰ against the European publications, but to test press freedom in the West.

1 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。

2 inviting   

adj.诱人的，引人注目的

参考例句：

• An inviting smell of coffee wafted into the room.一股诱人的咖啡香味飘进了房间。
• The kitchen smelled warm and inviting and blessedly familiar.这间厨房的味道温暖诱人，使人感到亲切温馨。

3 holocaust   

n.大破坏；大屠杀

参考例句：

• The Auschwitz concentration camp always remind the world of the holocaust.奥辛威茨集中营总是让世人想起大屠杀。
• Ahmadinejad is denying the holocaust because he's as brutal as Hitler was.内贾德否认大屠杀，因为他像希特勒一样残忍。

4 vent   

n.通风口，排放口；开衩；vt.表达，发泄

参考例句：

• He gave vent to his anger by swearing loudly.他高声咒骂以发泄他的愤怒。
• When the vent became plugged,the engine would stop.当通风口被堵塞时，发动机就会停转。

5 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

6 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

7 abated   

减少( abate的过去式和过去分词 )； 减去； 降价； 撤消（诉讼）

参考例句：

• The worker's concern about cuts in the welfare funding has not abated. 工人们对削减福利基金的关心并没有减少。
• The heat has abated. 温度降低了。

8 provocation   

n.激怒，刺激，挑拨，挑衅的事物，激怒的原因

参考例句：

• He's got a fiery temper and flares up at the slightest provocation.他是火爆性子，一点就着。
• They did not react to this provocation.他们对这一挑衅未作反应。

9 soliciting   

v.恳求( solicit的现在分词 )；（指娼妇）拉客；索求；征求

参考例句：

• A prostitute was soliciting on the street. 一名妓女正在街上拉客。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• China Daily is soliciting subscriptions. 《中国日报》正在征求订户。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

10 retaliation   

n.报复，反击

参考例句：

• retaliation against UN workers 对联合国工作人员的报复
• He never said a single word in retaliation. 他从未说过一句反击的话。 来自《简明英汉词典》