VOA慢速英语2014 奥巴马支持缅甸改革

 

Obama Sees 'New Day' for Myanmar, But Supports Reforms 奥巴马支持缅甸改革

President Barack Obama says he is sure of a "new day" in Myanmar. But he says there is work yet to be done to reform the country.

Mr. Obama spoke¹ Thursday during a meeting with Myanmar’s President, Thein Sein, and others, including Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.

Mr. Obama is in the middle of a two-day trip to the country, also known as Burma. The visit is taking place during a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. It is the first time that Myanmar has held the yearly gathering².

The president is also taking part in the East Asia Summit. The summit is a conference of the 10 ASEAN member nations plus eight other countries.

Obama calls on Russia to honor ceasefire in Ukraine

President Obama has called on Russia to honor a September ceasefire between Ukraine and Russian-supported rebels in eastern Ukraine.

An American official says Mr. Obama gave the message to Russian President Vladimir Putin during talks at a meeting this week in Beijing.

NATO and European observers have reported Russian tanks, troops and weapons crossing Ukraine’s border in the past few days.

Moscow has repeatedly denied any official military involvement in Ukraine, and has described Russian troops fighting alongside rebels as volunteers.       

Medical group tests three separate Ebola treatments

International health group Doctors Without Borders is launching clinical trials in West Africa to test the effectiveness of three possible Ebola treatments.

The group announced Thursday it hopes to begin the trials next month, with the first results available as early as February.

Doctors Without Borders has formed partnerships³ with three other organizations to carry out the separate tests, two of which involve anti-viral drugs.

New York Times has no plan to change coverage⁴ of China

The New York Times newspaper says it has no plans to change its reporting of events in China. The Times released a statement after Chinese President Xi Jinping appeared to confirm the government is punishing foreign media for publishing critical stories.

President Xi's comments came Wednesday during a press conference in Beijing.

When asked by a Times reporter why foreign journalists had difficulties getting visas approved, Mr. Xi suggested the reporters themselves were to blame. He said media organizations "need to obey China's laws and regulations."

Words in This Story

reform - v. to make better by changing; to improve

ceasefire - n. a halt in fighting, usually by agreement

trials - n. a test of the quality or usefulness of something

media - n. all public information organizations, including newspapers, television and radio

1 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

2 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

3 partnerships   

n.伙伴关系( partnership的名词复数 )；合伙人身份；合作关系

参考例句：

• Partnerships suffer another major disadvantage: decision-making is shared. 合伙企业的另一主要缺点是决定要由大家来作。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• It involved selling off limited partnerships. 它涉及到售出有限的合伙权。 来自辞典例句

4 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。