2006年VOA标准英语-Rice Announces Travel to Middle East

By Scott Stearns
White House
21 July 2006

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice leaves for the Middle East Sunday as part of Washington's diplomatic efforts to resolve fighting between Israel and Hezbollah militants¹ in Lebanon.  Scott Stearns reports, Secretary Rice meets with senior Saudi diplomats² before her trip.

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Condoleezza Rice 
  
Secretary Rice says the Bush administration understands the urgency of ending the violence, but believes an immediate³ ceasefire without political conditions makes no sense.

"We do seek an end to the current violence, and we seek it urgently," said Ms. Rice.  "More than that, we also seek to address the root causes of that violence, so that a real and endurable peace can be established. A ceasefire would be a false promise, if it simply returns us to the status quo, allowing terrorists to launch attacks at the time and terms of their choosing, and to threaten innocent people, Arab and Israeli, through the region."

A cease-fire like that, she says, would guarantee future violence.  So Rice says her goal now is to be more effective and more ambitious by working to create conditions for stability and lasting⁴ peace.

She will pursue those goals during this trip in talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas before traveling to Rome for a meeting with officials from a group formed to back Lebanon's democratically-elected government.

That group includes the United States, France, Britain, Lebanon, the European Union, Russia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Italy, the United Nations and the World Bank.

Before she leaves, Rice will join President Bush at the White House Sunday for talks with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal and the head of Saudi Arabia's national security council, Prince Bandar bin⁵ Sultan.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino says it is a chance to meet with a key ally, as part of the president's broader diplomatic outreach.

President Bush has continued to reject calls for a ceasefire that leaves Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon, where they could still strike at Israel. He also wants Syria and Iran to stop backing Hezbollah.

Secretary Rice says Syria's neighbors have made clear that Damascus is outside the mainstream⁶ of Arab thought about extremism.

"The Syrians have to make a choice," she added.  "Do they really wish to be associated with the circumstances that help extremism to grow in the region? Or are they going to be a part of what is clearly a consensus⁷ of the major Arab states in the region that extremism is one of the problems here?"

Rice says she is beginning to see the outlines of a political framework that she says might create the conditions for a ceasefire, but there are no quick fixes. She fully⁸ expects the diplomatic work on this trip to be difficult.

1 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

2 diplomats   

n.外交官( diplomat的名词复数 )；有手腕的人，善于交际的人

参考例句：

• These events led to the expulsion of senior diplomats from the country. 这些事件导致一些高级外交官被驱逐出境。
• The court has no jurisdiction over foreign diplomats living in this country. 法院对驻本国的外交官无裁判权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

4 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

5 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

6 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

7 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

8 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。