2007年VOA标准英语-Bush Meets Democrats on Iraq

By Scott Stearns
White House
03 February 2007

President Bush whispers to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi before delivering remarks to the House Democratic Issues Conference, 3 Feb 2007

U.S. President George Bush told legislators from the Democratic Party, which now controls Congress, that his new strategy for the war in Iraq is the best chance for success. VOA White House Correspondent Scott Stearns reports, Democrats¹ are pushing Congressional resolutions opposing the president's plan to send more U.S. troops.

Acknowledging opposition² to his plans for Iraq, President Bush said he and Democrats do agree on some things, including the need for Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government to show strong leadership.

At a meeting of House Democrats, Mr. Bush thanked their leader, Nancy Pelosi, for briefing him on her recent trip to Iraq.

"She said loud and clear, 'Mr. President, you have got to make it clear to the Iraqi people that their government has got to perform.' And I understand that. I agree, Madame Speaker," he said. "There has got to be success, not only on the military front. In other words, the Iraqis have got to be taking the lead in Baghdad to secure its capital, but there has also got to be success on the political front."

This was the president's first-ever appearance before an informal meeting of House Democrats. The party won control of both houses of Congress last year in an election decided³ largely over voter displeasure with the war.

In a private session with legislators, Mr. Bush took questions on Iraq, veterans' benefits, the budget, Hurricane Katrina, immigration, and global warming.

Speaker Pelosi said Democrats were encouraged by the president's remarks and believe they can work with him on immigration reform and alternative energy. But she made clear there are still sharp divisions over the war.

"The president really stood his ground on Iraq. He explained why he thought additional troops were needed, and why the surge would work this time, says she parenthetically, when it has failed four times before," she said.

Democrats in the House and Senate are working on nonbinding resolutions opposing the president's plan. They have the support of some key Republicans and are considering options including refusing to pay for deploying⁴ the additional troops.

1 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 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。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 deploying   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
• Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。