VOA标准英语2008年-Israeli, Palestinian Negotiators Meet Before Bu

By Jim Teeple
Jerusalem
07 January 2008

Senior Israeli and Palestinian negotiators met two days before a visit to the region by U.S. President George Bush. VOA's Jim Teeple reports from Jerusalem, Israel's prime minister and the Palestinian president are scheduled to hold talks Tuesday.

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni held talks with chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Quriea, but the meeting got off to a bad start after Israeli officials stopped Mr. Quriea, also known as Abu Ala, as he was crossing from Jordan into the West Bank - a delay he said was politically motivated.

Israel apologized for the incident. The meeting went ahead with the two sides forming working groups that will deal with specific negotiating issues as the two sides proceed with peace talks later this year.

Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are scheduled to meet Tuesday, just a day before President Bush begins his visit to the region.

Mahdi Abdel Hadi, who heads the Palestinian policy group PASSIA says the two men are trying to reach agreement on some issues before they meet with Mr. Bush later this week.

"This meeting comes not as rescheduling the agenda but testing the waters, will they go angry and frustrated¹ to their meeting with President Bush or will they come with something mutually agreed upon," said Hadi.

Since they agreed to restart negotiations² at the Annapolis peace conference last November, the two sides have found little common ground. Israeli officials have accused Palestinians of not doing enough to control militant³ activity in the West Bank, and have voiced frustration⁴ and anger at continuing rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip which is under the control of Hamas militants⁵.

The Palestinians have sharply criticized Israeli plans to build hundreds of new homes in East Jerusalem which Israel captured in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. Israel's Prime Minister Olmert has pledged to dismantle⁶ West Bank outposts constructed since 2001, but Israeli officials say current construction activity in East Jerusalem will not be affected⁷ by that decision.

1 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

3 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

4 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

5 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。

6 dismantle   

vt.拆开，拆卸；废除，取消

参考例句：

• He asked for immediate help from the United States to dismantle the warheads.他请求美国立即提供援助，拆除这批弹头。
• The mower firmly refused to mow,so I decided to dismantle it.修完后割草机还是纹丝不动，于是，我决定把它拆开。

7 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。