VOA标准英语2010年-Clinton Presses Central Asian States o

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, beginning a three-day Central Asian trip in Kazakhstan, said Tuesday the Obama administration will continue to press for human rights progress in the region. Clinton is attending the summit of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the OSCE, in Astana.

It is the first summit of the OSCE since 1999 and the first to be held in a former Soviet¹ republic. And Clinton is making clear that the Obama administration remains² committed to the human rights provisions of the 1975 Helsinki accords on which the OSCE was founded, and particularly as they apply to Central Asia.

At a town hall meeting in Astana of students and civil society activists³ from across the region, Clinton praised Kazakhstan for holding the event, even while reiterating⁴ U.S. concerns about human rights and the pace of democracy-building in the country.

The secretary said the Kazakh government of President Nursultan Nazarbayev, overall, has made more progress than any other in the region, in economic development and other areas.

And she said it deserves enormous credit for completing earlier this month, with U.S. assistance, the shut-down of a Soviet-era plutonium plant and the securing of a vast stockpile of weapons-grade nuclear material.

"I think non-proliferation is a human rights issue," said Clinton. "I think the effort to go after the nuclear material that can fall into the wrong hands, that can used to terrorize, maim⁵, kill people, contaminate large areas, is a fundamental human rights issue. And in this area Kazakhstan has been a world leader."

Clinton will join heads of state and fellow foreign ministers of the 56-country OSCE in summit sessions Wednesday and also meet senior Kazakh officials including President Nazarbayev.

Thursday she makes stops in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan before flying on to attend a privately-sponsored security conference in Bahrain.

Clinton will be the highest-level U.S. official to visit Kyrgystan since an explosion of ethnic⁶ violence earlier this year toppled the government of former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev.

The country has since had a constitutional referendum, widely-praised parliamentary elections in October and the formation this week of a new coalition⁷ government. The Secretary said the United States and all those concerned about Kyrgyzstan need to support the emerging democracy there.

"It is a very difficult path that they have chosen for themselves, but the United States will do everything we can to support them," said the secretary of state. "I very much appreciate the role of the government of Kazakhstan, which has been extremely helpful in support Kyrgyzstan. And we have to keep working together. We have to do everything possible to help them succeed at their important effort to bring democracy to Kyrgyzstan."

The Secretary told a questioner she would raise the issue of jailed human rights activists in Uzbekistan "at the highest levels" when she visits Tashkent late Thursday.

She said the United States will make similar representations with leaders of Turkmenistan - the Central Asian state widely held to have the region's worst human rights record - though it is not on her current itinerary⁸.

Clinton is expected to have several bilateral⁹ meetings with other officials at the OSCE summit, which has attracted, among others, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and German Chancellor¹⁰ Angela Merkel.

1 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

2 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

3 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 reiterating   

反复地说，重申( reiterate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He keeps reiterating his innocence. 他一再申明他无罪。
• The Chinese government also sent a note to the British government, reiterating its position. 中国政府同时将此立场照会英国政府。

5 maim   

v.使残废，使不能工作，使伤残

参考例句：

• Automobile accidents maim many people each year. 汽车车祸每年使许多人残废。
• These people kill and maim innocent civilians.这些人杀死和残害无辜平民。

6 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

7 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。

8 itinerary   

n.行程表，旅行路线；旅行计划

参考例句：

• The two sides have agreed on the itinerary of the visit.双方商定了访问日程。
• The next place on our itinerary was Silistra.我们行程的下一站是锡利斯特拉。

9 bilateral   

adj.双方的，两边的，两侧的

参考例句：

• They have been negotiating a bilateral trade deal.他们一直在商谈一项双边贸易协定。
• There was a wide gap between the views of the two statesmen on the bilateral cooperation.对双方合作的问题，两位政治家各自所持的看法差距甚大。

10 chancellor   

n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长

参考例句：

• They submitted their reports to the Chancellor yesterday.他们昨天向财政大臣递交了报告。
• He was regarded as the most successful Chancellor of modern times.他被认为是现代最成功的财政大臣。