2006年VOA标准英语-Bush and Rwandan President Meet at White House

By Scott Stearns
White House
31 May 2006

President Bush says he is confident U.S. lawmakers will approve funding to help reimburse¹ African nations that have peacekeeping forces in Sudan's troubled Darfur region. Mr. Bush met in the Oval Office with Rwandan President Paul Kagame.

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Paul Kagame (l) with George Bush at the White House   
  

President Bush says President Kagame is a man of action who gets things done both at home and abroad.

President Bush says they discussed Rwanda's role in African Union peacekeeping efforts in Darfur, where at least 180,000 people have been killed and two million displaced in three years of violence.

"I want to thank the president for committing troops in the AU mission to help deal with what I have called a genocide," he said. "We strategized about how we can go forward to resolve this situation. I thank you for your wisdom. I thank you for your concern."

President Kagame thanked President Bush for helping² Rwandan troops get to Sudan and said his government is committed to ending that violence.

"With your support, Mr. President, we have had our troops airlifted by United States military to Darfur and we continue to support the African Union mission," he said.

President Bush says President Kagame expressed concern about whether Washington would honor its commitment to help pay for the African Union force. Mr. Bush told the Rwandan leader that he is confident U.S. lawmakers will pass supplemental funding that includes money to reimburse nations with troops in Darfur, including Rwanda.

President Kagame is a former rebel leader who came to power in a war that ended Rwanda's 1994 genocide. Ethnic³ Hutu extremists killed an estimated 800,000 people, including ethnic Tutsi and politically moderate Hutu.

President Bush praised Rwanda's efforts to recover from the violence and vowed⁴ to help track down those still at large.

"Your president and his government have worked hard to help people reconcile the tragedy at all levels of society," he said. "To the extent that he wants our help in finding certain perpetuators of crime, we will be glad to do so. But the way I look at the situation, Rwanda can serve as an example for other societies that are troubled."

President Bush says Washington is working hard to reconcile political and ethnic differences in Iraq and said President Kagame offered to help with those efforts.

1 reimburse   

v.补偿，付还

参考例句：

• We'll reimburse you for your travelling expenses.我们将付还你旅费。
• The funds are supposed to reimburse policyholders in the event of insurer failure.这项基金将在保险公司不能偿付的情况下对投保人进行赔付。

2 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

3 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

4 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。