2006年VOA标准英语-Bush Sees Chance for Progress on Iran at G8

By Scott Stearns
White House
07 July 2006

President Bush says next week's summit of leading industrialized nations is a chance to show Iran that the world is serious about stopping it from developing a nuclear weapon.  European diplomats¹ expect Tehran will respond to an international offer to resolve the dispute before the start of that meeting in Russia.

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President Bush 
  
President Bush says the St. Petersburg summit of the Group of Eight should reaffirm international opposition² to Iran enriching uranium.

"The G-8 will be an opportunity for those of us involved with this issue to make it clear to the Iranians that we are firm in our resolve for them not to have a nuclear weapon," said Mr. Bush.

Speaking to reporters at a new conference in the Midwest city of Chicago, President Bush repeated his offer that, if Iran verifiably suspends enriching uranium, the United States will join direct talks on the issue.

Efforts to arrange those talks are being led by European officials, who say there has been constructive³ progress in laying the ground for Iran to respond to an international package of incentives⁴ for suspending uranium enrichment.

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana met with Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, in Brussels Thursday. Solana's spokeswoman says the talks were a good start, and Solana expects that Iran will offer what she calls a substantive⁵ response to the offer before the start of next week's G-8 summit.

One of the obstacles for President Bush is summit host Vladimir Putin. The Russian president opposes the threat of sanctions against Iran if it does not comply with international demands.

"You know, some nations are more comfortable with sanctions than other nations," he added.  "And part of the issue we face in some of these countries is that they have got economic interests. And part of our objective is to make sure that national security interests, the security of the world interests, trump⁶ economic interests. And sometimes that takes awhile to get people focused in the right direction."

President Bush telephoned President Putin this week, and said he believes the Russian leader understands the dangers of Iran having a nuclear weapon.

Iran says it is not developing a nuclear weapon, and is enriching uranium solely⁷ for the peaceful civilian⁸ purpose of generating electricity.

1 diplomats   

n.外交官( diplomat的名词复数 )；有手腕的人，善于交际的人

参考例句：

• These events led to the expulsion of senior diplomats from the country. 这些事件导致一些高级外交官被驱逐出境。
• The court has no jurisdiction over foreign diplomats living in this country. 法院对驻本国的外交官无裁判权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

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 incentives   

激励某人做某事的事物( incentive的名词复数 )； 刺激； 诱因； 动机

参考例句：

• tax incentives to encourage savings 鼓励储蓄的税收措施
• Furthermore, subsidies provide incentives only for investments in equipment. 更有甚者，提供津贴仅是为鼓励增添设备的投资。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

5 substantive   

adj.表示实在的；本质的、实质性的；独立的；n.实词，实名词；独立存在的实体

参考例句：

• They plan to meet again in Rome very soon to begin substantive negotiations.他们计划不久在罗马再次会晤以开始实质性的谈判。
• A president needs substantive advice,but he also requires emotional succor. 一个总统需要实质性的建议，但也需要感情上的支持。

6 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

7 solely   

adv.仅仅，唯一地

参考例句：

• Success should not be measured solely by educational achievement.成功与否不应只用学业成绩来衡量。
• The town depends almost solely on the tourist trade.这座城市几乎完全靠旅游业维持。

8 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。