2006年VOA标准英语-Rice Says Ceasefire Must Come With Conditions

By Sonja Pace
Jerusalem
25 July 2006

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, center, arrives at Rome's Ciampino military airport Tuesday, July 25, 2006   
  
Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice arrived in Rome for an international conference on Lebanon on Wednesday, after two days of meetings in the Middle East with Lebanese, Israeli and Palestinian leaders.  The meetings were a signal that diplomacy¹ is being stepped up, but they did nothing to end the violence.

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Throughout her 24-hour visit to the region, Secretary Rice's message remained much the same - yes, a cease-fire in Lebanon is urgent, but it must be sustainable and pave the way to resolve what Washington sees as the underlying² causes of the conflict, including Islamic extremism and the lack of democracy.

Speaking after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Rice stressed that point.

"It is time for a new Middle East, it is time to say to those who do not want a different kind of Middle East, that we will prevail, they will not," she says.

Later in the day, Rice met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.  Speaking to journalists afterwards, she again stressed the long-term objectives, despite what she said were great concerns for the suffering of innocent civilians³ caught up in conflict. 

"We need to get a sustainable peace in this region," Rice says. "That is really the problem.  There must be a way for the people to reconcile their differences and move forward toward peace."

That is the kind of message Rice is expected to bring to the Rome conference as well, where she will meet with senior officials from Europe and moderate Arab states to discuss how to end the fighting and make it last.  At issue are a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah, the deployment⁴ of an international force to southern Lebanon to ensure the truce⁵, and immediate⁶ urgent aid to some 700,000 Lebanese who have been displaced by the two-week old Israeli offensive.

Israeli leaders have made it clear they will continue their military operations and Rice's comments here are widely seen as having given Israel the green light to do so - at least for now.

Israeli warplanes continued air strikes into Lebanon, including southern Beirut.  Fighting also continued in the south, just inside the Lebanese border, where Israeli forces are trying to push back Hezbollah guerrillas and establish control over that area. Hezbollah militants⁷ again sent dozens of rockets into northern Israel, including into the port city of Haifa.

Israel's Defense⁸ Minister Amir Peretz said Israel will establish a security zone in southern Lebanon to guard against Hezbollah attacks until an international force is deployed⁹ there to take over.

Israel established a security buffer¹⁰ zone in southern Lebanon in 1982 and ended up bogged¹¹ down there for 18 years.

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah warned Tuesday if peace efforts fail in Lebanon, the whole region could be drawn¹² into war.

1 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。

2 underlying   

adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的

参考例句：

• The underlying theme of the novel is very serious.小说隐含的主题是十分严肃的。
• This word has its underlying meaning.这个单词有它潜在的含义。

3 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

4 deployment   

n. 部署,展开

参考例句：

• He has inquired out the deployment of the enemy troops. 他已查出敌军的兵力部署情况。
• Quality function deployment (QFD) is a widely used customer-driven quality, design and manufacturing management tool. 质量功能展开(quality function deployment,QFD)是一个广泛应用的顾客需求驱动的设计、制造和质量管理工具。

5 truce   

n.休战，(争执，烦恼等的)缓和；v.以停战结束

参考例句：

• The hot weather gave the old man a truce from rheumatism.热天使这位老人暂时免受风湿病之苦。
• She had thought of flying out to breathe the fresh air in an interval of truce.她想跑出去呼吸一下休战期间的新鲜空气。

6 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。

7 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。

8 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

9 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

10 buffer   

n.起缓冲作用的人(或物)，缓冲器；vt.缓冲

参考例句：

• A little money can be a useful buffer in time of need.在急需时，很少一点钱就能解燃眉之急。
• Romantic love will buffer you against life's hardships.浪漫的爱会减轻生活的艰辛。

11 bogged   

adj.陷于泥沼的v.（使）陷入泥沼， （使）陷入困境( bog的过去式和过去分词 )；妨碍，阻碍

参考例句：

• The professor bogged down in the middle of his speech. 教授的演讲只说了一半便讲不下去了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The tractor is bogged down in the mud. 拖拉机陷入了泥沼。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。