联合国人权官员对种族大会表示乐观

UN Rights Official Upbeat on Race Conference

Challiss McDonough

Durban

4 Sep 2001 

 

U.N. Human Rights Commissioner¹ Mary Robinson says the World Conference Against Racism² is back on track despite the 1)pullout of the United States.

Mary Robinson, who is Secretary-General of the conference, told reporters the 2)walkout by the United States and Israel was met by "a good deal of sadness and 3)dismay."

But she also said she is encouraged by what she called the constructive³ spirit of the remaining 4)delegates, who are determined⁴ to press on toward 5)consensus⁵ on the wording of the final declaration. "I believe we are back on course. We are steadied, and everybody knows that time is short," she said. "We have come a long and 6)bumpy way to get here. But voices that were 7)ignored before are being heard."

Those voices were being heard even as she spoke⁶. Outside, a noisy group of Afro-Brazilian protesters were demanding 8)reparations for the slave trade.

Carrying huge banners and blowing whistles, they chant, "reparations now!" Zakiya Carr represents a Sao Paulo-based organization for black women. "Brazil is in a situation where African people are being discriminated⁷. We want reparations now. That's what we want," she said.

The day also saw a protest of 9)indigenous people from around the world, demanding equal rights from their 10)respective governments, and from the United Nations.

But the main event remains⁸ the Middle East conflict and the U.S. and Israeli walkout. A U.S. spokeswoman has confirmed that the U.S. consul⁹ general in Durban remains at the conference, but mainly as an observer, he is not allowed to participate in any way.

Three 11)anonymous bomb threats were made Tuesday against the building next door to the U.S. 12)consulate¹⁰ in Durban. A police spokesman said the bomb squad¹¹ searched the building 13)thoroughly and found no explosives. He insists the incident is not related to the racism conference or the U.S. consulate.

A Palestinian NGO delegate, Khader Shkirad, told reporters the U.S. attitude toward the conference has actually achieved the opposite of the Bush administration's goal. "By attempting to 14)exclude the Palestinian issue from this conference, in fact, I would like to thank on behalf of the Palestinian caucus¹² and on behalf of all the 15)victims, to thank the United States for putting the Palestinian issue on the top agenda to this conference," he said.

The U.N. human rights commissioner confirmed that the entire section of the declaration dealing¹³ with the Middle East has been withdrawn¹⁴, in line with a South African proposal to start from scratch. Ms. Robinson said South Africa has agreed to 16)spearhead efforts to rewrite that section in an effort to find consensus. "The text that is in there having been withdrawn, it may not be possible to replace with other text," she said. "But I am sure the delegates will want to have text on a whole range of issues that are encompassed¹⁵ in that."

Ms. Robinson said it is still possible to create a conference declaration that will be what she called a ringing endorsement¹⁶ of respect for human dignity. But she said the thorniest¹⁷ questions are not likely to be resolved until the last minute Friday, if at all.

 

 

(1)      pullout n.撤退, 拔, 拉, 离去

(2)      walkout n.罢工

(3)      dismay[dIs5meI]n.沮丧, 惊慌v.使沮丧, 使惊慌

(4)      delegate[5delI^Et]n.代表vt.委派...为代表

(5)      consensus[kEn5sensEs]n.一致同意, 多数人的意见, 舆论

(6)      bumpy[5bQmpI]adj.(道路等)颠簸的, 崎岖不平的

(7)      ignore[I^5nC:(r)]vt.不理睬, 忽视

(8)      reparations n.赔款

(9)      indigenous[In5dIdVInEs]adj.本土的

(10)      respective[rI5spektIv]adj.分别的, 各自的

(11)      anonymous[E5nRnImEs]adj.匿名的

(12)      consulate[5kRnsjJlEt; (?@) 5kRnsElEt]n.领事, 领事馆, 领事任期

(13)      thoroughly[5WQrElI]adv.十分地, 彻底地

(14)      exclude[Ik5sklu:d]vt.拒绝接纳, 把...排除在外, 排斥

(15)      victim[5vIktIm]n.受害人, 牺牲者, 牺牲品

(16)      spearhead[5spIEhed]n.先头部队v.充当先锋

 

 

1 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

2 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

3 constructive   

adj.建设的，建设性的

参考例句：

• We welcome constructive criticism.我们乐意接受有建设性的批评。
• He is beginning to deal with his anger in a constructive way.他开始用建设性的方法处理自己的怒气。

4 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

5 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

6 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。

7 discriminated   

分别，辨别，区分( discriminate的过去式和过去分词 )； 歧视，有差别地对待

参考例句：

• His great size discriminated him from his followers. 他的宽广身材使他不同于他的部下。
• Should be a person that has second liver virus discriminated against? 一个患有乙肝病毒的人是不是就应该被人歧视？

8 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。

9 consul   

n.领事；执政官

参考例句：

• A consul's duty is to help his own nationals.领事的职责是帮助自己的同胞。
• He'll hold the post of consul general for the United States at Shanghai.他将就任美国驻上海总领事(的职务)。

10 consulate   

n.领事馆

参考例句：

• The Spanish consulate is the large white building opposite the bank.西班牙领事馆是银行对面的那栋高大的白色建筑物。
• The American consulate was a magnificent edifice in the centre of Bordeaux.美国领事馆是位于波尔多市中心的一座宏伟的大厦。

11 squad   

n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组

参考例句：

• The squad leader ordered the men to mark time.班长命令战士们原地踏步。
• A squad is the smallest unit in an army.班是军队的最小构成单位。

12 caucus   

n.秘密会议；干部会议；v.（参加）干部开会议

参考例句：

• This multi-staged caucus takes several months.这个多级会议常常历时好几个月。
• It kept the Democratic caucus from fragmenting.它也使得民主党的核心小组避免了土崩瓦解的危险。

13 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

14 withdrawn   

vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出

参考例句：

• Our force has been withdrawn from the danger area.我们的军队已从危险地区撤出。
• All foreign troops should be withdrawn to their own countries.一切外国军队都应撤回本国去。

15 encompassed   

v.围绕( encompass的过去式和过去分词 )；包围；包含；包括

参考例句：

• The enemy encompassed the city. 敌人包围了城市。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I have encompassed him with every protection. 我已经把他保护得严严实实。 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

16 endorsement   

n.背书；赞成，认可，担保；签(注)，批注

参考例句：

• We are happy to give the product our full endorsement.我们很高兴给予该产品完全的认可。
• His presidential campaign won endorsement from several celebrities.他参加总统竞选得到一些社会名流的支持。

17 thorniest   

adj.多刺的( thorny的最高级 )；有刺的；棘手的；多障碍的

参考例句：

• Paradoxically, the thorniest outstanding issue involves Bolivia. 而荒谬可笑的是，最棘手的国家要事却牵涉到了玻利维亚。 来自互联网