CNN 2011-03-01

There are roughly 6,000 Americans in Libya, and the U.S. government is trying to get them out. A ferry that was chartered to take hundreds of U.S. citizens from Libya to Malta was held up for a while yesterday. U.S. officials said everyone onboard was safe. They said the delay was because of the weather.

Meanwhile, Libya's leader, Moammar Gadhafi, is blaming the violence in his country on young people. He says they're taking some sort of pills and being manipulated by the al Qaeda terrorist group. But during a speech earlier this week, President Obama said what's going on in that part of the world has nothing to do with outside influences.

So let me be clear. The change that is taking place across the region is being driven by the people of the region. This change doesn't represent the work of the United States or any foreign power. It represents the aspirations¹ of people who are seeking a better life.

Looking around that region, starting next door to Libya and Algeria. The country has lifted a 19-year-old state of emergency, and what that means is that people there have greater freedom of speech and assembly now. Moving south to Cameroon, where protesters are demanding that the country's president step down. He's been in power for nearly 30 years and is running for re-election this year. Finally, Yemen, where eight lawmakers resigned to protest violence against people who are demonstrating against the government. One of the lawmakers said, "I resigned because there's been no respect by the government for human rights."

1 aspirations   

强烈的愿望( aspiration的名词复数 )； 志向； 发送气音； 发 h 音

参考例句：

• I didn't realize you had political aspirations. 我没有意识到你有政治上的抱负。
• The new treaty embodies the aspirations of most nonaligned countries. 新条约体现了大多数不结盟国家的愿望。