VOA慢速英语--奥巴马总统周日出访古巴

AS IT IS 2016-03-19 President Obama to Visit Cuba Sunday 奥巴马总统周日出访古巴

President Barack Obama travels to Cuba Sunday, becoming the first American president to visit the communist-ruled island nation in almost 90 years.

Obama administration officials say the president will meet Cuban President Raul Castro on Monday. He will meet with members of Cuban civil society, including human rights activists¹, and will give a speech to the Cuban people on Tuesday.

Ted² Henken is a professor at Baruch College in New York. He has written about Cuba. He will be in the country during President Obama’s visit.

He told VOA that the president is traveling to Cuba to ensure that relations between the United States and Cuba are not reversed when he leaves office. Henken said that Obama wants to speak directly to the Cuban people.

Henken said the president will meet and talk with whom “he chooses and not just with whom the government wishes him to meet with only."

He added that the president and his aides will work to convince Cuban officials to change their policies. He said they will not stop pushing for the nation to accept the American values of democracy and respect for human rights.

But Henken said “the president has made it very clear that it is the Cuban people who should and who will decide their future, and the United States will not be making demands on anyone in Cuba, but will be communicating a message of friendship, of assistance, of solidarity³.”

Henken said Obama also will explain to the Cuban people that the United States is not the reason for the island’s poor economic conditions. 

After his trip to Cuba, Obama will travel to Argentina. In his final months in office, he will also visit Canada and Peru.

Words in This Story

ensure - v. to guarantee

reversed - v. changed; overturned

convince - v. persuade

1 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

3 solidarity   

n.团结；休戚相关

参考例句：

• They must preserve their solidarity.他们必须维护他们的团结。
• The solidarity among China's various nationalities is as firm as a rock.中国各族人民之间的团结坚如磐石。