2006年VOA标准英语-Yanukovych Returns as Ukraine's Prime Minister

By Lisa McAdams
Kiev, Ukraine
04 August 2006

Ukraine's parliament has voted to return Viktor Yanukovych to the post of prime minister, less than two years after he abandoned the job to make his failed bid for the presidency¹.  Parliament also pushed through a number of other pressing measures Friday, following months of political wrangling².

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Viktor Yanukovych cheers to a crowd of his supporters outside parliament in Kiev   
  
It is a complete reversal of fortunes for Mr. Yanukovych, the former mechanic-turned politician, who suffered a bitter defeat to President Viktor Yushchenko amid the mass protests of the Orange Revolution.

By a vote of 271 to nine, Ukraine's parliament voted to confirm Mr. Yanukovych to the cheers of his Region's Party supporters.

Mr. Yanukovych has served in the post before, under former President Leonid Kuchma, but never with the extent of powers he holds now, thanks to new constitutional reforms Mr. Yushchenko agreed to during the revolution in order to end the impasse³.

Those powers include greater say in cabinet picks, as well as greater job security, because according to the new changes, parliament must now approve any dismissal of the prime minister.  Previously⁴, the president alone could sack his cabinet leader.

Since the revolution, President Yushchenko has said he would like to see a revision of some of those constitutional changes, presumably those giving stronger powers to the prime minister.  But parliament moved quickly Friday to ensure that would not happen, also voting to prohibit the Constitutional Court from revising the changes.

There was no immediate⁵ comment from President Yushchenko, who just one day earlier threw his support behind his archrival and joined his Our Ukraine forces with those of Regions, the Communists, and Socialists⁶ to form a new majority.

Yulia Timoshenko, who now stands as the sole opposition⁷ leader, has branded the president's deal as a sellout. 

This businessman, packing up from an opposition tent camp on Independence Square agrees.  Boris Voichishin told VOA he never believed the president would team up with anyone but Ms. Timoshenko.

Boris says we wanted a Ukraine looking Westward⁸, toward democracy, fair elections, and European Union and NATO membership.  Now, he says, we will have nothing but a return to Russia.

President Yushchenko has said the decision, while difficult, was the only way forward to ensure that Ukraine was truly unified⁹ between its Russian-speaking East and pro-democratic West.

Addressing the parliament immediately prior to his acceptance, Mr. Yanukovych expressed confidence that he could govern the diverse factions¹⁰ making up the new coalition¹¹.

It is of particular interest that he chose to speak in Ukrainian, despite the fact he campaigned on pledges to make Russian an official state language.

The United States has said it looks forward to working with Ukraine's new government.  It says the political impasse in Ukraine has been overcome through democratic elections and diligent¹² politicking¹³.

Neighboring Russia has also hailed the result.  The influential¹⁴ business daily, Kommersant, predicts that, in practice, Mr. Yanukovych will move closer to Europe in order to protect the considerable business interests in his industrial homeland of Donetsk.

1 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

2 wrangling   

v.争吵，争论，口角( wrangle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The two sides have spent most of their time wrangling over procedural problems. 双方大部分时间都在围绕程序问题争论不休。 来自辞典例句
• The children were wrangling (with each other) over the new toy. 孩子为新玩具（互相）争吵。 来自辞典例句

3 impasse   

n.僵局；死路

参考例句：

• The government had reached an impasse.政府陷入绝境。
• Negotiations seemed to have reached an impasse.谈判似乎已经陷入僵局。

4 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

5 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

6 socialists   

社会主义者( socialist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The socialists saw themselves as true heirs of the Enlightenment. 社会主义者认为自己是启蒙运动的真正继承者。
• The Socialists junked dogma when they came to office in 1982. 社会党人1982年上台执政后，就把其政治信条弃之不顾。

7 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。

8 westward   

n.西方，西部；adj.西方的，向西的；adv.向西

参考例句：

• We live on the westward slope of the hill.我们住在这座山的西山坡。
• Explore westward or wherever.向西或到什么别的地方去勘探。

9 unified   

(unify 的过去式和过去分词)； 统一的； 统一标准的； 一元化的

参考例句：

• The teacher unified the answer of her pupil with hers. 老师核对了学生的答案。
• The First Emperor of Qin unified China in 221 B.C. 秦始皇于公元前221年统一中国。

10 factions   

组织中的小派别，派系( faction的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The gens also lives on in the "factions." 氏族此外还继续存在于“factions〔“帮”〕中。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源
• rival factions within the administration 政府中的对立派别

11 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

12 diligent   

adj.勤勉的，勤奋的

参考例句：

• He is the more diligent of the two boys.他是这两个男孩中较用功的一个。
• She is diligent and keeps herself busy all the time.她真勤快，一会儿也不闲着。

13 politicking   

n.政治活动，竞选活动v.从政( politic的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• A lot of politicking preceded the choice of the new director. 在选新领导人之前进行了大量的拉拢活动。 来自辞典例句
• This colleague is always politicking. 这位同僚总是忙于政治活动。 来自互联网

14 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。