VOA常速英语2007年-US Democratic Presidential Contenders Reject Bu

By Jim Malone
Washington
04 December 2007

The Democratic presidential contenders criticized President Bush Tuesday for his administration's approach toward Iran. The Democrats¹ condemned² Mr. Bush's assertion that nothing has changed regarding Iran despite a new U.S. intelligence assessment³ that Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program back in 2003. VOA National correspondent Jim Malone has the latest on Iran and the U.S. presidential race from Washington.

The comments about Iran came in a Democratic debate held in Des Moines, Iowa, and broadcast on National Public Radio.

In this and previous debates, the Democratic contenders have emphasized diplomacy⁴ in dealing⁵ with Iran.

Senator Barack Obama of Illinois was among those Tuesday who criticized the Bush administration for an overly aggressive hard line toward Iran in the wake of the latest intelligence estimate.

"President Bush continues to not let facts get in the way of his ideology⁶, and that has been the problem with their foreign policy generally," he said. "They should have stopped the saber rattling⁷ and should never have started it."

Another contender is Senator Joe Biden of Delaware, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Biden contends the president's tough line on Iran hurts U.S. policy interests throughout the Middle East.

"I am talking about the 1.2 billion Muslims in the world who look at us, and when we say and do things as we are talking about now with Iran, conclude that this is a war on Islam," he said.

Some of the Democratic contenders were critical of Senator Hillary Clinton, the frontrunner in national polls for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination⁹.

Clinton's rivals took her to task for supporting a Senate resolution in September calling on the Bush administration to declare the Iranian Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization and proliferators of mass destruction.

Among her critics Tuesday was former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina.

"We have a real division here," he said. "I mean, among the Democratic candidate, there is only one who voted for this resolution, and this is exactly what Bush and Cheney wanted."

Senator Clinton defended her vote on the Iran resolution and added that she has long favored a tough diplomatic approach when dealing with Iran.

"I believe in aggressive diplomacy when it comes to Iran and when you engage in aggressive diplomacy, you need both carrots and sticks," she said. "And I think the designation provides one of those sticks that will give us a chance to make progress where we could have a resolution."

Earlier Tuesday, President Bush told a news conference in Washington that Iran remains¹⁰ dangerous and that the international community should continue to pressure Tehran on its nuclear program.

"And the best way to insure that the world is peaceful in the future is for the international community to continue to work together to say to the Iranians, we are going to isolate¹¹ you," said President Bush.

The Democratic debate took place in Iowa, which kicks off the presidential nominee¹² selection process for both parties with its caucus¹³ voting on January 3.

Public opinion polls indicate Obama, Clinton and Edwards are battling for the lead among Democrats in Iowa.

In the Republican race in Iowa, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee has surged into a lead in recent weeks in several polls, with former Massachusetts Governor Mitt⁸ Romney a close second.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani lags behind in the Republican race in Iowa, but continues to lead the Republican presidential field in national polls.

1 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

3 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

4 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。

5 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

6 ideology   

n.意识形态，(政治或社会的)思想意识

参考例句：

• The ideology has great influence in the world.这种思想体系在世界上有很大的影响。
• The ideal is to strike a medium between ideology and inspiration.我的理想是在意识思想和灵感鼓动之间找到一个折衷。

7 rattling   

adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常 动词rattle的现在分词

参考例句：

• This book is a rattling good read. 这是一本非常好的读物。
• At that same instant,a deafening explosion set the windows rattling. 正在这时，一声震耳欲聋的爆炸突然袭来，把窗玻璃震得当当地响。

8 mitt   

n.棒球手套，拳击手套，无指手套；vt.铐住，握手

参考例句：

• I gave him a baseball mitt for his birthday.为祝贺他的生日，我送给他一只棒球手套。
• Tom squeezed a mitt and a glove into the bag.汤姆把棒球手套和手套都塞进袋子里。

9 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

10 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。

11 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。

12 nominee   

n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者

参考例句：

• His nominee for vice president was elected only after a second ballot.他提名的副总统在两轮投票后才当选。
• Mr.Francisco is standing as the official nominee for the post of District Secretary.弗朗西斯科先生是行政书记职位的正式提名人。

13 caucus   

n.秘密会议；干部会议；v.（参加）干部开会议

参考例句：

• This multi-staged caucus takes several months.这个多级会议常常历时好几个月。
• It kept the Democratic caucus from fragmenting.它也使得民主党的核心小组避免了土崩瓦解的危险。