VOA常速英语2007年-Pakistani Officials Predict Musharraf May Soon

By Barry Newhouse
Islamabad
21 November 2007

Pakistan's attorney general says conditions may be appropriate in the coming days for President Pervez Musharraf to honor his pledge to step down as army chief. VOA's Barry Newhouse reports from Islamabad that Pakistan's prime minister asked for the Commonwealth¹ to postpone² its decision about dropping Pakistan from the 53-nation group because of the emergency rule declared by General Musharraf.

Attorney General Malik Qayyum told reporters in Islamabad that if the Supreme³ Court dismisses the final challenge to President Musharraf's re-election this week, he could step down as army chief as early as Saturday or Sunday.

General Musharraf's critics and Western nations have urged the leader to abandon his military role and become an exclusively civilian⁴ president. The president has promised to step down as soon as the legal challenges to his re-election are resolved and his October election victory is declared official.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's foreign ministry⁵ said caretaker Prime Minister Muhammadmian Soomro spoke⁶ with Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown about the ongoing⁷ state of emergency in Pakistan and how it could affect Pakistan's membership in the Commonwealth.

Commonwealth foreign ministers are considering excluding Pakistan because of its suspension of basic rights under emergency rule.

Foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Sadiq said the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group, or CMAG, should delay the decision.

"CMAG should have a short postponement⁸ of the decision and immediately send a delegation⁹ to Pakistan to look at the situation in the country," said Sadiq.

Sadiq said Pakistan values the diplomatic links available through its membership in the 53-nation forum¹⁰.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's military continues to battle pro-Taliban militants¹¹ who have taken over parts of the Northwest Frontier Provinces.

Major General Wahid Arshad told VOA that troops killed some 40 militants in the last two days. He said operations using artillery¹² and helicopter gunships have largely succeeded in driving the militants out of the more urban areas of Swat and Shangla districts.

"We have asked people from a couple of villages to leave because the militants were forcing inhabitants to give them their places to target the security forces. So we asked them to leave so that we can isolate¹³ the militants and separate them from innocent civilians," said Arshad.

Thousands of people have reportedly fled the violence. General Arshad says the military is bringing in supplies and shelter for those displaced by the fighting.

1 commonwealth   

n.共和国，联邦，共同体

参考例句：

• He is the chairman of the commonwealth of artists.他是艺术家协会的主席。
• Most of the members of the Commonwealth are nonwhite.英联邦的许多成员国不是白人国家。

2 postpone   

v.延期，推迟

参考例句：

• I shall postpone making a decision till I learn full particulars.在未获悉详情之前我得从缓作出决定。
• She decided to postpone the converastion for that evening.她决定当天晚上把谈话搁一搁。

3 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

4 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。

5 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

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 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

8 postponement   

n.推迟

参考例句：

• He compounded with his creditors for a postponement of payment. 他与债权人达成协议延期付款。
• Rain caused the postponement of several race-meetings. 几次赛马大会因雨延期。

9 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。

10 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

11 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。

12 artillery   

n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队)

参考例句：

• This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
• The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。

13 isolate   

vt.使孤立，隔离

参考例句：

• Do not isolate yourself from others.不要把自己孤立起来。
• We should never isolate ourselves from the masses.我们永远不能脱离群众。