VOA标准英语2008年-Obama Visit Leaves Good Impression on Israelis,

U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama has ended a week long trip to Afghanistan, Iraq, Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories. VOA's Jim Teeple reports from Jerusalem that Israelis and Palestinians say the Illinois senator left a positive impression during his visit.

Barack Obama wrapped up his trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories with a pre-dawn visit to Jerusalem's Wailing¹ Wall - the holiest site in Judaism.

Obama's visit to Israel was seen by many Israelis as an attempt to gain favor with U.S. Jewish voters, because polls show many have reservations about his support for Israel.

But Israelis like Tony Jason who avidly² followed Obama's visit say many Israelis support the presumptive Democratic Party nominee³.

"We would like to send a message to the American voting public and in particular the American Jewish communities that we are Israelis, we live in Israel, we are part of Israeli society and we feel confident in a Barack Obama presidency⁴," he said.

Much of Obama's visit to Israel focused on reassuring⁵ Israelis that he supports their concerns over a nuclear Iran and their concerns over security issues in general. In remarks with Israeli leaders, Obama vowed⁶ support for Israel, saying he would not press its leaders to make concessions⁷ that would compromise their country's security.

For many Israelis the highlight of the Obama visit was his trip to the city of Sderot, battered⁸ by rocket fire from Palestinian militants⁹ from across the Gaza border.

Uri Dromi, a columnist¹⁰ and director of a conference center involved in conflict resolution issues in Jerusalem, says Obama's Sderot visit left a good impression with Israelis.

"He was very wise to go to Sderot, which is really a sore issue here in Israel," he noted¹¹. "The way he expressed himself saying if someone fired missiles into his home where his daughters live, that he would do anything in his capacity to stop it that is exactly the kind of rhetoric¹² that resonates well in Israel. So I think yes, he made a very good impression."

Obama's visit to the West Bank drew a more subdued¹³ response and he confined himself to meetings with moderate Palestinian leaders like President Mahmoud Abbas.

Palestinians generally welcomed his commitment that if elected president he will immediately begin working to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

But Hani Al-Masri a political analyst¹⁴ and independent journalist in the West Bank says Palestinians also wanted to hear more from Obama about the issues they deal with every day living under Israeli occupation.

"They (Palestinians) want him to be fair," Al-Masri said. "Because the Palestinians are under occupation and he said nothing about the occupation or about settlements and he did not want to face the press because he wanted to avoid questions about the settlements and about the Israeli policies."

Most Israelis and Palestinians say they realize Obama's visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories had more to do with U.S. domestic politics than with resolving their 60-year-old conflict. But as he left the region many Israelis and Palestinians said they were reassured¹⁵ by Obama, and many say that if the Illinois senator does win the presidency in November they believe he will soon be back in the region to act on the promises he made during his visit.

1 wailing   

v.哭叫，哀号( wail的现在分词 )；沱

参考例句：

• A police car raced past with its siren wailing. 一辆警车鸣着警报器飞驰而过。
• The little girl was wailing miserably. 那小女孩难过得号啕大哭。

2 avidly   

adv.渴望地，热心地

参考例句：

• She read avidly from an early age—books, magazines, anything. 她从小就酷爱阅读——书籍、杂志，无不涉猎。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Her melancholy eyes avidly scanned his smiling face. 她说话时两只忧郁的眼睛呆呆地望着他的带笑的脸。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）

3 nominee   

n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者

参考例句：

• His nominee for vice president was elected only after a second ballot.他提名的副总统在两轮投票后才当选。
• Mr.Francisco is standing as the official nominee for the post of District Secretary.弗朗西斯科先生是行政书记职位的正式提名人。

4 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

5 reassuring   

a.使人消除恐惧和疑虑的，使人放心的

参考例句：

• He gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. 他轻拍了一下她的肩膀让她放心。
• With a reassuring pat on her arm, he left. 他鼓励地拍了拍她的手臂就离开了。

6 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。

7 concessions   

n.（尤指由政府或雇主给予的）特许权( concession的名词复数 )；承认；减价；（在某地的）特许经营权

参考例句：

• The firm will be forced to make concessions if it wants to avoid a strike. 要想避免罢工，公司将不得不作出一些让步。
• The concessions did little to placate the students. 让步根本未能平息学生的愤怒。

8 battered   

adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损

参考例句：

• He drove up in a battered old car.他开着一辆又老又破的旧车。
• The world was brutally battered but it survived.这个世界遭受了惨重的创伤,但它还是生存下来了。

9 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

10 columnist   

n.专栏作家

参考例句：

• The host was interviewing a local columnist.节目主持人正在同一位当地的专栏作家交谈。
• She's a columnist for USA Today.她是《今日美国报》的专栏作家。

11 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

12 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

13 subdued   

adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He seemed a bit subdued to me. 我觉得他当时有点闷闷不乐。
• I felt strangely subdued when it was all over. 一切都结束的时候，我却有一种奇怪的压抑感。

14 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

15 reassured   

adj.使消除疑虑的；使放心的v.再保证，恢复信心( reassure的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• The captain's confidence during the storm reassured the passengers. 在风暴中船长的信念使旅客们恢复了信心。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The doctor reassured the old lady. 医生叫那位老妇人放心。 来自《简明英汉词典》