VOA标准英语10月-Iran's Natural Gas Conference Raises Concerns Ove

Iran is hosting a international conference on its natural gas exports Saturday and Sunday in Tehran. Organizers say the meeting is aimed at developing Iran's rich natural gas sector¹. Iran is under international sanctions over its nuclear program and the participation² of major international energy firms in the conference is drawing criticism, as VOA's Sean Maroney reports.

French energy company Total and Austrian firm OMV are among the conference's main Western sponsors.

OMV is Central Europe's leading oil and gas corporation. It also is partly owned by the Austrian government, causing local groups to raise objections.

Simone Dinah Hartmann is with the Vienna-based group, Stop the Bomb, which lobbies for enforcing sanctions against Iran. She warns that Western companies' participation could have dire³ consequences.

"They think they are helping⁴ the Iranian people by investing in Iran," she said. "And I think it has to be made clear to them that, actually, they are the ones hurting people in Iran."

Hartmann says these types of investments could encourage Tehran to defy the international community and, ultimately, result in prolonged sanctions.

The United Nations, the European Union and the United States have imposed sanctions on Iran for its disputed nuclear activities. They accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons -- a charge Tehran denies.

Oil and gas analyst⁵ Fereidoun Fesharaki argues that international sanctions against Iran do not prohibit companies from talking with the Iranian government.

But U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack warns that any business discussions with Iran need to be carefully examined.

"Now is not the time to be discussing with Iran investments in its oil and gas industry, given its status in the international community regarding its behaviors, which are clearly outside the norm and have been judged by the [United Nations] Security Council to be outside acceptable international behavior," he said.

Iran holds the world's second largest natural gas reserves, after Russia. But Tehran has had trouble developing infrastructure⁶ for those reserves, in light of the international sanctions.

Even conference sponsor Total has scaled back its projects there. After Tehran tested long-range missiles several months ago, Total canceled plans to develop Iran's huge South Pars⁷ gas field.

1 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

2 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

3 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

5 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。

6 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

7 pars   

n.部，部分；平均( par的名词复数 )；平价；同等；（高尔夫球中的）标准杆数

参考例句：

• In humans, the pars intermedia is a rudimentary region. 人的脑垂体中间部是不发达的。 来自辞典例句
• James Gregory gave in in his "Geometriae Pars Universalis" a method of rectifying curves. James Gregory在他的《几何的通用部分》中给出了计算曲线长度的方法。 来自辞典例句