VOA标准英语2013--Syria Crisis, Iran Will Top Agenda at Annual UN Assembly

 

Syria Crisis, Iran Will Top Agenda at Annual UN Assembly 

UNITED NATIONS — On Tuesday, world leaders will convene¹ in New York for their annual gathering² at the United Nations General Assembly. The Syrian conflict - and an appearance by Iran's new president - are likely to overshadow the meetings.

联合国——周二,世界各国领导人将在纽约召开的年度会议,联合国大会。

This year, leaders will not meet in the tired grandeur³ of the General Assembly hall, which is undergoing a major renovation⁴. Instead, they will gather for the annual debate in a spacious⁵ and modern conference hall that has been outfitted⁶ with the familiar green marble dais.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has made clear that Syria will top the international agenda, saying it is the biggest peace, security and humanitarian⁷ challenge the U.N. faces.

“Let us be clear: the use of chemical weapons in Syria is only the tip of the iceberg⁸. The suffering in Syria must end,” said Ban.

There will be meetings on the margins⁹ of the General Assembly between key players on Syria, including U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, on how to implement¹⁰ a deal for Syria to give up and destroy its chemical arsenal¹¹.

Ban will meet with the foreign ministers of the five U.N. Security Council permanent members - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States. He and his special representative on Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, also plan to meet with Kerry and Lavrov, to discuss how they can build momentum¹² toward a political solution of the Syrian crisis.

“So it is my sincere hope that, when we meet, we will be able to set a date for the Geneva II [Roman numeral 2] meeting.”

More than 100,000 people have been killed in Syria, and more than 6 million more have been internally displaced or become refugees.

An appearance by Iran's newly elected president, Hassan Rouhani, is drawing pre-meeting buzz.

Many leaders will be keen to hear what Rouhani has to say, and whether he is ready to improve relations with the West and answer outstanding questions about his country’s suspect nuclear program.

Speculation¹³ has been growing about a possible encounter between U.S. President Barack Obama and Iran's new head of state during the U.N. meetings. However, White House officials say there are currently no plans for the two men to meet.

Rouhani has been on a diplomatic charm offensive, meanwhile, offering interviews to American media and taking a far softer line than his predecessor¹⁴, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was widely vilified¹⁵ in the West for doubting the Holocaust¹⁶ and questioning Israel's right to exist.

Ahmadinejad's fiery¹⁷ rhetoric¹⁸ at the U.N. often was boycotted¹⁹ by Western and Israeli envoys²⁰ who staged walkouts.

Obama is scheduled to be the second speaker at the General Assembly's opening session on Tuesday, after Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff.

Rousseff was to have made a state visit to Washington next month, but canceled plans for the trip abruptly²¹ this week, following disclosures that the U.S. has spied on the Brazilian government's internal communications. That could make any encounter between the two leaders awkward.

Other high-level meetings in and around the U.N. in the coming days will focus on Afghanistan, Egypt, Mali, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

On Thursday, Sudan’s President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir may appear at the podium. Since the International Criminal Court indicted²² him for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur in 2009, and formally charged him with genocide the following year, his international travel has been curtailed²³.

The Sudanese president has indicated he hopes to attend the General Assembly debate. As the host country of the United Nations, the United States is obliged to grant him a visa to travel here. But if he does take the podium, that will outrage²⁴ many members of the international community who have called for his arrest.

More than 130 heads of state or their representatives - one of the largest contingents²⁵ in U.N. history - are scheduled to attend the General Assembly meetings. 

1 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。

2 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

3 grandeur   

n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华

参考例句：

• The grandeur of the Great Wall is unmatched.长城的壮观是独一无二的。
• These ruins sufficiently attest the former grandeur of the place.这些遗迹充分证明此处昔日的宏伟。

4 renovation   

n.革新，整修

参考例句：

• The cinema will reopen next week after the renovation.电影院修缮后，将于下星期开业。
• The building has undergone major renovation.这座大楼已进行大整修。

5 spacious   

adj.广阔的，宽敞的

参考例句：

• Our yard is spacious enough for a swimming pool.我们的院子很宽敞，足够建一座游泳池。
• The room is bright and spacious.这房间很豁亮。

6 outfitted   

v.装备，配置设备，供给服装( outfit的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They outfitted for the long journey. 他们为远途旅行准备装束。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• They outfitted him with artificial legs. 他们为他安了假腿。 来自辞典例句

7 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

8 iceberg   

n.冰山，流冰，冷冰冰的人

参考例句：

• The ship hit an iceberg and went under.船撞上一座冰山而沉没了。
• The glacier calved a large iceberg.冰河崩解而形成一个大冰山。

9 margins   

边( margin的名词复数 )； 利润； 页边空白； 差数

参考例句：

• They have always had to make do with relatively small profit margins. 他们不得不经常设法应付较少的利润额。
• To create more space between the navigation items, add left and right margins to the links. 在每个项目间留更多的空隙，加左或者右的margins来定义链接。

10 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

11 arsenal   

n.兵工厂，军械库

参考例句：

• Even the workers at the arsenal have got a secret organization.兵工厂工人暗中也有组织。
• We must be the great arsenal of democracy.我们必须成为民主的大军火库。

12 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

13 speculation   

n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机

参考例句：

• Her mind is occupied with speculation.她的头脑忙于思考。
• There is widespread speculation that he is going to resign.人们普遍推测他要辞职。

14 predecessor   

n.前辈，前任

参考例句：

• It will share the fate of its predecessor.它将遭受与前者同样的命运。
• The new ambassador is more mature than his predecessor.新大使比他的前任更成熟一些。

15 vilified   

v.中伤，诽谤( vilify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was vilified in newspapers. 他在报纸上受到了诽谤。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She was vilified by the press for her controversial views. 因她持有异议，新闻界对她横加挞伐。 来自互联网

16 holocaust   

n.大破坏；大屠杀

参考例句：

• The Auschwitz concentration camp always remind the world of the holocaust.奥辛威茨集中营总是让世人想起大屠杀。
• Ahmadinejad is denying the holocaust because he's as brutal as Hitler was.内贾德否认大屠杀，因为他像希特勒一样残忍。

17 fiery   

adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的

参考例句：

• She has fiery red hair.她有一头火红的头发。
• His fiery speech agitated the crowd.他热情洋溢的讲话激动了群众。

18 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

19 boycotted   

抵制，拒绝参加( boycott的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Athletes from several countries boycotted the Olympic Games. 有好几国的运动员抵制奥林匹克运动会。
• The opposition party earlier boycotted the Diet agenda, demanding Miyaji's resignation. 反对党曾杯葛国会议程，要宫路下台。

20 envoys   

使节( envoy的名词复数 )； 公使； 谈判代表； 使节身份

参考例句：

• the routine tit for tat when countries expel each other's envoys 国家相互驱逐对方使节这种惯常的报复行动
• Marco Polo's travelogue mentions that Kublai Khan sent envoys to Malgache. 马可波罗游记中提到忽必烈曾派使节到马尔加什。

21 abruptly   

adv.突然地，出其不意地

参考例句：

• He gestured abruptly for Virginia to get in the car.他粗鲁地示意弗吉尼亚上车。
• I was abruptly notified that a half-hour speech was expected of me.我突然被通知要讲半个小时的话。

22 indicted   

控告，起诉( indict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The senator was indicted for murder. 那位参议员被控犯谋杀罪。
• He was indicted by a grand jury on two counts of murder. 他被大陪审团以两项谋杀罪名起诉。

23 curtailed   

v.截断，缩短( curtail的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Spending on books has been severely curtailed. 购书开支已被大大削减。
• Their public health programme had to be severely curtailed. 他们的公共卫生计划不得不大大收缩。 来自《简明英汉词典》

24 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。

25 contingents   

（志趣相投、尤指来自同一地方的）一组与会者( contingent的名词复数 )； 代表团； （军队的）分遣队； 小分队

参考例句：

• We were forced to rely on French contingents. 我们势必被迫依恃法国驻军。
• The internal security forces are composed of contingents and mobile divisions. 内卫部队由各总队和机动师组成。