2006年VOA标准英语-Lebanese PM Appeals to Arab Ministers to Help E

By Margaret Besheer
Beirut
07 August 2006
 
Arab League foreign ministers held an emergency meeting in Beirut Monday to discuss the Israeli offensive in Lebanon against Hezbollah militants¹, who have been firing rockets into Israel. The violence was triggered 27 days ago, when Hezbollah fighters kidnapped two Israeli soldiers during a raid into northern Israel. Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora made an emotional plea to Arab ministers to help end the conflict.

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		Fouad Siniora gives press conference following Arab foreign ministers meeting in Beirut, 7 August 2006

Wiping tears from his eyes, Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora appealed to Arab foreign ministers to help stop the conflict that, in his words, is cutting Lebanon to pieces.

He told the ministers, Lebanon "is in need today, before tomorrow, of a decisive, united Arab stand" to amend² a U.N. Security Council draft resolution, which he said could be a positive step toward a permanent solution. The Lebanese government has complained that the draft resolution sponsored by the United States and France does not go far enough. He appealed to Arab states to use their influence to win changes to the draft.

After the meeting, Mr. Siniora told reporters that Arab League ministers gave their "complete, complete, complete backing to the seven points that the Lebanese government has adopted."

The Lebanese plan calls for, among other things, an immediate³ cease-fire, the withdrawal⁴ of Israeli forces from Lebanon, and the expansion of the existing U.N. peacekeeping force in the area, as well as the deployment⁵ of the Lebanese army to the border and the disarming⁶ of Hezbollah.

Late Monday evening, Lebanese officials said the Cabinet unanimously approved a plan to send 15,000 soldiers to south Lebanon as soon as Israeli troops withdraw.

Mr. Siniora said the Arab League agreed to immediately dispatch a delegation⁷ to the United Nations to participate in a debate Tuesday regarding possible amendments⁸ to the draft resolution.

Just hours before the Arab League ministers arrived at Beirut's damaged and shuttered airport, Israeli airstrikes rocked the Lebanese capital. The airstrikes resumed briefly⁹ after the ministers left.

Lebanese television carried pictures of a collapsed¹⁰ building in a southern Shi'ite suburb and said casualties were feared.

Several dozen Lebanese were also killed in a new wave of Israeli air strikes across the country Monday, raising the death toll¹¹ to nearly 1,000, and the prime minister expressed his frustration¹² about the civilian¹³ casualties.

"I urge every man, every woman in the world -- of all the peace loving nations -- to see what crimes Israel is committing against Lebanon," said Mr. Siniora, "and to cry, to stand up, that we should not really tolerate this anymore. This should be stopped and stopped now. This is unacceptable."

Meanwhile, in a possible sign of expanded military operations, Israel warned Lebanese who live south of the Litani River not to go outdoors after 10:00 pm local time (1900 UTC). The Litani flows alongside the southern region that is a stronghold of Hezbollah militants who have been firing rockets from there into northern Israel.

1 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

2 amend   

vt.修改，修订，改进；n.[pl.]赔罪，赔偿

参考例句：

• The teacher advised him to amend his way of living.老师劝他改变生活方式。
• You must amend your pronunciation.你必须改正你的发音。

3 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

4 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。

5 deployment   

n. 部署,展开

参考例句：

• He has inquired out the deployment of the enemy troops. 他已查出敌军的兵力部署情况。
• Quality function deployment (QFD) is a widely used customer-driven quality, design and manufacturing management tool. 质量功能展开(quality function deployment,QFD)是一个广泛应用的顾客需求驱动的设计、制造和质量管理工具。

6 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

7 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。

8 amendments   

（法律、文件的）改动( amendment的名词复数 )； 修正案； 修改； （美国宪法的）修正案

参考例句：

• The committee does not adequately consult others when drafting amendments. 委员会在起草修正案时没有充分征求他人的意见。
• Please propose amendments and addenda to the first draft of the document. 请对这个文件的初稿提出修改和补充意见。

9 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

10 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

11 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

12 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

13 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。