VOA常速英语2007年-Top US Diplomat to Meet With Pakistan's Preside

By David Gollust
State Department
16 November 2007

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, beginning a critical political mission to Pakistan late Friday, held a telephone discussion with former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.  Negroponte is in Islamabad to push for an end to the state of emergency declared by President Pervez Musharraf.  VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department.

Negroponte, the highest level U.S. official to visit Pakistan since the November 3 emergency declaration, held the phone conversation with Ms. Bhutto only hours after her release from house arrest in Lahore.

State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack said the Deputy Secretary, who also met late Friday with Pakistani National Security Adviser¹ Tariq Aziz, is in Pakistan to repeat U.S. calls for lifting the emergency decree which has plunged² the country into political crisis.

He said Negroponte's early outreach to the former prime minister and opposition³ leader underlines the importance the U.S. attaches to a restoration of free political discourse⁴ inside Pakistan.

"It does send a very clear message that we intend to continue our contacts with members of Pakistan's political leadership and political civil society," said Mr. McCormack.  "We think it's vitally important that there be a free exchange of information, that those channels of communication remain open. And more importantly, that they have open, free channels of communication with one another. "

The spokesman said Negroponte, who expected to see General Musharraf Saturday, would also push for setting a specific date for parliamentary elections (promised for January), an end to curbs⁵ on the media,  and for the Pakistani president to quit his post as army chief if he continues in politics.

The United States has urged reconciliation⁶ and dialogue among political moderates in Pakistan including General Musharraf and Ms. Bhutto.

But McCormack sidestepped a question as to whether Negroponte would urge the two to revive the power-sharing deal they had discussed before the emergency declaration, saying that is for Pakistanis to decide.

In that regard, he also dismissed charges leveled by outgoing Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, among others, that Washington is trying to dictate⁷ how Pakistan should run its affairs.

"We have tried very hard to stay out of Pakistani domestic politics. I will say that we have expressed our views which we believe are consistent with our nation interests, and we have expressed our views in the vein⁸ of friendship and counsel to a good friend," added Mr. McCormack.  "So if people consider that interference in Pakistani politics, I don't know there is much that I can do to try to combat those kinds of concerns."

Negroponte, the chief of U.S. national intelligence before assuming the number-two State Department job in January, has been the point man for contacts with Islamabad under the U.S.-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue. He last visited that country in September.

McCormack did not rule out meetings by Negroponte with other Pakistani opposition figures or other senior members of the country's military, and said he anticipated no impediments to his activities in Pakistan.

1 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

2 plunged   

v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• The train derailed and plunged into the river. 火车脱轨栽进了河里。
• She lost her balance and plunged 100 feet to her death. 她没有站稳，从100英尺的高处跌下摔死了。

3 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

4 discourse   

n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述

参考例句：

• We'll discourse on the subject tonight.我们今晚要谈论这个问题。
• He fell into discourse with the customers who were drinking at the counter.他和站在柜台旁的酒客谈了起来。

5 curbs   

v.限制，克制，抑制( curb的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• In executing his functions he is not bound by any legal curbs on his power. 在他履行职务时，他的权力是不受任何法律约束的。 来自辞典例句
• Curbs on air travel were being worked out and would shortly be announced. 限制航空旅行的有关规定正在拟定中，不久即将公布。 来自辞典例句

6 reconciliation   

n.和解，和谐，一致

参考例句：

• He was taken up with the reconciliation of husband and wife.他忙于做夫妻间的调解工作。
• Their handshake appeared to be a gesture of reconciliation.他们的握手似乎是和解的表示。

7 dictate   

v.口授；(使)听写；指令，指示，命令

参考例句：

• It took him a long time to dictate this letter.口述这封信花了他很长时间。
• What right have you to dictate to others?你有什么资格向别人发号施令？

8 vein   

n.血管，静脉；叶脉，纹理；情绪；vt.使成脉络

参考例句：

• The girl is not in the vein for singing today.那女孩今天没有心情唱歌。
• The doctor injects glucose into the patient's vein.医生把葡萄糖注射入病人的静脉。