VOA标准英语2009年-Italian PM Visits Libya to Mark Friendship

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will visit Libya for a few hours on Sunday to celebrate the anniversary of a friendship pact¹ signed last year. He is not planning to stay to attend the events marking the 40th anniversary of the military coup² that brought Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to power in 1969.
　
Libyan Leader Moammar Gadhafi, right, with Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi, left, as they attend a ceremony to lay the first stone of a new Italian-funded highway, in Tuweisha, Libya, 30 Aug 2009

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will only spend a few hours in Tripoli. For the third time in three months he will meet with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. They will have dinner together to mark the one-year anniversary of a friendship and cooperation pact, which put an end to residual³ animosity over Italy's colonial rule.

One of the issues the two leaders are expected to discuss is how to continue to combat illegal immigration from the coast of Libya to the southern Italian island of Lampedusa, usually the first port of call for thousands of desperate Africans.

In Tripoli, Mr. Berlusconi will lay the foundation stone of a new coastal⁴ highway linking Tunisia to Egypt and which Rome is paying to build in reparation for the horrors suffered by Libya when it was an Italian colony.

Italy has agreed to pay $5-billion in compensation to Libya over the next 20 years. Mr. Berlusconi will also be visiting the first few kilometers of a railway line that Italian construction firm Ansaldo is helping⁵ to build.

The Libyans are busy preparing for major festivities planned for the 40th anniversary of Colonel Gaddafi's rule. He came to power with a military coup in 1969. Despite criticism by the opposition⁶, Italy's air-force aerobatic team will be making two appearances in Tripoli on Monday and Tuesday.

The Italian Prime Minister will not be in town for the celebrations. But the Libyan government has invited about 300 Italian former settlers and their family members back to Tripoli for the occasion, during which they will be allowed to visit family graves.

World leaders and hundreds of VIPS have been invited to attend what is expected to be two days of celebrations and a ceremony in a giant tent. But there has been much debate over how Colonel Gaddafi and Libya should be treated following Tripoli's recent warm welcome given to the Lockerbie bomber⁷.

Britain and the United States have been most critical.

"My first thoughts have been with the victims of the Lockerbie bombing," said Prime Minister Gordon Brown. "I was both angry and I was repulsed⁸ by the reception that a convicted bomber, guilty of a huge terrorist crime received on his return to Libya."

The Duke of York has already confirmed he was withdrawing from attending the celebrations in Libya. In addition French President Nicolas Sarkoxy and President Dmitri Medvedev of Russia have also said they will not attend.

1 pact   

n.合同，条约，公约，协定

参考例句：

• The two opposition parties made an electoral pact.那两个反对党订了一个有关选举的协定。
• The trade pact between those two countries came to an end.那两国的通商协定宣告结束。

2 coup   

n.政变；突然而成功的行动

参考例句：

• The monarch was ousted by a military coup.那君主被军事政变者废黜了。
• That government was overthrown in a military coup three years ago.那个政府在3年前的军事政变中被推翻。

3 residual   

adj.复播复映追加时间；存留下来的，剩余的

参考例句：

• There are still a few residual problems with the computer program.电脑程序还有一些残留问题。
• The resulting residual chromatism is known as secondary spectrum.所得到的剩余色差叫做二次光谱。

4 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

5 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。

6 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。

7 bomber   

n.轰炸机，投弹手，投掷炸弹者

参考例句：

• He flew a bomber during the war.他在战时驾驶轰炸机。
• Detectives hunting the London bombers will be keen to interview him.追查伦敦爆炸案凶犯的侦探们急于对他进行讯问。

8 repulsed   

v.击退( repulse的过去式和过去分词 )；驳斥；拒绝

参考例句：

• I was repulsed by the horrible smell. 这种可怕的气味让我恶心。
• At the first brush,the enemy was repulsed. 敌人在第一次交火时就被击退了。 来自《简明英汉词典》