VOA常速英语2008年-Rice Urges Serbia to Accept Kosovo's Independen

By David Gollust
Washington
13 February 2008

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Wednesday said she hopes Serbia will accept a resolution of Kosovo's status and move forward to fuller integration¹ with Europe. Kosovo, a Serbian province administered by the United Nations since 1999, is expected to declare independence within days. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department.

The United States is widely expected to join European Union allies in recognizing Kosovo's independence once it is officially declared. And Rice is counseling Serbia, which has adamantly² opposed the loss of the majority ethnic-Albanian region, to accept the reality of the situation and move on.

Appearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Wednesday, in a session nominally³ devoted⁴ to the U.S. foreign affairs budget, Rice said fuller integration with Europe lies ahead for Serbia once the Kosovo issue is settled, a process she acknowledged will not be easy for Belgrade:

"I do know that this is going to be an extraordinarily⁵ difficult period of time for the Serbian people. And what the United States will be doing is offering a hand of friendship, saying that the status of Kosovo, and its resolution, will allow Serbia to look forward and to move on then with what it needs to do," she said.

The Bush administration has endorsed⁶ the plan of U.N. envoy⁷ Martti Ahtisaari, a former President of Finland, for supervised independence for Kosovo, and there is bipartisan support in the U.S. Congress for that policy.

However at Wednesday's hearing, Republican Senator George Voinovich of Ohio told Rice he is concerned that an independent Kosovo may lack the infrastructure⁸ for viable⁹ independence. "I'm very, very worried, Madam Secretary, about what is going to happen there, because I'm getting mixed signals. I think probably they're going to declare their independence. The European Union is going to go along with it. But I'm just really fearful that the infrastructure that was set out in the plan that was negotiated may not be there to get the job done. And if that goes in the wrong direction, I think as you know it is going to cause real problem in our goal of bringing that part of the world into Europe," he said.

Rice told Voinovich the Bush administration had held two top-level meetings on Kosovo in as many days, and has had intensive talks with European allies on making a transition to supervised independence as smooth as possible.

She said the E.U. is sending a police and justice mission there to back up NATO troops providing security, and that protecting the rights and religious shrines¹⁰ of Kosovo's Serb minority is a high priority for all those concerned.

Rice also told Voinovich she had personally intervened with NATO to offer Serbia membership in the alliance's Partnership¹¹ for Peace even though key Bosnian-Serb war crimes figures from the Balkans conflict remain at large.

1 integration   

n.一体化，联合，结合

参考例句：

• We are working to bring about closer political integration in the EU.我们正在努力实现欧盟內部更加紧密的政治一体化。
• This was the greatest event in the annals of European integration.这是欧洲统一史上最重大的事件。

2 adamantly   

adv.坚决地，坚定不移地，坚强不屈地

参考例句：

• "Come over here,"he told her adamantly. “到这边来，”他对她坚定地说。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His family were adamantly opposed to the marriage. 他的家人坚决反对这门亲事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 nominally   

在名义上，表面地； 应名儿

参考例句：

• Dad, nominally a Methodist, entered Churches only for weddings and funerals. 爸名义上是卫理公会教徒，可只去教堂参加婚礼和葬礼。
• The company could not indicate a person even nominally responsible for staff training. 该公司甚至不能指出一个名义上负责职员培训的人。

4 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

5 extraordinarily   

adv.格外地；极端地

参考例句：

• She is an extraordinarily beautiful girl.她是个美丽非凡的姑娘。
• The sea was extraordinarily calm that morning.那天清晨，大海出奇地宁静。

6 endorsed   

vt.& vi.endorse的过去式或过去分词形式v.赞同( endorse的过去式和过去分词 )；在（尤指支票的）背面签字；在（文件的）背面写评论；在广告上说本人使用并赞同某产品

参考例句：

• The committee endorsed an initiative by the chairman to enter discussion about a possible merger. 委员会通过了主席提出的新方案，开始就可能进行的并购进行讨论。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The government has broadly endorsed a research paper proposing new educational targets for 14-year-olds. 政府基本上支持建议对14 岁少年实行新教育目标的研究报告。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 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。

8 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

9 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。

10 shrines   

圣地，圣坛，神圣场所( shrine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• All three structures dated to the third century and were tentatively identified as shrines. 这3座建筑都建于3 世纪，并且初步鉴定为神庙。
• Their palaces and their shrines are tombs. 它们的宫殿和神殿成了墓穴。

11 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。