VOA标准英语2009年-Lebanon's Hariri Makes 2nd Attempt at Form

By Jessica Desvarieux
Cairo
24 September 2009

Lebanon's Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri on Thursday launched talks with the country's various political parties in his second bid to form a coalition¹ government since a June election.

 
Lebanese prime minister-designate Saad Hariri (R) meets with Christian² opposition³ leader Michel Aoun in Beirut, 24 Sep 2009
Hariri, who met with parliament speaker and opposition Amal party leader Nabih Berri, was reappointed as prime minister last week, days after resigning. He left his post after more than 10 weeks of fruitless attempts to form a coalition government.

Visiting Hudson Institute fellow Lee Smith says that Hariri's decision to return was expected.

"He would come back and have more power to form a government. Whether or not that is the case remains⁴ to be seen, but that was the idea behind his resignation," Smith said.

The 39-year-old Hariri came to power after parliamentary elections in June. His coalition won 71 of 128 parliament seats, while Hezbollah and its allies took 57.

A month later a Lebanese power-sharing system was formed to divide power under religious lines. The president would have to be a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim and the Parliament speaker a Shi'ite.

Hezbollah-led opposition to his cabinet choices kept him from forming a government and led to his resignation on September 7.

Smith says it is not known whether or not Hariri's second attempt will be more successful. But, regardless, he still faces the same challenges.

"I think it's not going to change the situation fundamentally at all; you still have the problem of an armed group, mainly Hezbollah, that runs a separate foreign policy and that has carefully built a state within a state for the last thirty years now. So the fundamental issues are not going to go away," Smith said.

These are the fundamental issues that Hariri will have to face again in a series of talks scheduled until next Tuesday with various other parties including militant⁵ group Hezbollah.

1 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

2 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

3 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

4 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。

5 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。