英闻天下——91 Turmoil in the Mideast

 　　This past year has been the second-year of the so-called "Arab Spring", with some countries, such as Egypt, seeing both moves forward and unrest.

 

　　At the same time, the situation in Syria has made no noticeable progress, while the uncertainty¹ in the Palestinian territories remains² deep through 2012.

 

　　As such, today's key words are "Turmoil³ in the Mideast."

 

　　CRI's Shen Chengcheng has the story.

 

　　A nearly two-year conflict, an estimated death toll⁴ of 60-thousand and half-a-million registered refugees.

 

　　The Syrian civil war has evolved from demonstrators calling for more freedom to a bloodbath which has polarized the international community.

 

　　Hua Liming is the former Chinese ambassador to Iran.

 

　　"Syria's opposition⁶ has been supported by NATO members, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other foreign countries. Endless of weapons and money have flown into Syria. On the other side, there are Russia and Iran supporting the Assad's government. That's why we've seen the violence in Syria kept worsening in the past year."

 

　　Hua says if a political solution is going to be worked out, it's going to be critical to have Russia fully⁷ involved in the process.

 

　　"The US, other NATO members and Saudi Arabia and Qatar insist that Assad's departure must be a precondition for a political solution in Syria. Russia, meantime does not insist that Assad should remain in power, but it contends Assad's exit should not be the prerequisite⁸ of a Syrian-led political solution."

 

　　The deteriorating⁹ humanitarian¹⁰ situation, including thousands of refugees pouring over into neighboring countries, is also creating fears of a regional spillover.

 

　　Adding to the regional unrest is the political situation in Egypt.

 

　　A once-jailed Islamist leader is now the country's president.

 

　　Mohamed Morsi's Islamist backers have enabled his rise to the presidency¹¹, the approval of the new constitution and the election of an Islamist-dominated upper chamber¹².

 

　　On top of the political polarization in Egypt, the country is facing a deepening economic crisis, a crippling budget deficit¹³ and dwindling¹⁴ foreign reserves.

 

　　Hanan Ramsis is an Egyptian economic analyst¹⁵.

 

　　"I think that Egypt's last credit rating from Standard and Poor's ranked Egypt at B minus. That means we are not stable on both the political and economic sides. That means we are heading into a dark tunnel."

 

　　In an attempt to draw money into the coffers, Morsi had been proposing a new series of taxes. However, he later backed away after his advisors¹⁶ warned of more potential uprisings.

 

　　And while the economy and politics on the ground in Egypt remain shaky, the Morsi administration was able to create an international achievement for itself by mediating¹⁷ an end to the 8-days of fighting this past year between Palestinian fighters and the Israeli military in Gaza.

 

　　Still, in the Palestinian territories, political uncertainty remains an issue.

 

　　While Hamas and Fatah have settled some of their political differences in a show of unity⁵ following the Israeli raids, the UN's move to upgrade the Palestinian side to an "observer state" has raised new international concerns.

 

　　The UN upgrade has emboldened¹⁸ Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to start labeling his administration as the State of Palestine, rather than the Palestinian National Authority.

 

　　On top of this, the Israeli government has continued to authorize¹⁹ the construction of new settlements along the so-called E1 corridor, which has left the possibility of any new peace talks a distant likelihood.

 

　　For CRI, I'm Shen Chengcheng.

1 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

2 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。

3 turmoil   

n.骚乱，混乱，动乱

参考例句：

• His mind was in such a turmoil that he couldn't get to sleep.内心的纷扰使他无法入睡。
• The robbery put the village in a turmoil.抢劫使全村陷入混乱。

4 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

5 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。

6 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。

7 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

8 prerequisite   

n.先决条件；adj.作为前提的，必备的

参考例句：

• Stability and unity are a prerequisite to the four modernizations.安定团结是实现四个现代化的前提。
• It is a prerequisite of entry to the profession that you pass the exams.做这一行的先决条件是要通过了有关的考试。

9 deteriorating   

恶化，变坏( deteriorate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The weather conditions are deteriorating. 天气变得越来越糟。
• I was well aware of the bad morale and the deteriorating factories. 我很清楚，大家情绪低落，各个工厂越搞越坏。

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 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

12 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

13 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

14 dwindling   

adj.逐渐减少的v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The number of wild animals on the earth is dwindling. 地球上野生动物的数量正日渐减少。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He is struggling to come to terms with his dwindling authority. 他正努力适应自己权力被削弱这一局面。 来自辞典例句

15 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

16 advisors   

n.顾问，劝告者( advisor的名词复数 )；（指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• The governors felt that they were being strung along by their advisors. 地方长官感到他们一直在受顾问们的愚弄。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• We will consult together with advisors about her education. 我们将一起和专家商议她的教育事宜。 来自互联网

17 mediating   

调停，调解，斡旋( mediate的现在分词 )； 居间促成； 影响…的发生； 使…可能发生

参考例句：

• So many factors are mediating. 如此众多的因素在起作用。
• The contrast in mediating noted in the sitting room. 客厅中注重了调和中的对比。

18 emboldened   

v.鼓励，使有胆量( embolden的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Emboldened by the wine, he went over to introduce himself to her. 他借酒壮胆，走上前去向她作自我介绍。
• His success emboldened him to expand his business. 他有了成就因而激发他进一步扩展业务。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 authorize   

v.授权，委任；批准，认可

参考例句：

• He said that he needed to get his supervisor to authorize my refund.他说必须让主管人员批准我的退款。
• Only the President could authorize the use of the atomic bomb.只有总统才能授权使用原子弹。