2007年VOA标准英语-Rice Presses Gulf Arab States for Support on Ir

By David Gollust
Kuwait City
16 January 2007

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in the Gulf¹ region, trying to persuade America's Arab allies to actively² support President Bush's new strategy for quelling³ violence in Iraq. The mainly Sunni Muslim Gulf states want stronger protections for Iraq's once-dominant Sunni minority. VOA's David Gollust reports from Kuwait.

joint4 press conference in Riyadh, 16 Jan. 2007" hspace="2" src="/upimg/allimg/070516/1420570.jpg" width="210" vspace="2" border="0" />

Condoleezza Rice speaks during a joint press conference in Riyadh, 16 Jan 2007

Rice is hearing general statements of support of the Bush plan from Gulf leaders. But they are making clear they want to see promises of an inclusive government in Baghdad, backed up by tangible⁵ action - including new constitutional amendments⁶ to assure that disgruntled Iraq Sunnis have a real share of power.

The secretary of state discussed the Iraq plan privately⁷ with Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, late Monday, and flew here to meet the foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council, along with those of Egypt and Jordan - the so-called G.C.C. Plus Two grouping of Arab moderates.

At a news conference with Rice in Riyahd, before the secretary left for Kuwait Tuesday, Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said his government supports the objectives of the Bush plan and wants to see the Shiite-dominated Iraqi government deal with all sources of violence in the country, without discrimination or bias⁸.

Although Saudi Arabia is reported to have threatened to intervene on behalf of Iraqi Sunnis, in the event of uncontrolled Shiite militia⁹ violence, Prince al-Faisal would not discuss such reports at the media event. He said speculation¹⁰ about worst-case scenarios¹¹ for Iraq serves the interests of no one's interest.

"The advantages of a solution and a settlement for Iraq, which is an old and historic country with a civilization that goes back thousands of years…I cannot for the life of me conceive that a country like that would commit suicide, given the goodwill¹² and desire of all to help in this, and I hope that your dire¹³ speculation will not come about," he said.

For her part, Rice said the Bush administration is prepared to help the Baghdad government restore order by augmenting¹⁴ the American troop presence and boosting reconstruction¹⁵ aid. But she says the principal burden rests with Iraqi authorities and that she is confident in the determination of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and other members of the coalition¹⁶ government to do what is needed.

"I really do believe that he and the other Iraqi leaders very much want to build a unified¹⁷ Iraq, but there is much work to do in order to do that," she said. "There has to be a real effort at the national reconciliation¹⁸ plan that was announced some time ago. There has to be a real effort to deal with the security situation particularly in Baghdad in an even-handed fashion so that all Iraqi citizens feel protected by their government. "

Rice urged Saudi Arabia and other wealthy Gulf states to support Iraq through debt relief, upgraded diplomatic ties and in other way, through the informal Iraq Compact grouping that held its first meeting of the sidelines if the U.N. General Assembly last September.

1 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

2 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

3 quelling   

v.（用武力）制止，结束，镇压( quell的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Quelling her grief, she said 'Good-bye! 'again and went on. 她把悲痛压下去，二番说了一声再见，又转身走去了。 来自辞典例句
• The police succeeded in quelling the riot. 警方把暴乱镇压了下去。 来自辞典例句

4 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

5 tangible   

adj.有形的，可触摸的，确凿的，实际的

参考例句：

• The policy has not yet brought any tangible benefits.这项政策还没有带来任何实质性的好处。
• There is no tangible proof.没有确凿的证据。

6 amendments   

（法律、文件的）改动( amendment的名词复数 )； 修正案； 修改； （美国宪法的）修正案

参考例句：

• The committee does not adequately consult others when drafting amendments. 委员会在起草修正案时没有充分征求他人的意见。
• Please propose amendments and addenda to the first draft of the document. 请对这个文件的初稿提出修改和补充意见。

7 privately   

adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地

参考例句：

• Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
• The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。

8 bias   

n.偏见，偏心，偏袒；vt.使有偏见

参考例句：

• They are accusing the teacher of political bias in his marking.他们在指控那名教师打分数有政治偏见。
• He had a bias toward the plan.他对这项计划有偏见。

9 militia   

n.民兵，民兵组织

参考例句：

• First came the PLA men,then the people's militia.人民解放军走在前面，其次是民兵。
• There's a building guarded by the local militia at the corner of the street.街道拐角处有一幢由当地民兵团守卫的大楼。

10 speculation   

n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机

参考例句：

• Her mind is occupied with speculation.她的头脑忙于思考。
• There is widespread speculation that he is going to resign.人们普遍推测他要辞职。

11 scenarios   

n.[意]情节；剧本；事态；脚本

参考例句：

• Further, graphite cores may be safer than non-graphite cores under some accident scenarios. 再者，根据一些事故解说，石墨堆芯可比非石墨堆芯更安全一些。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• Again, scenarios should make it clear which modes are acceptable to users in various contexts. 同样，我们可以运用场景剧本来搞清楚在不同情境下哪些模式可被用户接受。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

12 goodwill   

n.善意，亲善，信誉，声誉

参考例句：

• His heart is full of goodwill to all men.他心里对所有人都充满着爱心。
• We paid ￡10,000 for the shop,and ￡2000 for its goodwill.我们用一万英镑买下了这家商店，两千英镑买下了它的信誉。

13 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

14 augmenting   

使扩张

参考例句：

• My business was now constantly augmenting, and my circumstances growing daily easier. 现在，我的业务不断扩大，我的境况日益安逸。
• I spent a penitential weekend augmenting the green acceptable. 我临时唯有利用周末在每顶绿帽子上加一点红色上去，以免男性来宾不肯戴上。

15 reconstruction   

n.重建，再现，复原

参考例句：

• The country faces a huge task of national reconstruction following the war.战后，该国面临着重建家园的艰巨任务。
• In the period of reconstruction,technique decides everything.在重建时期，技术决定一切。

16 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。

17 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。

18 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。