VOA标准英语2009-Obama Administration Denies Interfering in I

The Obama administration Wednesday rejected charges by Iran of U.S. interference in that country's affairs following its bitterly disputed election. At the same time, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton defended U.S. efforts to keep the internet social networking service Twitter active in Iran.
　
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, 17 Jun 2009

Top administration officials are denying any intention to interfere¹ in what they say is a debate among Iranians over the election and its aftermath, and they say an acknowledged State Department effort to maintain Iranian Twitter service was in defense² of free speech for all Iranians.

The Iranian government summoned the Swiss ambassador, who represents U.S. interests in Tehran, to complain about what were termed interventionist U.S. statements about Iran's post-election unrest.

Both White House and State Department spokesmen denied meddling³ in Iranian affairs. At a news conference with Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the United States, in encouraging a free election and political debate in Iran, has been upholding universally recognized values.

"The people of Iran deserve the right to have their voices heard, and their votes counted," said Hillary Clinton. "The outcome of any election should reflect the will of the people. And it is for the Iranians to determine how they resolve this internal protest concerning the outcome of the recent election. But it is a fundamental value that the United States holds with respect to free and fair and credible⁴ elections."

The State Department confirmed that on Monday it had asked Twitter to forego a scheduled service outage for maintenance in order to assure that the social networking service remained available in Iran.

Twitter, which allows people to exchange short messages with personal computers, cell phones and similar devices, has been a key means of communication among Iranian election protesters amid government efforts to curb⁵ media coverage⁶ of unrest.

Clinton, as have other administration officials, said the approach to Twitter was in defense of Iranian free speech and not political meddling.

"We promote the right of free expression," she said. "And it is the case that one of the means of expression - the use of Twitter - is a very important one, not only to the Iranian people but increasingly to people around the world and most particularly young people. I wouldn't know a Twitter from a Tweeter but apparently⁷ it is very important and I think keeping that line of communications open and enabling people to share information, particularly at a time when there was not many other sources of information, is an important expression of the right to speak out and be able to organize that we value."

A senior official here earlier cited press reports that demonstrators on both sides of the election controversy⁸ in Iran have been using Twitter to organize protests.

Clinton said the Obama administration still intends to pursue dialogue with Iran regardless of how the election controversy plays out, saying it is in the U.S. interest to try to engage Iran on what U.S. officials believe is a weapons-related nuclear program and its support for international terrorism.

1 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

2 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。

3 meddling   

v.干涉，干预（他人事务）( meddle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He denounced all "meddling" attempts to promote a negotiation. 他斥责了一切“干预”促成谈判的企图。 来自辞典例句
• They liked this field because it was never visited by meddling strangers. 她们喜欢这块田野，因为好事的陌生人从来不到那里去。 来自辞典例句

4 credible   

adj.可信任的，可靠的

参考例句：

• The news report is hardly credible.这则新闻报道令人难以置信。
• Is there a credible alternative to the nuclear deterrent?是否有可以取代核威慑力量的可靠办法？

5 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

6 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

7 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

8 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。