VOA标准英语2010年-Carter on Iranian Hostage Crisis: 'I P

Thirty years ago this week, Democratic President Jimmy Carter and Vice¹ President Walter Mondale lost their reelection bid to Republican presidential candidate Ronald Reagan and his running mate George Herbert Walker Bush. Their defeat came at a time of rising unemployment, economic uncertainty² and a hostage crisis in Iran that dragged on for 444 days. Now in separate books reflecting on their years in office, Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale each recall how those events shaped the 1980 election.
For the publication of "White House Diary," the 26th book by Jimmy Carter, the former president reviewed more than 5,000 pages of notes he took while he was in the White House. Mr. Carter said the book gives readers an unprecedented³ look at the inner workings of his administration.
"I thought it would be intriguing⁵ for the American, and maybe the foreign, public just to have an unprecedented insight into what life was like in the White House, and also to explain what is going on today in more historic terms," said Carter.
The book offers insights into many of the defining moments of Mr. Carter's tenure⁶ in the Oval Office, including the Iran hostage crisis.
Iranian revolutionaries stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran on 4 Nov 1979, taking 52 Americans hostage. The former president says it led to the most daunting⁷ foreign policy challenge of his administration.
"I have said to many people, both religious and not religious, that that is the time when I prayed more than any time else in my life - during that time when the hostages were being held. My prayer was that I would protect the interests of my country, first of all, but that every hostage would come home safe and free."In his memoir⁸, "The Good Fight: A Life in Liberal Politics," Mr. Carter's vice president, Walter Mondale, outlines the efforts of the administration to get the hostages released.
"Some days, we thought we were making progress and we would get our hopes up. But most days, we were trying everything and it was not happening," writes Mondale.
"Trying everything" included a complex military rescue operation on April 24, 1980. Dubbed⁹ 'Operation Eagle Claw,' the plan called for several helicopters and military aircraft to stage at a site in the Iranian desert. Carter, who approved the plan, explains that the helicopters carrying members of the U.S. military's elite¹⁰ Delta¹¹ Force, were to fly from there to the U.S. embassy in Tehran, free the hostages and return to the waiting aircraft that would fly the them out of Iran.
"The minimum number of helicopters required would be six very large helicopters. So I decided¹² to send eight. One of the helicopters, in an inexplicable¹³ way, turned around and went back to the aircraft carrier. Another one went down in a sandstorm in the Iranian desert. The third one developed a hydraulic¹⁴ leak and ran into one of the C-130 airplanes."The aborted¹⁵ mission ended in failure. Eight U.S. military members and one Iranian civilian¹⁶ died as a result of the crash. Walter Mondale admits that day was the lowest point of their administration. "That was the worst day when that rescue mission failed and lives were lost. I mean, that was just ... we were just morose¹⁷ that day and for some time after that," said Mondale.
The failure of the mission damaged Jimmy Carter's and Walter Mondale's credibility with the American public. The incident occurred seven months before the 1980 Presidential election, and contributed to Mr. Carter's defeat to challenger Ronald Reagan.
"The exact anniversary of the hostages being taken was election day," said Carter. "Of course, the news media were completely obsessed¹⁸ with the anniversary of the hostages being taken and the fact that I had not been able to get them out. That was the number one issue that caused me to fail. As a matter of fact, Reagan got less than 51 percent [of the popular vote - about 50.80 percent of the popular vote - and almost 91 percent of the electoral vote], but he still prevailed. The other factor was that, the last two-and-a-half years at least, I had [Massachusetts senator, Democrat] Ted⁴ Kennedy running constantly against me and opposing everything I tried to do in the Congress."In their books, the former president and vice president write about the frustration¹⁹ and exhaustion²⁰ of their final days in office, capped by humiliation²¹ on Inauguration²² Day.
On January 20, 1981, Iranian Revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini waited for Ronald Reagan to be sworn into office before allowing the American hostages to leave Iranian airspace on their flight to freedom, which upset former Vice President Walter Mondale.
"It was a nasty thing that Khomeini did to insult us," said Mondale. "But that is all right. We can take that. But it was playing cat and mouse with human beings there that had a right to be released."Carter said, "But I was so happy to know that the hostages were released, that I was not worried then about who got credit for their release."Former President Jimmy Carter also said, "Reagan was very generous, in my opinion, in asking me if I would go to Wiesbaden, Germany to meet the hostages and to greet them when they finally reached freedom."Despite the emotional toll²³ the Iran hostage crisis took on both men, Walter Mondale said they remember their four years in office fondly. "When Carter and I left the White House, we said that we told the truth. We obeyed the law and we kept the peace. I think we did, and I feel very proud of that."Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale left office on January 20, 1981. Today, they are the longest-living former president and vice president in U.S. history, surpassing the team of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, who lived 25 years after leading the nation.

1 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

2 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

3 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

4 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

5 intriguing   

adj.有趣的；迷人的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的现在分词)；激起…的好奇心

参考例句：

• These discoveries raise intriguing questions. 这些发现带来了非常有趣的问题。
• It all sounds very intriguing. 这些听起来都很有趣。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 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。

7 daunting   

adj.使人畏缩的

参考例句：

• They were faced with the daunting task of restoring the house.他们面临着修复房子的艰巨任务。
• Starting a new job can be a daunting prospect.开始一项新工作有时会让人望而却步。

8 memoir   

n.[pl.]回忆录，自传；记事录

参考例句：

• He has just published a memoir in honour of his captain.他刚刚出了一本传记来纪念他的队长。
• In her memoir,the actress wrote about the bittersweet memories of her first love.在那个女演员的自传中，她写到了自己苦乐掺半的初恋。

9 dubbed   

v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制

参考例句：

• Mathematics was once dubbed the handmaiden of the sciences. 数学曾一度被视为各门科学的基础。
• Is the movie dubbed or does it have subtitles? 这部电影是配音的还是打字幕的？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

11 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。

12 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

13 inexplicable   

adj.无法解释的，难理解的

参考例句：

• It is now inexplicable how that development was misinterpreted.当时对这一事态发展的错误理解究竟是怎么产生的，现在已经无法说清楚了。
• There are many things which are inexplicable by science.有很多事科学还无法解释。

14 hydraulic   

adj.水力的；水压的，液压的；水力学的

参考例句：

• The boat has no fewer than five hydraulic pumps.这艘船配有不少于5个液压泵。
• A group of apprentics were operating the hydraulic press.一群学徒正在开动水压机。

15 aborted   

adj.流产的，失败的v.（使）流产( abort的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）（某事物）中止；（因故障等而）（使）（飞机、宇宙飞船、导弹等）中断飞行；（使）（飞行任务等）中途失败

参考例句：

• The rocket flight had to be aborted because of difficulties with computer. 因电脑出故障，这次火箭飞行只好中辍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They aborted the space flight finally. 他们最后中止了这次宇航飞行。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

17 morose   

adj.脾气坏的，不高兴的

参考例句：

• He was silent and morose.他沉默寡言、郁郁寡欢。
• The publicity didn't make him morose or unhappy?公开以后，没有让他郁闷或者不开心吗？

18 obsessed   

adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的

参考例句：

• He's obsessed by computers. 他迷上了电脑。
• The fear of death obsessed him throughout his old life. 他晚年一直受着死亡恐惧的困扰。

19 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

20 exhaustion   

n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述

参考例句：

• She slept the sleep of exhaustion.她因疲劳而酣睡。
• His exhaustion was obvious when he fell asleep standing.他站着睡着了，显然是太累了。

21 humiliation   

n.羞辱

参考例句：

• He suffered the humiliation of being forced to ask for his cards.他蒙受了被迫要求辞职的羞辱。
• He will wish to revenge his humiliation in last Season's Final.他会为在上个季度的决赛中所受的耻辱而报复的。

22 inauguration   

n.开幕、就职典礼

参考例句：

• The inauguration of a President of the United States takes place on January 20.美国总统的就职典礼于一月二十日举行。
• Three celebrated tenors sang at the president's inauguration.3位著名的男高音歌手在总统就职仪式上演唱。

23 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。