VOA常速英语2008年-Rice Heads to London for Talks on NATO's Afghan

By David Gollust
State Department
05 February 2008

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice flies to London Tuesday for talks with top British officials on an escalating¹ row within NATO over troop levels in Afghanistan. The Bush administration wants NATO countries to commit more troops to Afghanistan, especially in areas of heavy fighting with Taliban forces. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department.

Rice's London talks Wednesday with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Foreign Secretary David Miliband are being portrayed² here as strategy sessions in advance of alliance-wide ministerial meetings on Afghanistan.

Both the United States and Britain are moving to increase their troop commitments in Afghanistan, especially in the volatile³ southern part of the country, where insurgent⁴ activity by the Taliban has been increasing.

The Bush administration has made clear it would like other NATO countries to boost their Afghan contingents⁵ as well.

Divisions over the issue flared⁶ into the open last week, when Germany - whose forces are in the relatively⁷ stable northern part of Afghanistan - bluntly spurned⁸ a call by U.S. Defense⁹ Secretary Robert Gates to send combat troops and aircraft to the south.

Canada meanwhile threatened to pull its troops out of Afghanistan next year unless other allies send reinforcements.

In a talk with reporters on the eve of Rice's departure for London, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack downplayed the notion of a serious rift¹¹ among the allies. But he also said the Bush administration does not intend to relent in its push for bigger Afghan contributions:

"You're going to have tactical differences, even within an alliance and we respect those," said Sean McCormack. "At the same time, when there are things that need to be done in order for the mission to succeed, we're going to speak out pretty clearly about that. And as part of that effort, we'll speak in a pretty straight-forward way about the need for NATO, as an alliance, to add more troops and add more combat power in Afghanistan."

The Afghan issue is likely to dominate the NATO defense ministers' meeting later this week in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, and a foreign ministers gathering¹² a month from now in Brussels - both preludes¹³ to a NATO summit in April in Bucharest.

Rice and the British officials are also expected to discuss the search for a new candidate for a proposed international "super-envoy" for Afghanistan, after British diplomat¹⁴ Paddy Ashdown was rejected by Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

U.S. officials say there is an urgent need to better coordinate¹⁵ reconstruction¹⁶ and anti-drug efforts in Afghanistan, and have made no secret of their disappointment that Ashdown, a former international administrator¹⁷ for Bosnia-Herzegovina, was vetoed for the Afghan post.

A report last week by the relief group Oxfam spoke¹⁰ of a potential humanitarian¹⁸ disaster in Afghanistan in the absence of a more coherent international aid effort and strides against the insurgency¹⁹.

A separate report by a panel led by the former U.S. NATO commander General James Jones warned that Afghanistan is in danger of becoming a "failed state" because of too few military forces and insufficient²⁰ economic aid.

1 escalating   

v.（使）逐步升级( escalate的现在分词 )；（使）逐步扩大；（使）更高；（使）更大

参考例句：

• The cost of living is escalating. 生活费用在迅速上涨。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The cost of living is escalating in the country. 这个国家的生活费用在上涨。 来自辞典例句

2 portrayed   

v.画像( portray的过去式和过去分词 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• Throughout the trial, he portrayed himself as the victim. 在审讯过程中，他始终把自己说成是受害者。
• The author portrayed his father as a vicious drunkard. 作者把他父亲描绘成一个可恶的酒鬼。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 volatile   

adj.反复无常的，挥发性的，稍纵即逝的，脾气火爆的；n.挥发性物质

参考例句：

• With the markets being so volatile,investments are at great risk.由于市场那么变化不定，投资冒着很大的风险。
• His character was weak and volatile.他这个人意志薄弱，喜怒无常。

4 insurgent   

adj.叛乱的，起事的；n.叛乱分子

参考例句：

• Faruk says they are threatened both by insurgent and government forces.法鲁克说，他们受到暴乱分子和政府军队的双重威胁。
• The insurgent mob assembled at the gate of the city park.叛变的暴徒聚在市立公园的门口。

5 contingents   

（志趣相投、尤指来自同一地方的）一组与会者( contingent的名词复数 )； 代表团； （军队的）分遣队； 小分队

参考例句：

• We were forced to rely on French contingents. 我们势必被迫依恃法国驻军。
• The internal security forces are composed of contingents and mobile divisions. 内卫部队由各总队和机动师组成。

6 Flared   

adj. 端部张开的, 爆发的, 加宽的, 漏斗式的 动词flare的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The match flared and went out. 火柴闪亮了一下就熄了。
• The fire flared up when we thought it was out. 我们以为火已经熄灭，但它突然又燃烧起来。

7 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

8 spurned   

v.一脚踢开，拒绝接受( spurn的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Eve spurned Mark's invitation. 伊夫一口回绝了马克的邀请。
• With Mrs. Reed, I remember my best was always spurned with scorn. 对里德太太呢，我记得我的最大努力总是遭到唾弃。 来自辞典例句

9 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

10 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

11 rift   

n.裂口，隙缝，切口；v.裂开，割开，渗入

参考例句：

• He was anxious to mend the rift between the two men.他急于弥合这两个人之间的裂痕。
• The sun appeared through a rift in the clouds.太阳从云层间隙中冒出来。

12 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

13 preludes   

n.开端( prelude的名词复数 )；序幕；序曲；短篇作品

参考例句：

• In the moribund patient deepening coma are the usual preludes to death. 病人弥留之际，加深的昏睡通常是死的前兆。 来自辞典例句
• She preludes her remarks with a jest. 她开始讲话时先说一个笑话。 来自互联网

14 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。

15 coordinate   

adj.同等的，协调的；n.同等者；vt.协作，协调

参考例句：

• You must coordinate what you said with what you did.你必须使你的言行一致。
• Maybe we can coordinate the relation of them.或许我们可以调和他们之间的关系。

16 reconstruction   

n.重建，再现，复原

参考例句：

• The country faces a huge task of national reconstruction following the war.战后，该国面临着重建家园的艰巨任务。
• In the period of reconstruction,technique decides everything.在重建时期，技术决定一切。

17 administrator   

n.经营管理者，行政官员

参考例句：

• The role of administrator absorbed much of Ben's energy.行政职务耗掉本很多精力。
• He has proved himself capable as administrator.他表现出管理才能。

18 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

19 insurgency   

n.起义；暴动；叛变

参考例句：

• And as in China, unrest and even insurgency are widespread. 而在中国，动乱甚至暴乱都普遍存在。 来自互联网
• Dr Zyphur is part an insurgency against this idea. 塞弗博士是这一观点逆流的一部分。 来自互联网

20 insufficient   

adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的

参考例句：

• There was insufficient evidence to convict him.没有足够证据给他定罪。
• In their day scientific knowledge was insufficient to settle the matter.在他们的时代，科学知识还不能足以解决这些问题。