VOA标准英语10月-US Cites Improvement in Azerbaijan Election

The United States Thursday joined European monitors in citing improvement in the conduct of Azerbaijan's presidential election, despite the huge victory margin¹ of President Ilham Aliyev. Official figures give the incumbent² leader 89 percent of the vote. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department.
　 COLLAPSE³: collapse" bordercolor="#111111" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="15%" align="left" border="0">

Local residents cheer the presumed re-election victory of Ilham Aliyev in Azerbaijan's presidential election in Baku after close of voting, 15 Oct. 2008

Officials are giving Azerbaijan credit for some improvement in the conduct of the election in a country that has had only two leaders - President Aliyev and his late father - since it became independent after the collapse of the Soviet⁴ Union.

But in line with criticism by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe - the OSCE - which monitored Wednesday's vote, the State Department said there is work to be done before the country's election process fully⁵ meets international standards.

Azerbaijan's Central Election Commission says with 70 percent of the districts tallied⁶, President Aliyev had 89 percent of the vote with the rest scattered⁷ among six other candidates.

However the country's five main opposition⁸ parties boycotted⁹ the election, saying they were not allowed to campaign freely and pointing to the government's record of curbing¹⁰ the media and arresting opposition figures.
　

President Ilham Aliyev, 15 Oct. 2008

At a news briefing, State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack congratulated the Azerbaijani people, as opposed to President Aliyev, for the election.

"We congratulate the Azerbaijan people on having this election and instituting some improvements in the way this election occurred, over previous elections," he said. "The OSCE is in the process of issuing a number of reports about the election. So as their assessment¹¹ is in fact ongoing¹², I am just going to speak very generally about it, that it was an improvement. There's still work to be done."

OSCE officials say authorities in the country had tried to create fair conditions for the election and that voting was efficient.

But they said there were election-day shortcomings, especially in the vote-count and tabulation¹³, and that the process overall did not reflect all the principles of a pluralistic democratic election.

Russia, which has frequently differed with the OSCE on its election assessments¹⁴, did extend President Aliyev personal congratulations.

The United States has sought to cultivate close ties with the Caspian state, which has large oil and gas resources and sits astride key transit¹⁵ routes for Central Asian energy supplies.

It has prodded¹⁶ the Aliyev government on human rights issues, while also working diplomatically to try to resolve Azerbaijan's long-running dispute with Armenia over the ethnic-Armenian Azeri enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte visited Azerbaijan earlier this month for talks on those issues and the spillover effects of Russian intervention¹⁷ in neighboring Georgia in August.

Vice¹⁸ President Dick Cheney also visited Azerbaijan in September.

1 margin   

n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘

参考例句：

• We allowed a margin of 20 minutes in catching the train.我们有20分钟的余地赶火车。
• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。

2 incumbent   

adj.成为责任的，有义务的；现任的，在职的

参考例句：

• He defeated the incumbent governor by a large plurality.他以压倒多数票击败了现任州长。
• It is incumbent upon you to warn them.你有责任警告他们。

3 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

4 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

5 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

6 tallied   

v.计算，清点( tally的过去式和过去分词 )；加标签（或标记）于；（使）符合；（使）吻合

参考例句：

• The girl tallied them with her eyes for a moment. 新娘用目光把这些化妆品清点了一下。 来自教父部分
• His account of the accident tallied with hers. 他对事故的陈述和她的相吻合。 来自辞典例句

7 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

8 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。

9 boycotted   

抵制，拒绝参加( boycott的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Athletes from several countries boycotted the Olympic Games. 有好几国的运动员抵制奥林匹克运动会。
• The opposition party earlier boycotted the Diet agenda, demanding Miyaji's resignation. 反对党曾杯葛国会议程，要宫路下台。

10 curbing   

n.边石，边石的材料v.限制，克制，抑制( curb的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Progress has been made in curbing inflation. 在控制通货膨胀方面已取得了进展。
• A range of policies have been introduced aimed at curbing inflation. 为了抑制通货膨胀实施了一系列的政策。

11 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

12 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

13 tabulation   

作表，表格； 表列结果； 列表； 造表

参考例句：

• A tabulation of a function of two variables is cumbersome, but possible. 二元函数的列表法是不方便的，然而是可能的。
• Such a tabulation cannot represent adequately the complex gradation relationships between the types. 这样的图表不能充分代表各类型之间的复杂级配关系。

14 assessments   

n.评估( assessment的名词复数 )；评价；（应偿付金额的）估定；（为征税对财产所作的）估价

参考例句：

• He was shrewd in his personal assessments. 他总能对人作出精明的评价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Surveys show about two-thirds use such assessments, while half employ personality tests. 调查表明，约有三分之二的公司采用了这种测评；而一半的公司则采用工作人员个人品质测试。 来自百科语句

15 transit   

n.经过，运输；vt.穿越，旋转；vi.越过

参考例句：

• His luggage was lost in transit.他的行李在运送中丢失。
• The canal can transit a total of 50 ships daily.这条运河每天能通过50条船。

16 prodded   

v.刺，戳( prod的过去式和过去分词 )；刺激；促使；（用手指或尖物）戳

参考例句：

• She prodded him in the ribs to wake him up. 她用手指杵他的肋部把他叫醒。
• He prodded at the plate of fish with his fork. 他拿叉子戳弄着那盘鱼。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

18 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。