VOA标准英语2009年-Iran's Parliament Approves 18 of 21 Cabine

After five days of often bitter debate, the Iranian parliament has approved 18 out of 21 of President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad's Cabinet picks. The candidate for defense¹ minister won overwhelming approval, despite accusations² of involvement in a 1994 bombing against a Jewish community center in Argentina.
　
General view of Iranian parliament during open session held for voting, 3 Sep 2009

Iran's soft-spoken parliament speaker Ali Larijani moderated the long and often noisy five-day debate leading to the approval, of 18 out of 21 Cabinet ministers in President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad's new government.

Larijani read out the vote tallies³ for each of the 21 Cabinet posts, indicating which ministers had won approval and which had not.

He said out of 286 members of parliament, 227 voted to approve President Ahmedinejad's choice of Ahmed Vahidi as defense minister. The controversial Vahidi is the subject of an arrest warrant by Interpol for the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, which left 85 people dead.

The voting took place in a calm and orderly fashion, despite the many outbursts during the long debate. Parliament members quietly stood in line to cast paper ballots⁴ for each of 21 cabinet nominees⁵.

Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi took the oath of office, after winning parliamentary approval to become the first woman minister since the founding of the Islamic Republic in 1979. Dastjerdi, who is former member of parliament and a gynecologist by profession, will be Iran's new health minister.

Two other women cabinet picks failed to win the approval of parliament, after Speaker Larijani read out the vote tallies against them. Sousan Keshavaraz and Fatemeh Ajorlou were defeated after many members complained that they had insufficient⁶ experience.

Another of President Ahmedinejad's cabinet picks, Oil Minister Masoud Mirkazemi was narrowly approved, despite multiple attacks against him by the president's own parliamentary bloc⁷.

President Ahmedinejad, flanked by speaker Larijani, stood alongside his new ministers and read off a list of goals for his new cabinet. Few analysts⁸ had expected his cabinet choices to win such broad approval, especially after his controversial re-election, following the disputed June 12 election.

Mr. Ahmedinejad told reporters, after the parliament vote, that Iran would not bow to world pressure over its nuclear program. "No one can impose sanctions on Iran, any longer," he insisted. "We welcome sanctions." He went on to say that Iran has "given its package of proposals" to the world community to debate and resolve the crisis.

1 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。

2 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

3 tallies   

n.账( tally的名词复数 )；符合；（计数的）签；标签v.计算，清点( tally的第三人称单数 )；加标签（或标记）于；（使）符合；（使）吻合

参考例句：

• Cash on hand tallies with the figure in the accounts. 现款跟账上的数目没有出入。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He tallies his own marks. 他把自己的得分记了下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 ballots   

n.投票表决( ballot的名词复数 )；选举；选票；投票总数v.（使）投票表决( ballot的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• They're counting the ballots. 他们正在计算选票。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The news of rigged ballots has rubbed off much of the shine of their election victory. 他们操纵选票的消息使他们在选举中获得的胜利大为减色。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 nominees   

n.被提名者，被任命者( nominee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She's one of the nominees. 她是被提名者之一。 来自超越目标英语 第2册
• A startling number of his nominees for senior positions have imploded. 他所提名的高级官员被否决的数目令人震惊。 来自互联网

6 insufficient   

adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的

参考例句：

• There was insufficient evidence to convict him.没有足够证据给他定罪。
• In their day scientific knowledge was insufficient to settle the matter.在他们的时代，科学知识还不能足以解决这些问题。

7 bloc   

n.集团；联盟

参考例句：

• A solid bloc of union members support the decision.工会会员团结起来支持该决定。
• There have been growing tensions within the trading bloc.贸易同盟国的关系越来越紧张。

8 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。