2007年VOA标准英语-Rice to Visit Mideast Next Week, Passing Up ASE

By David Gollust
State Department
24 July 2007

The State Department confirmed Tuesday that because of Middle East travel plans, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will not attend next week's regional forum¹ with leaders of Southeast Asian countries in Manila. Rice will send her deputy, John Negroponte, to the ASEAN dialogue. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department.

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Condoleezza Rice speaks during a media conference at foreign ministry in Lisbon, Portugal, 19 Jul 07

Attending the dialogue with the foreign ministers of ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, has been a mid-summer tradition for U.S. secretaries of state in recent years.

But the State Department says Rice will miss the ASEAN regional forum for the second time in three years because of the urgency of her planned mission to the Middle East, partly in tandem³ with Defense⁴ Secretary Robert Gates.

President Bush ordered the unusual joint⁵ mission earlier this month in an effort to shore up Arab support for Iraq's besieged⁶ government, and to try to generate momentum⁷ in Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts following the seizure⁸ of the Gaza Strip by the radical⁹ Hamas movement.

State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack confirmed Rice's plans at a news briefing, saying she will spend most of next week in the Middle East while sending Deputy Secretary Negroponte to the Manila meetings August 1 and 2.

Rice scrubbed a planned visit to Africa last week because of Middle East consultations¹⁰ in Washington, and her decision to pass up the ASEAN meeting has already prompted editorial criticism and expressions of disappointment in the region.

McCormack said Rice regrets having to alter her travel plans to both regions but that attending to pressing problems in the Middle East is in the interests of the entire world community.

"It's certainly is not intended in any way to diminish our regard for the nations of those two regions, Africa or Southeast Asia," he said.  "But sometimes you have to make difficult calls in terms of where, at a particular moment, you focus your attentions. And that's what the Secretary intends to do. She fully¹¹ expects to travel to Africa and be able to spend some quality time in each of those stops. And I fully expect that she's going to be traveling Southeast Asia sometime between now and the end of her tenure¹² as secretary of state."

Rice and Gates will meet in the Egyptian Sinai resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh with the foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan and the Gulf¹³ Cooperation Council Countries and go on to meet Saudi Arabian officials in Jeddah.

They will urge more active support by the Sunni-Muslim Arab states for Iraq's Shiite-led coalition¹⁴ government and also push for more Arab engagement in Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts.

Administration officials hope moderate Arabs, including those that do not have formal relations with Israel, will attend a conference with Israeli and Palestinian leaders being organized by the United States later this year.

After the visit to Jeddah, Rice will part company with Gates and visit Jerusalem and Ramallah for talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Meanwhile Negroponte, a former U.S. ambassador to Manila, will hold talks with senior officials of the Philippines in addition to the ASEAN meetings, and will go on to Tokyo for similar consultations.

1 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。

2 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。

3 tandem   

n.同时发生；配合；adv.一个跟着一个地；纵排地；adj.（两匹马）前后纵列的

参考例句：

• Malcolm's contract will run in tandem with his existing one.马尔科姆的合同将与他手头的合同同时生效。
• He is working in tandem with officials of the Serious Fraud Office.他正配合欺诈重案办公室的官员工作。

4 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

5 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

6 besieged   

包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Paris was besieged for four months and forced to surrender. 巴黎被围困了四个月后被迫投降。
• The community besieged the newspaper with letters about its recent editorial. 公众纷纷来信对报社新近发表的社论提出诘问，弄得报社应接不暇。

7 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• 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。

8 seizure   

n.没收；占有；抵押

参考例句：

• The seizure of contraband is made by customs.那些走私品是被海关没收的。
• The courts ordered the seizure of all her property.法院下令查封她所有的财产。

9 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

10 consultations   

n.磋商（会议）( consultation的名词复数 )；商讨会；协商会；查找

参考例句：

• Consultations can be arranged at other times by appointment. 磋商可以通过预约安排在其他时间。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Consultations are under way. 正在进行磋商。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

11 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

12 tenure   

n.终身职位；任期；(土地)保有权，保有期

参考例句：

• He remained popular throughout his tenure of the office of mayor.他在担任市长的整个任期内都深得民心。
• Land tenure is a leading political issue in many parts of the world.土地的保有权在世界很多地区是主要的政治问题。

13 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

14 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。