voa标准英语2008-Iraqi Parliament Delays Vote to Extend Presence

A dispute in Iraq's parliament has forced a delay in the approval of a resolution that would allow non-U.S. troops to remain in the country after the U.N. mandate¹ expires at the end of this month.

Iraqi politicians have been predicting that parliament would approve a measure to allow non-U.S. troops to legally remain in the country until July of next year. But the Speaker of Iraq's Parliament, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, suspended the legislative² session after a number of deputies called for his resignation.

Al Mashhadani had threatened to resign his post last week during heated debate over the fate of the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at President George Bush. He angered a number of lawmakers, who say he insulted them and should now keep his promise to resign.

It is not now clear when the parliament will meet again, but failure to approve an extension of the troop agreement would leave non-U.S. troops without a legal framework to remain in Iraq beyond December 31, when the U.N. mandate expires.

The last-minute impasse³ came after the Iraqi parliament was reported to have reached a compromise Sunday, transforming a draft law into a parliamentary resolution that would require only a simple majority to pass.

Hanin Mahmood, who sits on the Iraqi parliament's foreign relations committee, insists that some solution must be reached quickly to prevent foreign troops from going into a legal limbo⁴.

She says that it is important that parliament gets this resolution passed so that there is no legal or security void for those troops remaining on Iraqi soil. The agreement concerns mainly British and Australian forces in Iraq. A number of other countries, including Estonia, Romania, El Salvador and Ukraine have troops in Iraq, as well.

Britain's Defense⁵ Minister contends that there are "contingency⁶ plans," but a "proper agreement" must be reached.

Parliament member Abbas Bayati of the United Iraqi Alliance party says several solutions are being contemplated⁷ to end the current stalemate.

He says parliamentarians are facing three choices: either to rely on the original draft law, once again -or sign bi-lateral agreements with each of the countries involved, and to do this before the end of the year -or to have parliament allow the government to make agreements with British, Ukrainian and Georgian forces to prepare for their withdrawal⁸ within six months.

The United States and Iraq have already concluded a new security pact⁹ that allows U.S. troops to remain in the country.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown visited Iraq ast week and announced his forces would withdraw from their positions in southern Iraq by the end of July 2009.

1 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

2 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。

3 impasse   

n.僵局；死路

参考例句：

• The government had reached an impasse.政府陷入绝境。
• Negotiations seemed to have reached an impasse.谈判似乎已经陷入僵局。

4 limbo   

n.地狱的边缘；监狱

参考例句：

• His life seemed stuck in limbo and he could not go forward and he could not go back.他的生活好像陷入了不知所措的境地，进退两难。
• I didn't know whether my family was alive or dead.I felt as if I was in limbo.我不知道家人是生是死，感觉自己茫然无措。

5 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。

6 contingency   

n.意外事件，可能性

参考例句：

• We should be prepared for any contingency.我们应该对任何应急情况有所准备。
• A fire in our warehouse was a contingency that we had not expected.库房的一场大火是我们始料未及的。

7 contemplated   

adj. 预期的 动词contemplate的过去分词形式

参考例句：

• The doctor contemplated the difficult operation he had to perform. 医生仔细地考虑他所要做的棘手的手术。
• The government has contemplated reforming the entire tax system. 政府打算改革整个税收体制。

8 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。

9 pact   

n.合同，条约，公约，协定

参考例句：

• The two opposition parties made an electoral pact.那两个反对党订了一个有关选举的协定。
• The trade pact between those two countries came to an end.那两国的通商协定宣告结束。