2007年VOA标准英语-Shimon Peres Sworn In as Israel's President

By Jim Teeple
Jerusalem
15 July 2007

Israel's elder statesman, Shimon Peres, 83, was sworn in Sunday as his country's ninth president, a largely ceremonial post that has come under a cloud of scandal in recent years. VOA's Jim Teeple also reports from Jerusalem that Israeli officials have agreed to stop pursuing about 180 wanted Palestinian militants¹ loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, one day before Mr. Abbas and Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert are scheduled to meet.

Shimon Peres accompanied by Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik (3rd R), makes his way down the red carpet  before the swearing in ceremony at the Knesset, 15 Jul 2007

Shimon Peres was sworn in at Israel's Knesset, or Parliament. Saying he would use his largely ceremonial office to encourage young people to enter political life in Israel, President Peres also said he would do his best to encourage the peace process with Palestinians, and with Israel's Arab neighbors.

Mr. Peres has held virtually all of Israel's top civilian² posts, including the jobs of prime minister and foreign minister without ever having won a national election. Last month he became the sentimental³ favorite in a parliamentary vote for the office of president.

Veteran Labor⁴ Party politician Collette Avital, who withdrew from the race in favor of Mr. Peres, says he is the right man for the job.

"I am very glad Shimon Peres got elected. He will bring us great prestige and great honor to the country," said Avital. "He is internationally known, loved and appreciated, much longer than we in Israel appreciated him. So I thing altogether we all have to be very glad that he was the one that was elected."

Mr. Peres a member of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's centrist Kadima Party, lost the last race for president in 2000 to Moshe Katsav, a virtually unknown politician from the right-wing Likud Party.

Mr. Katsav resigned recently as part of a plea bargain that enabled him to avoid being indicted⁵ on more serious charges of rape⁶ and abuse of power. The case caused a storm of protest, and women's groups have challenged the plea bargain in court.

Mr. Peres has served 48 years in Israel's parliament. He says he does not believe the office of the presidency⁷ has been damaged by the scandal, but that he will work to try and unify⁸ all Israelis and stay above politics.

Meanwhile, Israeli officials said they will not pursue about 180 Palestinian gunmen loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement in exchange for the gunmen signing pledges of non-violence.

Israeli officials also said they will allow overseas-based leaders of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine to visit the West Bank. Israeli Foreign Ministry⁹ Spokesman Mark Regev says the moves are designed to help Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

"Behind these measures is an Israeli desire together with members of the international community to bolster¹¹ Palestinian moderates," said Regev. "We want the Palestinian people to reach an understanding that they get so much more through a process of dialogue and negotiation¹² than the extremists who can only offer death and destruction."

Mahmoud Abbas (file photo)

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert are scheduled to meet Monday.

Israel has also pledged to release about 250 Palestinian prisoners in a bid to strengthen Mr. Abbas, who last month dismissed the Hamas-led Palestinian unity¹⁰ government after Hamas militants seized control of the Gaza Strip.

On Friday in response to constitutional limits on his ability to maintain a state of emergency, Mr. Abbas swore in three new ministers and re-appointed his moderate Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to his position, allowing the new government to stay in power. Hamas legislators were unable to overturn the decision Sunday, because they could not obtain a quorum¹³ of enough legislators to challenge the new government's legitimacy¹⁴.

1 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。

2 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

3 sentimental   

adj.多愁善感的，感伤的

参考例句：

• She's a sentimental woman who believes marriage comes by destiny.她是多愁善感的人，她相信姻缘命中注定。
• We were deeply touched by the sentimental movie.我们深深被那感伤的电影所感动。

4 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

5 indicted   

控告，起诉( indict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The senator was indicted for murder. 那位参议员被控犯谋杀罪。
• He was indicted by a grand jury on two counts of murder. 他被大陪审团以两项谋杀罪名起诉。

6 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

7 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

8 unify   

vt.使联合，统一；使相同，使一致

参考例句：

• How can we unify such scattered islands into a nation?我们怎么才能把如此分散的岛屿统一成一个国家呢？
• It is difficult to imagine how the North and South could ever agree on a formula to unify the divided peninsula.很难想象南北双方在统一半岛的方案上究竟怎样才能达成一致。

9 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

10 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

11 bolster   

n.枕垫；v.支持，鼓励

参考例句：

• The high interest rates helped to bolster up the economy.高利率使经济更稳健。
• He tried to bolster up their morale.他尽力鼓舞他们的士气。

12 negotiation   

n.谈判，协商

参考例句：

• They closed the deal in sugar after a week of negotiation.经过一星期的谈判，他们的食糖生意成交了。
• The negotiation dragged on until July.谈判一直拖到7月份。

13 quorum   

n.法定人数

参考例句：

• The meeting is adjourned since there is no quorum.因为没有法定人数会议休会。
• Three members shall constitute a quorum.三名成员可组成法定人数。

14 legitimacy   

n.合法，正当

参考例句：

• The newspaper was directly challenging the government's legitimacy.报纸直接质疑政府的合法性。
• Managing from the top down,we operate with full legitimacy.我们进行由上而下的管理有充分的合法性。