VOA双语新闻：14、联合国大会将在纽约开幕（在线收听）

联合国大会将在纽约开幕

On Tuesday, world leaders will convene in New York for their annual gathering at the United Nations General Assembly. The Syrian conflict - and an appearance by Iran's new president - are likely to overshadow the meetings.

星期二，世界各国领导人在纽约出席每年一次的联合国大会，叙利亚冲突和伊朗新总统的出席可能会给大会蒙上阴影。

This year, leaders will not meet in the tired grandeur of the General Assembly hall, which is undergoing a major renovation. Instead, they will gather for the annual debate in a spacious and modern conference hall that has been outfitted with the familiar green marble dais.

今年，由于阶梯形的联大会议大厅正在全面整修，各国领导人在现代会议大厅里举行年度辩论，那里有为人们所熟悉的绿色大理石讲台。

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has made clear that Syria will top the international agenda, saying it is the biggest peace, security and humanitarian challenge the U.N. faces.

联合国秘书长潘基文明确表示，叙利亚问题占据国际议题之首。他说，这是全世界面对的最大的和平安全和人道主义挑战。

“Let us be clear: the use of chemical weapons in Syria is only the tip of the iceberg. The suffering in Syria must end,” said Ban.

潘基文说：“让我们明确这一点，叙利亚化学武器问题仅仅是冰山一角，必须结束叙利亚人的苦难。”

There will be meetings on the margins of the General Assembly between key players on Syria, including U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, on how to implement a deal for Syria to give up and destroy its chemical arsenal.

叙利亚问题的主要各方将在联大之外举行会晤。美国国务卿克里和俄罗斯外长拉夫罗夫将讨论如何执行叙利亚协议，促使叙利亚放弃和销毁化学武器。

Ban will meet with the foreign ministers of the five U.N. Security Council permanent members - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States. He and his special representative on Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, also plan to meet with Kerry and Lavrov, to discuss how they can build momentum toward a political solution of the Syrian crisis.

潘基文秘书长计划召开联合国安理会5个常任理事国外长会议，潘基文和联合国叙利亚问题特使拉赫达尔?卜拉希米也将跟克里和拉夫罗夫会晤，讨论如何推动用政治途径来制止叙利亚内战。

“So it is my sincere hope that, when we meet, we will be able to set a date for the Geneva II [Roman numeral 2] meeting.”

潘基文说：“我诚挚地希望，在我们会谈时，能够制定美俄日内瓦两国会谈的日期。”

More than 100,000 people have been killed in Syria, and more than 6 million more have been internally displaced or become refugees.

An appearance by Iran's newly elected president, Hassan Rouhani, is drawing pre-meeting buzz.

伊朗新总统鲁哈尼出席联大的目的也是吸引国际关注。

Many leaders will be keen to hear what Rouhani has to say, and whether he is ready to improve relations with the West and answer outstanding questions about his country’s suspect nuclear program.

很多领导人都急于想听鲁哈尼要说什么，伊朗政府是否准备和西方改善关系，以及伊朗是否有意终止核项目。

Speculation has been growing about a possible encounter between U.S. President Barack Obama and Iran's new head of state during the U.N. meetings. However, White House officials say there are currently no plans for the two men to meet.

人们还猜测，纽约联大期间，美国和伊朗总统是否会举行非正式会谈。

Rouhani has been on a diplomatic charm offensive, meanwhile, offering interviews to American media and taking a far softer line than his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was widely vilified in the West for doubting the Holocaust and questioning Israel's right to exist.

和他的前任艾哈迈迪内贾德相比，鲁哈尼的态度更为温和。

Ahmadinejad's fiery rhetoric at the U.N. often was boycotted by Western and Israeli envoys who staged walkouts.

Obama is scheduled to be the second speaker at the General Assembly's opening session on Tuesday, after Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff.

Rousseff was to have made a state visit to Washington next month, but canceled plans for the trip abruptly this week, following disclosures that the U.S. has spied on the Brazilian government's internal communications. That could make any encounter between the two leaders awkward.

Other high-level meetings in and around the U.N. in the coming days will focus on Afghanistan, Egypt, Mali, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

On Thursday, Sudan’s President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir may appear at the podium. Since the International Criminal Court indicted him for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur in 2009, and formally charged him with genocide the following year, his international travel has been curtailed.

The Sudanese president has indicated he hopes to attend the General Assembly debate. As the host country of the United Nations, the United States is obliged to grant him a visa to travel here. But if he does take the podium, that will outrage many members of the international community who have called for his arrest.

More than 130 heads of state or their representatives - one of the largest contingents in U.N. history - are scheduled to attend the General Assembly meetings.