2006年VOA标准英语-Envoys Remain at Odds Over Iran Nuclear Is

By Lisa Bryant
Paris
02 May 2006
 
Senior officials from six countries held talks in Paris Tuesday to find common ground on how to deal with the Iran nuclear standoff. The discussions come ahead of a critical U.N. meeting in which U.S. and European governments want to push for sanctions against Tehran.

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The diplomats¹ who met in Paris late Tuesday remain at odds² over how to deal with Tehran, just days after the International Atomic Energy Agency declared Iran was violating a United Nations demand that it stop nuclear enrichment activities. The IAEA's latest report was on the agenda of the Paris meeting, gathering³ representatives from the United States, Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia.

Nicholas Burns 
  

Earlier in the day, Under-Secretary of State Nicholas Burns told reporters in Paris that European governments are expected to prepare a U.N. resolution calling for sanctions against Tehran.

"Frankly⁴, eventually, in this diplomatic process, the United States believes that sanctions are in order against the government of Iran," said Burns. "Sanctions to isolate⁵ the government of Iran, to increase the pressure, diplomatic pressure, on the government of Iran to convince (it) to go back to a more reasonable policy of suspension of its activities and negotiations⁶."

But while the United States favors sanctions against Iran, China and Russia continue to oppose them.

In a report published by Tehran's daily Kayhan newspaper, Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki said he was confident that Beijing and Moscow will not change their positions. Iran also announced Tuesday that it had found new uranium deposits. Tehran argues its nuclear program is for purely⁷ peaceful purposes, and that it has the right to do pursue it. But Western governments fear it may be trying to build nuclear weapons.

The issue of U.N. sanctions may be raised at a May 9th foreign ministers meeting in New York. As permanent members of the Security Council, both China and Russia can veto U.N. resolutions they disagree with.

If the six nations fail to reach agreement on sanctions, French analyst⁸ Guillaume Parmentier says few diplomatic alternatives exist to punish Iran. "Unilateral sanctions are out of the question," he said, "because the Americans know now that unilateral sanctions hurt American companies but don't hurt foreign companies. That's not a very good idea."

Parmentier, who heads the French Center on the United States, a Paris research institute, also dismisses chances the United States would seek a military option in the standoff. "There are war guns [sounding] in Washington, but that doesn't mean anything at this stage," he said. "There is no question of a U.S. occupation of Iran. The U.S. is not in a military position to that."

U.S. officials have said they are pursuing a diplomatic solution to the dispute over Iran's nuclear program, but they have also said that all options, including military ones, are being considered.

1 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》

2 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

3 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。

4 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

5 isolate   

vt.使孤立，隔离

参考例句：

• Do not isolate yourself from others.不要把自己孤立起来。
• We should never isolate ourselves from the masses.我们永远不能脱离群众。

6 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

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 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。