VOA慢速英语2015 日本首相安倍晋三加入美国国会领导人列表

AS IT IS 2015-04-30 Shinzo Abe Joins List of Leaders Addressing US Congress 日本首相安倍晋三加入美国国会领导人列表

Shinzo Abe is the first Japanese prime minister to receive the rare honor of addressing a Joint¹ Meeting of the U.S. Congress. Mr. Abe expressed “deep repentance” over Japan’s role in World War II and said that Japan will play a larger role in the security of the region.

With his address, Mr. Abe joined a long list of world leaders who came before him. They came all over the world, Italy, Iraq, Australia, Romania and even West Germany – back when there was a West Germany.

They addressed senators and congressmen in the House of Representatives chamber² because it is large enough to hold the whole Congress. The most recent leader before Mr. Abe was Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani last March.

Also in March was a controversial appearance by Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel. Republican House Speaker John Boehner invited Netanyahu without asking the White House. That was the third time that Netanyahu has addressed a Joint Meeting of Congress. The appearance tied him with Winston Churchill for the most times addressing Congress.

Major world leaders like South Africa’s Nelson Mandela, Vaclav Havel of Czechoslovakia and Lech Walesa of Poland have also stood at the podium of the historic House chamber.

However, it was a king who actually spoke³ in the first Joint Meeting of Congress on December 18, 1874. King Kalakaua of Hawaii made his appearance when Hawaii was a kingdom, and not a U.S. state.

Few women have taken to that podium. German Chancellor⁴ Angela Merkel was the last woman to address the joint meeting more than five years ago. Before her was Britain’s Queen Elizabeth in 1991 and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher⁵ in 1985.

Before there were joint meetings of Congress, each chamber, the House or the Senate, would receive guests individually. The Marquis de Lafayette was the first to speak at a House reception in December 1824.

Israel’s Netanyahu was not the first to stir controversy⁶ about his invitation to speak to Congress. In 1987, the Soviet⁷ leader Mikhail Gorbachev was in Washington for a summit with U.S. President Ronald Reagan. It was reported that he would be invited to speak to Congress in a joint meeting. The invitation was never sent because some senators reportedly objected.

For Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, there was personal as well as historic importance to his speech. His grandfather, Kishi Nobusuke, addressed the House as Japan’s prime minister, back in 1957.

Words in This Story

podium-n. a raised platform for speaking

controversy-n. an argument that involves many people who strongly disagree about something

1 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

2 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。

3 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。

4 chancellor   

n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长

参考例句：

• They submitted their reports to the Chancellor yesterday.他们昨天向财政大臣递交了报告。
• He was regarded as the most successful Chancellor of modern times.他被认为是现代最成功的财政大臣。

5 thatcher   

n.茅屋匠

参考例句：

• Tom Sawyer was in the skiff that bore Judge Thatcher. 汤姆 - 索亚和撒切尔法官同乘一条小艇。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险
• Mrs. Thatcher was almost crazed; and Aunt Polly, also. 撒切尔夫人几乎神经失常，还有波莉姨妈也是。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险

6 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

7 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。