2006年VOA标准英语-UN Calls 'Time-Out' in Guatemala-Venezuela Batt

By Peter Heinlein
United Nations
20 October 2006

The U.N. General Assembly has suspended voting until next week in a fiercely fought contest between Venezuela and Guatemala for a seat on the Security Council. Thirty-five rounds of balloting¹ have produced a stalemate.

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Venezuela's Deputy Foreign Minister Jorge Valero casts a vote at UN General Assembly in New York, Oct. 19, 2006  
  
After three full days of inconclusive balloting, the General Assembly called a moratorium² in the battle to replace Argentina as a Latin American representative on the Security Council. The voting will resume on Wednesday.

Delegates dragged through 12 more rounds of voting Thursday. Each time, Guatemala finished comfortably ahead of Venezuela. The margin³ was as high as 32 votes, 108 - 76.

But Venezuela refuses to give up, and has enough votes to prevent Guatemala from getting the two-thirds majority needed for election as a non-permanent Security Council member.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has waged a fierce campaign for the seat, using Venezuela's vast oil wealth to attract a solid support base. He has cast himself as the champion of voiceless developing countries waging a crusade against what he calls the "master of the universe," a reference to the United States.

Speaking in Spanish, Venezuela's U.N. ambassador, Francisco Arias⁴ Cardenas, charged Washington, and its U.N. ambassador, John Bolton, with trying to use its power to veto a country that will not bow to its will.

"This is not a fight between Venezuela and Guatemala, or between Venezuela and the United States," he said. "It's more than that. It is that, inside the U.N., one very big and powerful country, with its allies, can block a country from becoming a member of the Security Council, using its power and money to drive the boat in one direction."

 
Gert Rosenthal (r) votes for the fifth time  
  
Guatemalan Foreign Minister Gert Rosenthal says his country resents being portrayed⁵ as an American lackey⁶, and has no intention of stepping down either. He says a country that finishes far behind in more than 30 rounds of voting should admit defeat and step aside.

"Right now, it's obvious we're at a stalemate, nothing has happened," he said. "The situation today is virtually the same as the first day of voting. If Venezuela elects to keep it going, we have no choice but to continue, because, for us, stepping down would offer the country who's behind by 30 votes to be elected."

John Bolton  
  
American Ambassador Bolton Thursday urged Venezuela to concede defeat. He called it 'the decent thing to do'. Bolton rejected suggestions that the voting has reached a stalemate.

"I don't think it's a stalemate," he said. "I think Venezuela has lost, and we're still trying to find out under what circumstances Guatemala can win."

He said Venezuela's refusal to step down, and instead to tie up the General Assembly, is a preview of what the oil-rich South American country would do if elected to the Security Council.

"I think this is the kind of behavior that we worried about on the Security Council. It serves no purpose," Bolton said. "It's purely⁷ obstructionist. It's not constructive⁸."

Bolton said the world body's tradition of rotating representation favors Guatemala's candidacy. He noted⁹ that Venezuela has previously¹⁰ served on the Security Council four times, while Guatemala, a founding member of the organization, has never been elected to its most powerful body.

1 balloting   

v.（使）投票表决( ballot的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Clark took a commanding leading in the early balloting. 在最初投票时，克拉克遥遥领先。 来自辞典例句
• The balloting had stagnated, he couldn't win. 投票工作陷于停顿，他不能得胜。 来自辞典例句

2 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。

3 margin   

n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘

参考例句：

• We allowed a margin of 20 minutes in catching the train.我们有20分钟的余地赶火车。
• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。

4 arias   

n.咏叹调( aria的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Can you pick out the operatic arias quoted in this orchestral passage? 你能听出这段管弦乐曲里有歌剧式的咏叹调吗？ 来自辞典例句
• The actions are large and colour, there are arias and recitatives. 动作夸张而华美，有唱段也有宣叙部。 来自辞典例句

5 portrayed   

v.画像( portray的过去式和过去分词 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• Throughout the trial, he portrayed himself as the victim. 在审讯过程中，他始终把自己说成是受害者。
• The author portrayed his father as a vicious drunkard. 作者把他父亲描绘成一个可恶的酒鬼。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 lackey   

n.侍从；跟班

参考例句：

• I'm not staying as a paid lackey to act as your yes-man.我不要再做拿钱任你使唤的应声虫。
• Who would have thought that Fredo would become a lackey of women?谁能料到弗烈特竟堕落成女人脚下的哈叭狗？

7 purely   

adv.纯粹地，完全地

参考例句：

• I helped him purely and simply out of friendship.我帮他纯粹是出于友情。
• This disproves the theory that children are purely imitative.这证明认为儿童只会单纯地模仿的理论是站不住脚的。

8 constructive   

adj.建设的，建设性的

参考例句：

• We welcome constructive criticism.我们乐意接受有建设性的批评。
• He is beginning to deal with his anger in a constructive way.他开始用建设性的方法处理自己的怒气。

9 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

10 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。