voa标准英语2008年-Rice Starts New Middle East Mission With Lowere

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is heading to the Middle East late Wednesday for more talks with Israeli and Palestinian officials on regional peace-making. U.S. officials acknowledge that the goal set at Annapolis last year for a peace agreement by the end of 2008 is out of reach. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department.
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Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice speaks about President-elect Barack Obama at a briefing in Washington, 5 Nov. 2008

Rice's trip is her first overseas mission in the transition period between U.S. election and the Obama administration's assumption of power in January.

Officials here concede that the Secretary's main priority now in Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy¹ is to be able to hand over a viable² peace process to her successor, rather than conclude a peace deal herself.

At the U.S.-sponsored Annapolis conference a year ago, Israeli and Palestinian officials agreed to do everything they could to reach an agreement settling their decades-long conflict by the end of 2008.

The parties have been engaged in intensive discussions on the critical final status issues of the peace process, but there have been setbacks, most recently the collapse of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government and the setting of new elections in February.

Rice will meet the now-caretaker Israeli Prime Minister Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni Thursday in Tel Aviv and go to Ramallah in the West Bank Friday to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
　

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, left, and Hungarian President Laszlo Solyom during a visit to Budapest, 5 Nov. 2008

State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters the Israeli political upheaval⁴ will not deter⁵ Rice from her pursuit of an early peace agreement, but he conceded that achieving that goal will likely fall to her successor:

"Certainly the fact that you have elections in Israel greatly complicates⁶ the ability to conclude an agreement," said McCormack. "So our focus is going to be on moving the process forward as far as it can be moved forward in a responsible way while preserving the process," he said.

McCormack appeared to dismiss published reports in Israel that Rice will present a U.S. document to bridge remaining gaps -- saying it is the parties themselves who must find areas of compromise.

Israeli Foreign Minister Livni, with whom Rice has developed close working relations, will be the centrist Kadima party's prime minister candidate in the February elections.

While in Israel, Rice will also meet the two other main contenders for the job, Defense⁷ Minister and Labor⁸ Party leader Ehud Barak and Likud party leader Binyamin Netanyahu.

She also makes a brief visit to Jordan to meet King Abdullah and goes to the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh for a ministerial-level meeting Sunday of the Middle East Quartet - the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations.

The four-power grouping, formed on 2002 to advance peace efforts, will be formally briefed for the first time on the substance of the talks by Livni and Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qureia.

Spokesman McCormack said Rice will likely make at least one more trip to the region before leaving office in January.

1 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。

2 viable   

adj.可行的，切实可行的，能活下去的

参考例句：

• The scheme is economically viable.这个计划从经济效益来看是可行的。
• The economy of the country is not viable.这个国家经济是难以维持的。

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 upheaval   

n.胀起，(地壳)的隆起；剧变，动乱

参考例句：

• It was faced with the greatest social upheaval since World War Ⅱ.它面临第二次世界大战以来最大的社会动乱。
• The country has been thrown into an upheaval.这个国家已经陷入动乱之中。

5 deter   

vt.阻止，使不敢，吓住

参考例句：

• Failure did not deter us from trying it again.失败并没有能阻挡我们再次进行试验。
• Dogs can deter unwelcome intruders.狗能够阻拦不受欢迎的闯入者。

6 complicates   

使复杂化( complicate的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• What complicates the issue is the burden of history. 历史的重负使问题复杂化了。
• Russia as a great and ambitious power gravely complicates the situation. 俄国作为一个强大而有野心的国家，使得局势异常复杂。

7 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

8 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。