VOA标准英语2010年-Mitchell Reports Progress on Settlemen

U.S. Middle East envoy¹ George Mitchell said late Wednesday he believes progress is being made on the issue of extending an Israeli freeze on settlement building in the West Bank. Mitchell spoke² in Jerusalem after a second day of direct Israel-Palestinian peace talks brokered³ by the United States.

Mitchell is adhering closely to an agreement among the parties to avoid discussion on the substance of the talks. But he does say he believes there has been progress on the issue of the settlement moratorium⁴, which has threatened to bring the talks to an early end.

Palestinians have threatened a walkout if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not extend the ten-month moratorium on most West Bank settlement building that ends at the end of the month.

The United States has pushed for an extension, coupled with Palestinian gestures that would make it to easier for Mr. Netanyahu to get such a decision through his right-leaning coalition⁵ government.

Though giving no details, Mitchell said after a two-hour trilateral meeting at Mr. Netanyahu's official residence that he thinks there is progress on the issue.

He heaped praise on both Mr. Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for their approach to the talks, saying they are serious, and they mean business.

Mitchell was a key negotiator in the 1990's Good Friday accord that ended the Northern Ireland conflict. He said those talks dragged on many months before there was a single serious discussion of major issues.

But he said the new Middle East talks, which began in Washington early this month and continued Tuesday in Egypt, have moved quickly to the core issues.

"In this case, within a matter of literally⁶ days since this process began, the leaders have yesterday at Sharm el-Sheikh and this evening here, engaged directly, vigorously, seriously in what are among the most difficult and sensitive issues that they will confront," said George Mitchell. "And so we think that this is a strong indicator⁷ of sincerity⁸ and seriousness of purpose."

Mitchell stressed that serious talk on the core issues, which include Jerusalem, refugees and the borders of a Palestinian state, is not the same as a resolution of them. But he said it has been extremely impressive to see both leaders engaging in this way.

The U.S. envoy said the two leaders tasked working-level officials with continuing the dialogue and planning for the next senior level meeting, which reportedly could take place in New York where leaders convene⁹ for the U.N. General Assembly next week.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who led the U.S. team at this week's trilateral talks, returns to Washington late Thursday after meeting Mr. Abbas in Ramallah and Jordan's King Abdullah in Amman.

Mitchell goes to Damascus Thursday to meet President Bashar al-Assad and other key Syrian officials in a bid to renew Syrian-Israel peace contacts, which he said could be complementary and beneficial to the talks between the parties.

He goes on to Beirut Thursday night for similar discussion with Lebanese President Michel Suleiman and Prime Minister Saad Hariri.

1 envoy   

n.使节，使者，代表，公使

参考例句：

• Their envoy showed no sign of responding to our proposals.他们的代表对我方的提议毫无回应的迹象。
• The government has not yet appointed an envoy to the area.政府尚未向这一地区派过外交官。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 brokered   

adj.由权力经纪人安排（或控制）的v.做掮客（或中人等）( broker的过去式和过去分词 )；作为权力经纪人进行谈判；以中间人等身份安排…

参考例句：

• a peace plan brokered by the UN 由联合国出面协商的和平计划
• Your husband brokered the deal to go in, transfrer the assets and get our man out. 你丈夫后来插了一脚，把生意都抢了过去，我们的人也被挤了出来。 来自电影对白

4 moratorium   

n.(行动、活动的)暂停(期)，延期偿付

参考例句：

• The government has called for a moratorium on weapons testing.政府已要求暂停武器试验。
• We recommended a moratorium on two particular kinds of experiments.我们建议暂禁两种特殊的实验。

5 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。

6 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

7 indicator   

n.指标；指示物，指示者；指示器

参考例句：

• Gold prices are often seen as an indicator of inflation.黃金价格常常被看作是通货膨胀的指标。
• His left-hand indicator is flashing.他左手边的转向灯正在闪亮。

8 sincerity   

n.真诚，诚意；真实

参考例句：

• His sincerity added much more authority to the story.他的真诚更增加了故事的说服力。
• He tried hard to satisfy me of his sincerity.他竭力让我了解他的诚意。

9 convene   

v.集合，召集，召唤，聚集，集合

参考例句：

• The Diet will convene at 3p.m. tomorrow.国会将于明天下午三点钟开会。
• Senior officials convened in October 1991 in London.1991年10月，高级官员在伦敦会齐。