VOA标准英语2009-Election of Van Rompuy as New EU President D

Belgian prime minister is a low-key politician with a reputation for conciliation¹, some are deeply disappointed that European leaders failed to choose a more forceful and high profile personality to represent the regional bloc² on the world stage.

Lisa Bryant | Paris 20 November 2009

 
"Without respect for our diversity, we will never build on our unity³. I will always bear this principle in mind," says Mr. Van Rompuy.

Europeans woke up Friday to news they had their first full time European Union president - a man most of them had never heard of. Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy is a low-key politician with a reputation for conciliation.

The choice of Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy as European Union president has drawn⁴ mixed reaction. The Obama administration saluted⁵ his appointment, saying it would make the European Union a stronger partner. But others are deeply disappointed that European leaders failed to choose a more forceful and high profile personality to represent the regional bloc on the world stage.

The same sentiment was expressed about the EU's new foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, the British trade commissioner⁶ to the European Union, who is little known outside her country.

In voting for the candidates, EU leaders tried to strike a balance between competing partisan⁷, regional and gender⁸ interests in the 27-member bloc. Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt of Sweden - which holds the EU presidency⁹ until the year's end - said the choice reflected an effort to unify¹⁰ the bloc.

"I think the idea was that we have more and more cross-border problems, we have 27 member countries, hopefully we will be more member countries in the future, we have a deep belief in European integration¹¹. So what we were seeking were people to create continuity, to be able to put us together, to be the voice, the face and the presence of Europe throughout the world. And have we achieved this? Yes," said Reinfeldt.

Born in Brussels and trained as an economist¹², 62-year-old Mr. Van Rompuy was chosen as Belgian's premier¹³ only a year ago. He is Flemish and a member of Belgium's conservative Christian¹⁴ Democrat¹⁵ party.

Janis Emmanouilidis, an analyst¹⁶ at the Brussels-based Center for European Policy Studies, says Mr. Van Rompuy has already shown a talent as a consensus¹⁷ builder when it comes to Belgium's fractious politics.

"When you look at Belgian internal politics which are very complicated and dominated by problems between the two major groups in Belgium - the Dutch speaking and the French speaking - he's been able to cope rather well with that complicated situation. So he's somebody who can seek consensus and that's something you will need within the European council where the heads of state and governments come together and need to find decisions on the highest political level," said Emmanouilidis.

As EU chief, Mr. Van Rompuy said he would remain discrete¹⁸. When asked Thursday night about whether he supported Turkey's accession to the European Union, he did not answer. Mr. Van Rompuy is said to be against Turkish membership. He instead talked about working together.

"Without respect for our diversity, we will never build on our unity. I will always bear this principle in mind," he said.

Asked how he felt about becoming EU president, Mr. Van Rompuy said that for the first time in his life he felt like writing his memoirs¹⁹. Characteristically, he did not elaborate.

1 conciliation   

n.调解，调停

参考例句：

• By conciliation,cooperation is established.通过调解，友好合作关系得以确立。
• Their attempts at conciliation had failed and both sides were once again in dispute.他们进行调停的努力失败了，双方再次陷入争吵。

2 bloc   

n.集团；联盟

参考例句：

• A solid bloc of union members support the decision.工会会员团结起来支持该决定。
• There have been growing tensions within the trading bloc.贸易同盟国的关系越来越紧张。

3 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。

4 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

5 saluted   

v.欢迎，致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 )；赞扬，赞颂

参考例句：

• The sergeant stood to attention and saluted. 中士立正敬礼。
• He saluted his friends with a wave of the hand. 他挥手向他的朋友致意。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

7 partisan   

adj.党派性的；游击队的；n.游击队员；党徒

参考例句：

• In their anger they forget all the partisan quarrels.愤怒之中，他们忘掉一切党派之争。
• The numerous newly created partisan detachments began working slowly towards that region.许多新建的游击队都开始慢慢地向那里移动。

8 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

9 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。

10 unify   

vt.使联合，统一；使相同，使一致

参考例句：

• How can we unify such scattered islands into a nation?我们怎么才能把如此分散的岛屿统一成一个国家呢？
• It is difficult to imagine how the North and South could ever agree on a formula to unify the divided peninsula.很难想象南北双方在统一半岛的方案上究竟怎样才能达成一致。

11 integration   

n.一体化，联合，结合

参考例句：

• We are working to bring about closer political integration in the EU.我们正在努力实现欧盟內部更加紧密的政治一体化。
• This was the greatest event in the annals of European integration.这是欧洲统一史上最重大的事件。

12 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

13 premier   

adj.首要的；n.总理，首相

参考例句：

• The Irish Premier is paying an official visit to Britain.爱尔兰总理正在对英国进行正式访问。
• He requested that the premier grant him an internview.他要求那位总理接见他一次。

14 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。

15 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

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 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

18 discrete   

adj.个别的，分离的，不连续的

参考例句：

• The picture consists of a lot of discrete spots of colour.这幅画由许多不相连的色点组成。
• Most staple fibers are discrete,individual entities.大多数短纤维是不联系的单独实体。

19 memoirs   

n.回忆录；回忆录传( mem,自oir的名词复数)

参考例句：

• Her memoirs were ghostwritten. 她的回忆录是由别人代写的。
• I watched a trailer for the screenplay of his memoirs. 我看过以他的回忆录改编成电影的预告片。 来自《简明英汉词典》