VOA常速英语2007年-Leaders Declare New Era of Euro-African Relatio

By Scott Bobb
Lisbon
09 December 2007

Leaders of Africa and the European Union have ended their summit in Portugal by declaring a new era in relations aimed at confronting new global challenges. But they could not avoid sparring over some older issues involving human rights and conflict on the continent. VOA's Scott Bobb reports from Lisbon.

The president of the European Union, Portugal's Prime Minister Jose Socrates, Sunday closed the summit, saying African and European leaders have turned a new page in history.

He says the leaders have adopted an agenda to confront serious challenges of security, governance, migration¹ and climate change.

Nevertheless, long-standing disagreements re-emerged during the two-day meeting.

German Chancellor² Angela Merkel, in her speech on governance and human rights, accused Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe of harming Africa's image by quashing political freedom and human rights in his country.

Mr. Mugabe was invited to the summit despite being banned from Europe five years ago because of rigged elections in his country. His attendance prompted a boycott³ by the prime minister of Britain, the former colonial power in Zimbabwe.

 

The head of the African Union, Ghana's President John Kufuor, responded to Ms. Merkel's remarks by noting that South African President Thabo Mbeki is mediating⁴ talks between Zimbabwe's ruling party and the opposition⁵ in an effort to bring free and fair elections next year.

"It is not for anybody to just move in there and impose a solution," he said. "We want to encourage a home-grown solution so there will be a restoration of normalcy and good governance for the people of Zimbabwe."

Several European leaders met with Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir and strongly urged him to allow the deployment⁶ of U.N. and A.U. troops to end bloodshed and suffering in its Darfur region. Sudan has accepted this hybrid⁷ force, but has rejected troops from non-African countries.

Mr. Kufuor said Africa has taken the initiative on the issue, though he acknowledged it has taken some time to assemble the hybrid force.

"I believe with good will all around the hybrid force will be put together so at least humanitarian⁸ actions can be brought to the people of Darfur," added Mr. Kufuor.

African leaders also objected to the E.U. efforts to forge temporary trade agreements with developing nations, which they say will unleash⁹ excessive competition on their emerging economies. The European Union says these are needed because existing accords are due to expire at the end of this month.

E.U. Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso noted¹⁰ that these are temporary agreements that are meant to maintain tariff¹¹ exemptions¹² for African exports to the European Union.

"Once we have settled this transitional phase, we [will] have the time and the spirit to address development issues and important concerns that were raised also from the African Union side," said Barroso.

He said he believes that all but a few African governments will sign the interim¹³ accords by the end of the year.

The leaders agreed to hold their next summit in a couple of years on African soil.

1 migration   

n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙

参考例句：

• Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
• He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。

2 chancellor   

n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长

参考例句：

• They submitted their reports to the Chancellor yesterday.他们昨天向财政大臣递交了报告。
• He was regarded as the most successful Chancellor of modern times.他被认为是现代最成功的财政大臣。

3 boycott   

n./v.(联合)抵制，拒绝参与

参考例句：

• We put the production under a boycott.我们联合抵制该商品。
• The boycott lasts a year until the Victoria board permitsreturn.这个抗争持续了一年直到维多利亚教育局妥协为止。

4 mediating   

调停，调解，斡旋( mediate的现在分词 )； 居间促成； 影响…的发生； 使…可能发生

参考例句：

• So many factors are mediating. 如此众多的因素在起作用。
• The contrast in mediating noted in the sitting room. 客厅中注重了调和中的对比。

5 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。

6 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。

7 hybrid   

n.(动，植）杂种，混合物

参考例句：

• That is a hybrid perpetual rose.那是一株杂交的四季开花的蔷薇。
• The hybrid was tall,handsome,and intelligent.那混血儿高大、英俊、又聪明。

8 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

9 unleash   

vt.发泄，发出；解带子放开

参考例句：

• They hope to create allies to unleash against diseases,pests,and invasive species.他们希望创造出一些新群体来对付疾病、害虫和一些有侵害性的物种。
• Changing water levels now at times unleash a miasma of disease from exposed sewage.如今，大坝不时地改变水位，从暴露的污水释放出了疾病瘴气。

10 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

11 tariff   

n.关税，税率；(旅馆、饭店等)价目表，收费表

参考例句：

• There is a very high tariff on jewelry.宝石类的关税率很高。
• The government is going to lower the tariff on importing cars.政府打算降低进口汽车的关税。

12 exemptions   

n.（义务等的）免除( exemption的名词复数 )；免（税）；（收入中的）免税额

参考例句：

• The exemptions for interpretive rules, policy statements, and procedural rules have just been discussed. 有关解释性规则、政策说明和程序规则的免责我们刚刚讨论过。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
• A: The regulation outlines specific exemptions for some WPM. 答：该规定概述了某些木质包装材料的特定的例外情形。 来自互联网

13 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。