2007年VOA标准英语-Rice to Visit Israel & West Bank

By David Gollust
Washington
06 July 2007

Condoleezza Rice (file photo)

The State Department says Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit the Middle East and Africa in an overseas trip beginning July 16th. She will meet Israeli and Palestinian leaders and attend a trade conference in the Ghanaian capital, Accra. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department.

Rice's trip to the Middle East will be her fifth to the region this year, but her first since the militant¹ Islamic group Hamas routed forces of the mainstream² Fatah movement last month and seized control of the Gaza strip.

The victory of Hamas, which the United States lists as a terrorist organization, dealt a blow to efforts by the Bush administration to shore up the position of Palestinian Authority President Mamoud Abbas of Fatah, who unlike Hamas recognizes Israel and supports a two-state settlement of the Middle East conflict.

An official here said Rice will meet Mr. Abbas in Ramallah, and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jerusalem, at the start of a five-day overseas trip that begins July 16th.

There have been press reports that Rice may also attend a meeting in Egypt of the Middle East Quartet, a grouping that includes the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations and which has been trying to promote a settlement based on its 2003 "road map" for peace.

The official said additional stops for Rice are possible and that a formal announcement of her travel plans will come on Monday.

In the wake of the Gaza events, the Quartet late last month renewed its commitment to seeking an end to the regional conflict under terms of the road map, and it named former British Prime Minister Tony Blair a special envoy³ charged with helping⁴ build institutions for Palestinian statehood.

Quartet envoys⁵ including U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch are to meet in London next Tuesday to discuss practical details of the Blair mission.

U.S. officials say Secretary Rice expects to retain the lead role in Middle East diplomacy⁶ and in a talk with reporters Friday, State Department Deputy Spokesman Tom Casey said there are no plans for Mr. Blair to work with, or meet with, members of Hamas.

"I'd leave it up to the envoys to determine what his specific instructions are. But, again, if you look at the terms of reference that were in the last Quartet statement, it makes it pretty clear that his main role is to build Palestinian institutions, working with the president (Abbas) and the current government there. So I'm not envisioning him having any particular role vis-à-vis Hamas, but again I'll leave it to the members of the Quartet to talk about the specifics of his interaction," he said.

When she last visited Israel and the West Bank in March, Rice announced that President Abbas and Prime Minister Olmert had agreed to meet every two weeks to discuss the outlines of a final peace accord. However, the two politically-weakened leaders have been unable to keep to that schedule.

In Ghana, Secretary Rice will attend a regional forum⁷ of the nearly 40 sub-Saharan African countries receiving U.S. trade benefits under AGOA, the African Growth and Opportunity Act approved by the U.S. Congress in 2000.

Administration officials say the measure, which lowered U.S. trade barriers to African goods, has helped to more than double the annual volume of American trade with the region and create thousands of jobs in Africa.

1 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

2 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

3 envoy   

n.使节，使者，代表，公使

参考例句：

• Their envoy showed no sign of responding to our proposals.他们的代表对我方的提议毫无回应的迹象。
• The government has not yet appointed an envoy to the area.政府尚未向这一地区派过外交官。

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

5 envoys   

使节( envoy的名词复数 )； 公使； 谈判代表； 使节身份

参考例句：

• the routine tit for tat when countries expel each other's envoys 国家相互驱逐对方使节这种惯常的报复行动
• Marco Polo's travelogue mentions that Kublai Khan sent envoys to Malgache. 马可波罗游记中提到忽必烈曾派使节到马尔加什。

6 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。

7 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。