2006年VOA标准英语-Lebanese Push for New President

By Challiss McDonough
Beirut
17 February 2006

The leaders of the anti-Syrian alliance that holds the most seats in Lebanon's parliament are calling on President Emile Lahoud to resign by March 14, and they say they will impeach¹ him if he refuses. Mr. Lahoud, a close ally of Damascus, has said he has no intention of leaving office before his term expires in 2007. VOA's Challiss McDonough has interviewed two men who are contenders to replace him and has this report from Beirut.

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Emile Lahoud (2004 file photo) 
  

Anti-Syrian forces in Lebanon see President Lahoud as the last remaining vestige² of Syrian control over their country. Syria engineered the extension of his term in office in 2004, and his critics say that was illegal.

The anti-Syrian bloc³ in parliament is led by slain⁴ former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri's son Saad, along with Druze leader Walid Jumblatt and Christian⁵ militia⁶ leader Samir Geagea. They are pushing ahead with their drive to topple President Lahoud without any real consensus⁷ on who should replace him.
 

Saad al-Hariri, center, holds hands with Walid Jumblatt, right, and  Samir Geagea, left, in Martyrs⁸' Square, Beirut, Feb. 14, 2006  
  
In Lebanon's complex and unique political system, the president is always a Maronite Christian, chosen by parliament rather than directly elected. Amid the push for Mr. Lahoud's ouster, several major Christian leaders have thrown their hats in the ring.

Christian popular support seems to be divided between Geagea and General Michel Aoun, a former armed forces commander and longtime foe¹⁰ of Syria who returned from exile in France last year after Syria's withdrawal¹¹. General Aoun recently spoke¹² to VOA and other reporters in the basement office of his heavily fortified¹³ home on the cliffs overlooking Beirut.

"We have an independent country, but we don't have independent Lebanese people," he said.

Like many others in Beirut, General Aoun believes that Lebanon's democratic reforms cannot be completed with President Lahoud in office.

The general calls himself the "father" of the March 15 movement that ousted¹⁴ Syrian troops from the country. His forces battled Syrian troops before he was evicted¹⁵ from Lebanon in 1990.

But in the parliamentary election after his return, the veteran anti-Syria fighter allied¹⁶ himself with pro-Syrian groups. He was frozen out by the Hariri camp, and relations between the two groups have only grown frostier.

Supporter of slain former PM Rafik Hariri waves a Lebanese flag in Martyrs' Square, downtown Beirut   
  
Citing security concerns, General Aoun did not attend the rally to mark the one-year anniversary of Mr. Hariri's killing¹⁷. He sent deputies to represent him, but did not encourage his followers¹⁸ to go. Many of the demonstrators were dismayed at his decision to shun¹⁹ what they had hoped would be a show of national unity²⁰. A Christian man named Hani said he had hoped for better.

"I think General Aoun, he disappointed the Lebanese people," he said. "We worked hard to bring him back to Lebanon, but when he came back, everything is changed, because he stood with the Syrian politicians and with Hezbollah, who is connected to Syria. I don't know, maybe his people, the fans of General Aoun, I think they are reducing every day because of his choices he is making."

During the election, General Aoun's support at the polls was better than anyone expected. He won a significant bloc of seats in parliament.

Hezbollah leader Sheik Hasan Nasrallah, left, shakes hands with Michel Aoun, right, after joint²¹ press conference in Beirut, Feb. 6, 2006   
  
Earlier this month, he signed an agreement with the Syrian-backed militant²² group Hezbollah, changing Lebanon's political calculus²³ even more. Hezbollah is one of the two dominant²⁴ groups in the Shiite community. A recent editorial in Beirut's Daily Star newspaper said the only way to get rid of Mr. Lahoud is with a candidate that could earn the support of Hezbollah.

Given Lebanon's ethnic²⁵ and religious diversity, General Aoun says it is imperative²⁶ for the different groups to work together.

"Since 1989 I am shouting," he said. "I am saying loudly what we have to meet around a round table and discuss our problems. I was evicted after that by the Syrian army. And for 15 years I was preaching to people that dialogue is the road to salvation²⁷."

The general rejects allegations that he is working with a Syrian-backed terrorist group. He says he is trying to pull Hezbollah further into the mainstream²⁸, and away from Syrian influence, and working toward Hezbollah's disarmament or integration²⁹ into Lebanese security forces.

"If the United States considers that Hezbollah is a terrorist organization, we have to take out from their minds the terrorists, not from their hands," Aoun said. "You are not terrorists because you have weapons. You are terrorists because you think of terrorism. Therefore disarming³⁰ a terrorist, that is taking terrorism from his mind and not from his hands."

His critics see the general's alliance with Hezbollah and other pro-Syrian groups as a power play, aimed only at securing the presidency³¹ for himself.

Michel Aoun (file photo)  
  
And, General Aoun is far from being the only voice calling for the ouster of Mr. Lahoud. Another contender for the presidency is respected human rights lawyer Chibli Mallat.

"The fact that he remains³² in power suggests that a very important dimension of our revolution has not succeeded, and that is the democratic revolution that we started last year," he said. "So we need a new president in order to start achieving that democratic revolution and develop a new stand of economic political and constitutional reforms that this country needs."

Mallat is a former law professor who was involved in the so-called "Cedar³³ Revolution" protest movement that drove the Syrians from the country. He believes his track record of legal advocacy for Shiite and Palestinian victims of human rights violations³⁴ will help him gain support from those groups. He presents himself as a compromise candidate of sorts, one from a younger generation and a tradition of non-violence. Unlike some of the other contenders with military backgrounds, Mallat does not come with bloody³⁵ baggage from Lebanon's civil war.

"Look, I feel that we are going down two parallel lines of immense intensity," he said. "One which is tragic³⁶, and which can bring us back to the civil war, or forms of the civil war, or collapse³⁷ of the state.... And there's another vision, which is the vision of a new presidency, that rekindles³⁸ hope and puts the country onto the right track domestically and internationally. So it's not a question of being optimistic or pessimistic. One sees those two possibilities very clearly, and both are real. What is needed is a plan and an action that makes Lebanon live, not Lebanon die.

In other countries, it might seem strange that people would announce themselves contenders for the presidency while there is no election on the horizon.

But the anti-Syrian forces in parliament believe they have the momentum³⁹ to oust⁹ President Lahoud soon, and they hope that the next month will be decisive.

1 impeach   

v.弹劾；检举

参考例句：

• We must impeach the judge for taking bribes.我们一定要检举法官收受贿赂。
• The committee decided to impeach the President.委员会决定弹劾总统。

2 vestige   

n.痕迹，遗迹，残余

参考例句：

• Some upright stones in wild places are the vestige of ancient religions.荒原上一些直立的石块是古老宗教的遗迹。
• Every vestige has been swept away.一切痕迹都被一扫而光。

3 bloc   

n.集团；联盟

参考例句：

• A solid bloc of union members support the decision.工会会员团结起来支持该决定。
• There have been growing tensions within the trading bloc.贸易同盟国的关系越来越紧张。

4 slain   

杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词)

参考例句：

• The soldiers slain in the battle were burried that night. 在那天夜晚埋葬了在战斗中牺牲了的战士。
• His boy was dead, slain by the hand of the false Amulius. 他的儿子被奸诈的阿缪利乌斯杀死了。

5 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

6 militia   

n.民兵，民兵组织

参考例句：

• First came the PLA men,then the people's militia.人民解放军走在前面，其次是民兵。
• There's a building guarded by the local militia at the corner of the street.街道拐角处有一幢由当地民兵团守卫的大楼。

7 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？

8 martyrs   

n.martyr的复数形式；烈士( martyr的名词复数 )；殉道者；殉教者；乞怜者（向人诉苦以博取同情）

参考例句：

• the early Christian martyrs 早期基督教殉道者
• They paid their respects to the revolutionary martyrs. 他们向革命烈士致哀。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

9 oust   

vt.剥夺，取代，驱逐

参考例句：

• The committee wanted to oust him from the union.委员会想把他从工会中驱逐出去。
• The leaders have been ousted from power by nationalists.这些领导人被民族主义者赶下了台。

10 foe   

n.敌人，仇敌

参考例句：

• He knew that Karl could be an implacable foe.他明白卡尔可能会成为他的死敌。
• A friend is a friend;a foe is a foe;one must be clearly distinguished from the other.敌是敌，友是友，必须分清界限。

11 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。

12 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。

13 fortified   

adj. 加强的

参考例句：

• He fortified himself against the cold with a hot drink. 他喝了一杯热饮御寒。
• The enemy drew back into a few fortified points. 敌人收缩到几个据点里。

14 ousted   

驱逐( oust的过去式和过去分词 )； 革职； 罢黜； 剥夺

参考例句：

• He was ousted as chairman. 他的主席职务被革除了。
• He may be ousted by a military takeover. 他可能在一场军事接管中被赶下台。

15 evicted   

v.（依法从房屋里或土地上）驱逐，赶出( evict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• A number of tenants have been evicted for not paying the rent. 许多房客因不付房租被赶了出来。
• They had evicted their tenants for non-payment of rent. 他们赶走了未交房租的房客。

16 allied   

adj.协约国的；同盟国的

参考例句：

• Britain was allied with the United States many times in history.历史上英国曾多次与美国结盟。
• Allied forces sustained heavy losses in the first few weeks of the campaign.同盟国在最初几周内遭受了巨大的损失。

17 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

18 followers   

追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件

参考例句：

• the followers of Mahatma Gandhi 圣雄甘地的拥护者
• The reformer soon gathered a band of followers round him. 改革者很快就获得一群追随者支持他。

19 shun   

vt.避开，回避，避免

参考例句：

• Materialists face truth,whereas idealists shun it.唯物主义者面向真理，唯心主义者则逃避真理。
• This extremist organization has shunned conventional politics.这个极端主义组织有意避开了传统政治。

20 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。

21 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。

22 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

23 calculus   

n.微积分；结石

参考例句：

• This is a problem where calculus won't help at all.对于这一题，微积分一点也用不上。
• After studying differential calculus you will be able to solve these mathematical problems.学了微积分之后，你们就能够解这些数学题了。

24 dominant   

adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因

参考例句：

• The British were formerly dominant in India.英国人从前统治印度。
• She was a dominant figure in the French film industry.她在法国电影界是个举足轻重的人物。

25 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

26 imperative   

n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的

参考例句：

• He always speaks in an imperative tone of voice.他老是用命令的口吻讲话。
• The events of the past few days make it imperative for her to act.过去这几天发生的事迫使她不得不立即行动。

27 salvation   

n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困

参考例句：

• Salvation lay in political reform.解救办法在于政治改革。
• Christians hope and pray for salvation.基督教徒希望并祈祷灵魂得救。

28 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

29 integration   

n.一体化，联合，结合

参考例句：

• We are working to bring about closer political integration in the EU.我们正在努力实现欧盟內部更加紧密的政治一体化。
• This was the greatest event in the annals of European integration.这是欧洲统一史上最重大的事件。

30 disarming   

adj.消除敌意的，使人消气的v.裁军( disarm的现在分词 )；使息怒

参考例句：

• He flashed her a disarming smile. 他朝她笑了一下，让她消消气。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We will agree to disarming troops and leaving their weapons at military positions. 我们将同意解除军队的武装并把武器留在军事阵地。 来自辞典例句

31 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。

32 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。

33 cedar   

n.雪松，香柏(木)

参考例句：

• The cedar was about five feet high and very shapely.那棵雪松约有五尺高,风姿优美。
• She struck the snow from the branches of an old cedar with gray lichen.她把长有灰色地衣的老雪松树枝上的雪打了下来。

34 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

35 bloody   

adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染

参考例句：

• He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
• He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。

36 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。

37 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

38 rekindles   

v.使再燃( rekindle的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Love rekindles the fadingto emit light and warmth. 爱能使将熄的灯火，再次散发出光与热。 来自互联网
• Old love and old fires easily rekindles. 旧情与未燃尽的火一样都容易重新点燃。 来自互联网

39 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。