VOA标准英语2009年-New Polish European Parliament President F

The new president of the European Parliament, former Polish Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek, has pledged to make the European Union more accessible to average citizens following a record-low voter turnout in recent European elections. As the first East European politician to take up the post, Buzek faces a difficult task as the bloc¹ suffers under a global economic crisis and tensions over necessary reforms.
　
New Polish European Parliament President Faces Difficult Tasks

A former center-right prime minister of Poland, Jerzy Buzek, became the first Eastern European politician to be elected as president of the European Parliament with 555 votes out of 713 votes cast.

Speaking to European law makers², the 69-year-old Buzek said the appointment was more than he could have dreamed of when Poland was still a Communist nation.

"Thank you for electing me President of the European Parliament. For me it is both an enormous challenge and a great honor," he said.

He adds in Polish: "Once upon a time I hoped to be a member of a Polish Parliament in a free Poland. Today I have become President of the European Parliament, something I could never have dreamed of in my country, that is a measure of how Europe can change."

Former Belgian prime minister Guy Verhofstadt, who chairs a liberal coalition³, warned Buzek the European Union still has to introduce a key reform treaty, known as the Lisbon Treaty, at a time when it also deals with the impact of the global financial meltdown.

"You become a president in a very difficult time, we have to ratify⁵ Lisbon, we have to find as single strategy against the economic and financial crisis and that is a huge task in which you have the full support of our group, behind you is a large pro⁶ European majority in this parliament," he said.

Buzek told reporters he wants the Lisbon Treaty to be ratified⁷ soon. The pact⁴ is seen as key to further enlargement of the European Union.

The treaty was rejected by Ireland in a referendum, but the country will hold a new vote in October.

Buzek said EU expansion had benefited his own country and other former nations of the former Soviet-led East Block.

He also made clear that as president of the European Parliament one of his other goals would be to make EU politics more interesting for Europeans, following a record low voter turnout of just 43 percent in last month's European elections in the 27 member states.

"Our citizens do not understand what is going on in the EU and in which direction we are going, how important it is what we are doing here in the European Parliament ... So we must keep in touch with them and also, be in close contact with national parliaments is very important for us. We will discuss in September and October and we should start quite new programs for that," he said.

Despite the expected political and economic difficulties, Polish Prime Minister Prime Minister Donald Tusk⁸ described Buzek's election as the integration⁹ of "new and old Europe."

1 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。

2 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 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。

4 pact   

n.合同，条约，公约，协定

参考例句：

• The two opposition parties made an electoral pact.那两个反对党订了一个有关选举的协定。
• The trade pact between those two countries came to an end.那两国的通商协定宣告结束。

5 ratify   

v.批准，认可，追认

参考例句：

• The heads of two governments met to ratify the peace treaty.两国政府首脑会晤批准和平条约。
• The agreement have to be ratify by the board.该协议必须由董事会批准。

6 pro   

n.赞成，赞成的意见，赞成者

参考例句：

• The two debating teams argued the question pro and con.辩论的两组从赞成与反对两方面辩这一问题。
• Are you pro or con nuclear disarmament?你是赞成还是反对核裁军？

7 ratified   

v.批准，签认（合约等）( ratify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The treaty was declared invalid because it had not been ratified. 条约没有得到批准，因此被宣布无效。
• The treaty was ratified by all the member states. 这个条约得到了所有成员国的批准。

8 tusk   

n.獠牙，长牙，象牙

参考例句：

• The wild boar had its tusk sunk deeply into a tree and howled desperately.野猪的獠牙陷在了树里，绝望地嗥叫着。
• A huge tusk decorated the wall of his study.他书房的墙上装饰着一支巨大的象牙。

9 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。