VOA标准英语2009年-Egypt Hosts Gaza Ceasefire Meeting

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak hosted a summit of six top European leaders, including Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, in order to coordinate¹ efforts to strengthen a ceasefire in Gaza and to help rebuild the war-torn territory. No representatives from Israel or Hamas attended the summit, co-chaired by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his French counterpart, Nicolas Sarkozy.
　
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, center, and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak (r) at an international conference on Gaza, at Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt, 18 Jan. 2009

Top European and Arab leaders met in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el Sheikh, in a bid to act quickly to strengthen the just-declared ceasefire in Gaza, to help rebuild the battered² territory, and to try to avoid a repeat of the three-week conflict.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who co-sponsored a staged peace plan for Gaza, began the conference by spelling out what needs to be done.

He says there are difficult and important issues before us, requiring us all to redouble our efforts: we must guarantee the respect of the ceasefire and the withdrawal³ of Israeli forces from Gaza and restore the truce⁴, reopen border crossings and lift the Israeli blockade.

French President Nicholas Sarkozy, who co-authored the Gaza peace plan, thanked Mubarak for his efforts and subtly criticized other Arab states who recently met in Qatar, calling for an end of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and the ostracizing⁵ of Israel.

He says that Egypt played an essential role in stopping this war, which has only led to more pain and more disaster and will not guarantee peace and security for anyone. Egypt unlike other Arab states acted responsibly to find consensus⁶, rather than throw oil on the fire.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, his face looking drawn⁷ and tired, explained sadly that the crisis has been a disaster for his people and that much remains⁸ to be done to overcome it.
　
Palestinians inspect the rubble⁹ of a building in the eastern area of Jebaliya after Israeli troops withdrew in the northern Gaza Strip, Sunday, 18 Jan. 2009

He says that a human, humanitarian¹⁰, and national catastrophe¹¹ has befallen us, one we wanted to avoid from the start. But since it has happened, Abbas says we must work to strengthen the just-declared ceasefire, resume a truce (with Israel), bring urgent humanitarian aid to our people, and rebuild Palestinian unity¹².

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon called for Hamas and Israel to do what needs to be done to strengthen the still-fragile ceasefire.

"Hamas must stop fighting, must stop sending rockets into Israel and Israel must also exercise maximum restraint, so that this ceasefire can be sustained," Mr. ban said.

Jordan's King Abdallah II urged the European Union and the incoming U.S. Obama Administration to cooperate and to deal with the Israeli-Palestinian crisis immediately, so that future crises can be averted¹³.

"Coordination¹⁴ between the EU and the incoming Obama Administration is going to be vital for all of us, to think of the day after, to get the process back on track and to find a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian problem immediately," King Abdallah said. "If we do not do that, it will only be a matter of time before many world leaders will be meeting again, calling for a ceasefire in the region."

King Abdallah also insisted that the 2002 Arab peace initiative be kept alive, tacitly criticizing Syria and other radical¹⁵ Arab states, who recently declared it was dead.

Meanwhile, despite recent bellicose¹⁶ rhetoric¹⁷ coming from the Damascus-based Hamas leadership, the Deputy head of its political bureau, Moussa Abu Marzouk declared the group would abide¹⁸ by the ceasefire, giving Israel one week to withdraw its forces from Gaza.

1 coordinate   

adj.同等的，协调的；n.同等者；vt.协作，协调

参考例句：

• You must coordinate what you said with what you did.你必须使你的言行一致。
• Maybe we can coordinate the relation of them.或许我们可以调和他们之间的关系。

2 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。

3 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。

4 truce   

n.休战，(争执，烦恼等的)缓和；v.以停战结束

参考例句：

• The hot weather gave the old man a truce from rheumatism.热天使这位老人暂时免受风湿病之苦。
• She had thought of flying out to breathe the fresh air in an interval of truce.她想跑出去呼吸一下休战期间的新鲜空气。

5 ostracizing   

v.放逐( ostracize的现在分词 )；流放；摈弃；排斥

参考例句：

6 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

7 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

8 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

9 rubble   

n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾

参考例句：

• After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
• After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。

10 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

11 catastrophe   

n.大灾难，大祸

参考例句：

• I owe it to you that I survived the catastrophe.亏得你我才大难不死。
• This is a catastrophe beyond human control.这是一场人类无法控制的灾难。

12 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

13 averted   

防止，避免( avert的过去式和过去分词 )； 转移

参考例句：

• A disaster was narrowly averted. 及时防止了一场灾难。
• Thanks to her skilful handling of the affair, the problem was averted. 多亏她对事情处理得巧妙，才避免了麻烦。

14 coordination   

n.协调，协作

参考例句：

• Gymnastics is a sport that requires a considerable level of coordination.体操是一项需要高协调性的运动。
• The perfect coordination of the dancers and singers added a rhythmic charm to the performance.舞蹈演员和歌手们配合得很好，使演出更具魅力。

15 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

16 bellicose   

adj.好战的；好争吵的

参考例句：

• He expressed alarm about the government's increasingly bellicose statements.他对政府越来越具挑衅性的声明表示担忧。
• Some irresponsible politicians made a bellicose remarks.一些不负责任的政客说出一些好战的话语。

17 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。

18 abide   

vi.遵守；坚持；vt.忍受

参考例句：

• You must abide by the results of your mistakes.你必须承担你的错误所造成的后果。
• If you join the club,you have to abide by its rules.如果你参加俱乐部，你就得遵守它的规章。