VOA常速英语2007年-Rice Urges Israel to Make Compromises for Peace

By David Gollust
Washington
13 November 2007

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told American Jewish leaders Tuesday that Israel, confident of U.S. security backing, needs to make difficult choices necessary for peace with the Palestinians. Rice is preparing to host an international conference aimed at expediting Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department.

Rice says that what is at stake in the current diplomacy¹ is nothing less that the future of the Middle East.

And while saying that all the parties need to be prepared to compromise, she focused on Israel, which she said enjoys unquestionable and unshakable U.S. security support and needs to make hard decisions, confidently, for the sake of peace.

Addressing a conference of American Jewish leaders and community activists² in Nashville, Tennessee, Rice said violent extremists led by Iran are doing all they can to impose what she termed their hate-filled ideologies³ on the people of the Middle East.

She said this makes the current quest for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict more urgent than ever, in order to give Palestinians a realistic prospect⁴ of statehood and to, as she put it, arrest their slide into despair:

"That ladies and gentlemen is my fear, that if Palestinian reformers cannot deliver on their peoples hope for an independent state, then the moderate center could collapse⁵, and the next generation of Palestinians could become lost souls of unbridled extremism," she said.

Rice heaped praise on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as a true partner for peace with Israel and said a responsible Palestinian state can be a bulwark⁶ against regional extremists. She said getting there will require hard choices from all the parties including the United States' Arab allies.

"Israelis and Palestinians alike need to recognize that peace will require difficult, painful sacrifices to some of their longest-held aspirations⁷. The same is true for responsible Arab states. If our Arab friends of long-standing truly desire peace, then they need to demonstrate to their people and to the world that they beleive that Israel has a permanent home in the Middle East," she said.

Rice, who returned from her latest mission to the Middle East last week, is trying to persuade key Arab moderates like Saudi Arabia to attend the U.S.-sponsored conference, planned for Annapolis, Maryland as early as the last week of this month.

Aides say she may make yet another trip to the area before the conference that will focus on enlisting⁸ Arab support and participation⁹.

Rice said the Annapolis meeting will be serious and substantive¹⁰ but will neither replace the 2003 international Middle East peace road map nor supplant¹¹ direct negotiations¹² between the parties.

1 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。

2 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》

3 ideologies   

n.思想（体系）( ideology的名词复数 )；思想意识；意识形态；观念形态

参考例句：

• There is no fundamental diversity between the two ideologies. 这两种思想意识之间并没有根本的分歧。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Radical ideologies require to contrast to their own goodness the wickedness of some other system. 凡是过激的意识形态，都需要有另外一个丑恶的制度作对比，才能衬托出自己的善良。 来自辞典例句

4 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

5 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。

6 bulwark   

n.堡垒，保障，防御

参考例句：

• That country is a bulwark of freedom.那个国家是自由的堡垒。
• Law and morality are the bulwark of society.法律和道德是社会的防御工具。

7 aspirations   

强烈的愿望( aspiration的名词复数 )； 志向； 发送气音； 发 h 音

参考例句：

• I didn't realize you had political aspirations. 我没有意识到你有政治上的抱负。
• The new treaty embodies the aspirations of most nonaligned countries. 新条约体现了大多数不结盟国家的愿望。

8 enlisting   

v.（使）入伍， （使）参军( enlist的现在分词 )；获得（帮助或支持）

参考例句：

• He thought about enlisting-about the Spanish legion-about a profession. 他想去打仗，想参加西班牙军团，想找个职业。 来自辞典例句
• They are not enlisting men over thirty-five. 他们不召超过35岁的人入伍。 来自辞典例句

9 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

10 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。

11 supplant   

vt.排挤；取代

参考例句：

• Electric cars may one day supplant petrol-driven ones.也许有一天电动车会取代汽油驱动的车。
• 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。

12 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。