VOA常速英语2007年-Lebanon's Partliament Plans to Select President

By Challiss McDonough
Beirut
07 December 2007

Lebanon's parliament is scheduled to meet Friday to vote on the country's next president, but virtually nobody believes the vote will actually take place. It is likely to be postponed¹ for a seventh time, leaving the country without a president even though the two sides have actually agreed on one. VOA Correspondent Challiss McDonough has more from Beirut.

For months, Lebanon's feuding² political factions³ were unable or unwilling⁴ to agree on a compromise candidate for president, which under the Lebanese confessional system must be a Maronite Christian⁵.

The last president, Emile Lahoud, stepped down two weeks ago when his term expired, and the presidency⁶ has been vacant since then. But last week, there was a breakthrough, and the two sides agreed that the army chief, Gen. Michel Suleiman, would be their compromise candidate.

Sami Baroudi, a professor of political science at Lebanese American University, says although Gen. Suleiman is seen as having close ties to Syria and to Hezbollah, he has also been one of the few public figures to avoid taking sides in the political crisis that has engulfed⁷ Lebanon over the last year. "As an army commander he was able to stay out of the fray⁸ between the opposition⁹ and the loyalists, and I think this is what you need at this point - a president who's not identified with any camp, and I think a president who can sort of inject some fluidity to a very rigid¹⁰, polarized political situation."

Even though the two sides have at last managed to agree on who will become the next president, it is still considered unlikely that the vote will actually take place anytime soon. The Lebanese constitution must be amended¹¹ to allow a sitting public servant to become president, but the real reason for the delay is political wrangling¹² over what the next government will look like.

The opposition, led by Hezbollah and Michel Aoun, are demanding resolutions to a set of other issues that have been at the core of Lebanon's political crisis over the last year. They want a national unity¹³ government with certain ministries¹⁴ awarded to the opposition. They also want Gen. Suleiman's term in office to be shorter than the usual six years. The ruling coalition¹⁵, known as March 14, argue that those issues can be solved later, but the presidential vote should be held right away to end the political vacuum at the top.

Political analyst¹⁶ Amal Saad-Ghorayeb of the Carnegie Endowment Middle East Center says by the time Gen. Suleiman is actually elected, it is likely that most of the major decisions about his government will already have been made. "No, Michel Suleiman is clearly not calling the shots here. And that's the reason why he was chosen, actually, because he is a low-profile, depoliticized, neutral political figure. He's actually a military figure, not a political one. And he is not seen as either a powerful or an influential¹⁷ figure, and that is precisely¹⁸ why he has been chosen," he said.

In the meantime, the standoff that has paralyzed Lebanon's government drags on. The presidency is only the most recent institution to go into suspended animation¹⁹, parliament did not meet at all for nearly a year, and the cabinet ministers have sequestered²⁰ themselves in the main government complex out of fear for their safety.

Saad-Ghorayeb says it may well be possible for Lebanon to continue functioning in this governmental limbo²¹ for quite some time - but she thinks that is a very worrying sign for the country.

"Just how long can Lebanon continue without these institutions? And the point is, the problem is, that it has survived and we haven't had all-out chaos²² without these institutions. So I would say that the longer we're able to continue like this, the worse it is, because it basically means that we've never had institutions in Lebanon. It isn't institutions that have run the country but rather sectarian leaders," he said.

The presidential vote in parliament scheduled for Friday was not canceled in advance, leaving open the possibility of a last-minute deal. But politicians indicated it was unlikely that the parties would work out a deal in time. The French foreign minister has been meeting with leaders of both sides since Tuesday in an effort to forge an agreement, but both sides have continued to accuse each other of blocking the deal.

1 postponed   

vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发）

参考例句：

• The trial was postponed indefinitely. 审讯无限期延迟。
• The game has already been postponed three times. 这场比赛已经三度延期了。

2 feuding   

vi.长期不和（feud的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• Riccardo and Cafiero had been feuding so openly that the whole town knew about it. 里卡多和卡菲埃罗一直公开地闹别扭，全城的人都知道此事。 来自辞典例句
• The two families have been feuding with each other for many generations. 这两个家族有好多代的世仇了。 来自互联网

3 factions   

组织中的小派别，派系( faction的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The gens also lives on in the "factions." 氏族此外还继续存在于“factions〔“帮”〕中。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源
• rival factions within the administration 政府中的对立派别

4 unwilling   

adj.不情愿的

参考例句：

• The natives were unwilling to be bent by colonial power.土著居民不愿受殖民势力的摆布。
• His tightfisted employer was unwilling to give him a raise.他那吝啬的雇主不肯给他加薪。

5 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

6 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

7 engulfed   

v.吞没，包住( engulf的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was engulfed by a crowd of reporters. 他被一群记者团团围住。
• The little boat was engulfed by the waves. 小船被波浪吞没了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 fray   

v.争吵；打斗；磨损，磨破；n.吵架；打斗

参考例句：

• Why should you get involved in their fray?你为什么要介入他们的争吵呢？
• Tempers began to fray in the hot weather.大热天脾气烦燥。

9 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。

10 rigid   

adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的

参考例句：

• She became as rigid as adamant.她变得如顽石般的固执。
• The examination was so rigid that nearly all aspirants were ruled out.考试很严，几乎所有的考生都被淘汰了。

11 Amended   

adj. 修正的 动词amend的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He asked to see the amended version. 他要求看修订本。
• He amended his speech by making some additions and deletions. 他对讲稿作了些增删修改。

12 wrangling   

v.争吵，争论，口角( wrangle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The two sides have spent most of their time wrangling over procedural problems. 双方大部分时间都在围绕程序问题争论不休。 来自辞典例句
• The children were wrangling (with each other) over the new toy. 孩子为新玩具（互相）争吵。 来自辞典例句

13 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

14 ministries   

（政府的）部( ministry的名词复数 )； 神职； 牧师职位； 神职任期

参考例句：

• Local authorities must refer everything to the central ministries. 地方管理机构应请示中央主管部门。
• The number of Ministries has been pared down by a third. 部委的数量已经减少了1/3。

15 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

16 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

17 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

18 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

19 animation   

n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作

参考例句：

• They are full of animation as they talked about their childhood.当他们谈及童年的往事时都非常兴奋。
• The animation of China made a great progress.中国的卡通片制作取得很大发展。

20 sequestered   

adj.扣押的；隐退的；幽静的；偏僻的v.使隔绝，使隔离( sequester的过去式和过去分词 )；扣押

参考例句：

• The jury is expected to be sequestered for at least two months. 陪审团渴望被隔离至少两个月。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Everything he owned was sequestered. 他的一切都被扣押了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

21 limbo   

n.地狱的边缘；监狱

参考例句：

• His life seemed stuck in limbo and he could not go forward and he could not go back.他的生活好像陷入了不知所措的境地，进退两难。
• I didn't know whether my family was alive or dead.I felt as if I was in limbo.我不知道家人是生是死，感觉自己茫然无措。

22 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。