VOA标准英语2009年-Arab Summit in Kuwait Ends in Discord

Arab leaders tried to patch over their differences as a two-day summit in Kuwait drew to a close, but the Gaza conflict appears to have exacerbated¹ the tensions.
　
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Al Sabah, Amir of Kuwait and Sheikh Al Thani, Amir of Qatar, from left, at the Arab Economic Summit in Kuwait, 19 Jan 2009

Arab leaders began their Kuwait summit, Monday, amid discord², and ended it, a day later, amid more discord. Attempts to find a common position on the conflict in Gaza and towards Israel seemingly failed, leaving rival Arab camps as divided as ever.

Arab leaders did, however, agree to a plan to rebuild the war-torn Gaza Strip, promising³ a total of $2 billion to reconstruct what was damaged or demolished⁴ in the 21-day conflict between Israel and Hamas militants⁵.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Houshiyar Zubeiri told Kuwaiti TV that the summit's final declaration avoided a common position on Gaza because Arab leaders had "run out of time" to reconcile their differences, and because "some [leaders] remain entrenched⁶ in their positions."

Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa sounded unusually downbeat and discouraged in a press conference after the summit.

He said the Arab state of affairs remains⁷ troubled and tense. He said, "we tried, Monday, to start rebuilding after the important speech by [Saudi] King Abdallah [calling for an end to discord]." But, he concludes, "things are still not back to normal, in my view, and we must make intensive efforts in order to repair the damage."

Moussa did, however, make a special point to emphasize that the 2002 Arab peace initiative towards Israel, remains on the table, despite events in Gaza, and despite calls from Syria and Iran to withdraw it.

The 2002 Arab peace initiative, he says, did not figure in the summit's closing statement, but he said it remains valid⁸, and he said Arab leaders have no quarrels over the initiative, which he calls a common point of view. But, he adds, the initiative can't remain on the table much longer, if after seven years Israel still hasn't accepted it.

Paul Salem, who heads the Beirut-based Carnegie Center for Peace in the Middle East, explained that the Arabs had papered over their profound differences which had arisen during the Gaza conflict. "Definitely, the two camps remain; papering over some of the differences was expected and is sort of the normal course of affairs in Arab affairs. The idea of conciliation⁹ and sort of moving forward and not bringing out differences too much into the open, but nobody's position has changed, but it was necessary to save face for the Arab leaders, in general, for the regimes in general, to show that they could agree, at least after the Gaza war was over," he said.

Salem was, however, more optimistic about the long term prospects¹⁰ for peace. "The Gaza events certainly divided people, but there is more areas of agreement as to how to move forward in terms of bringing Hamas and Fatah together, in terms of reconstructing the Gaza Strip, in terms of trying to revive negotiations¹¹ with Israel, and encouraging the U.S. administration to do so," he said.

As the new Obama administration takes office, it will both have to work with the camp of traditional U.S. allies, including Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, as well as to make some sort of overture¹² to the opposing camp of foes¹³ and adversaries¹⁴, which includes Iran and Syria.

1 exacerbated   

v.使恶化，使加重( exacerbate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The symptoms may be exacerbated by certain drugs. 这些症状可能会因为某些药物而加重。
• The drugs they gave her only exacerbated the pain. 他们给她吃的药只是加重了她的痛楚。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 discord   

n.不和，意见不合，争论，（音乐）不和谐

参考例句：

• These two answers are in discord.这两个答案不一样。
• The discord of his music was hard on the ear.他演奏的不和谐音很刺耳。

3 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

4 demolished   

v.摧毁( demolish的过去式和过去分词 )；推翻；拆毁（尤指大建筑物）；吃光

参考例句：

• The factory is due to be demolished next year. 这个工厂定于明年拆除。
• They have been fighting a rearguard action for two years to stop their house being demolished. 两年来，为了不让拆除他们的房子，他们一直在进行最后的努力。

5 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。

6 entrenched   

adj.确立的，不容易改的(风俗习惯)

参考例句：

• Television seems to be firmly entrenched as the number one medium for national advertising.电视看来要在全国广告媒介中牢固地占据头等位置。
• If the enemy dares to attack us in these entrenched positions,we will make short work of them.如果敌人胆敢进攻我们固守的阵地，我们就消灭他们。

7 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。

8 valid   

adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的

参考例句：

• His claim to own the house is valid.他主张对此屋的所有权有效。
• Do you have valid reasons for your absence?你的缺席有正当理由吗？

9 conciliation   

n.调解，调停

参考例句：

• By conciliation,cooperation is established.通过调解，友好合作关系得以确立。
• Their attempts at conciliation had failed and both sides were once again in dispute.他们进行调停的努力失败了，双方再次陷入争吵。

10 prospects   

n.希望，前途(恒为复数)

参考例句：

• There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
• They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。

11 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

12 overture   

n.前奏曲、序曲，提议，提案，初步交涉

参考例句：

• The opera was preceded by a short overture.这部歌剧开始前有一段简短的序曲。
• His overture led to nothing.他的提议没有得到什么结果。

13 foes   

敌人，仇敌( foe的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They steadily pushed their foes before them. 他们不停地追击敌人。
• She had fought many battles, vanquished many foes. 她身经百战，挫败过很多对手。

14 adversaries   

n.对手，敌手( adversary的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• That would cause potential adversaries to recoil from a challenge. 这会迫使潜在的敌人在挑战面前退缩。 来自辞典例句
• Every adversaries are more comfortable with a predictable, coherent America. 就连敌人也会因有可以预料的，始终一致的美国而感到舒服得多。 来自辞典例句