VOA标准英语2009年-South Africa's Zuma to Contact Zimbabwe's

South African President Jacob Zuma says he will be contacting Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe on problems affecting the unity¹ government in Harare.
　
South African president Jacob Zuma, left, shake hands with Zimbabwean PM Morgan Tsvangirai, during a meeting in Johannesburg, 03 Aug 2009

Mr. Zuma was commenting after a meeting in Johannesburg with Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai who briefed him on the current situation in Zimbabwe following the establishment of a unity government earlier this year.

"I will be contacting his excellency President Mugabe on the matter, as well as the leader of another party, [Arthur] Mutambara, on the issues that the prime minister has raised. But also I will contact our colleagues in the region to sensitize them on what the prime minister has briefed me on; with the sole aim of saying how we could continue working together to make quick progress in Zimbabwe," Said Mr. Zuma.

Mr. Tsvangirai told reporters he had informed the South African leader about the progress made by the unity government, but also about those issues where, he said, progress was slow.

"I am very grateful that comrade president understands our situation and he would like to do everything in his power to make sure that we move forward in a positive way," he said.

The leaders spoke² only briefly³ to reporters and declined to take questions or offer any details about their discussion. However, before he traveled to South Africa, Mr. Tsvangirai had said he would be giving to Mr. Zuma a list of what he said are hundreds of violations⁴ by officials of Mr. Mugabe's ZANU-PF of the political agreement that brought Zimbabwe's unity government into being.

Among the violations cited earlier by Mr. Tsvangirai are what his Movement for Democratic Change party says are gratuitous⁵ arrests of members of parliament belonging to the party and ongoing⁶ violence against MDC supporters and officials.

Last month at the launch of a three day event aimed at promoting national reconciliation⁷ Mr. Mugabe acknowledged the ongoing violence saying that it must stop. He called for tolerance⁸, respect, non-violence and dialogue as the means to resolving political differences.

Mr. Zuma said some problems raised by Mr. Tsvangirai are serious.

"There are [a] few issues that are difficult issues; few, but very weighty issues, very important. But even those issues they don't seem to be the issues that cannot be resolved," he said.

Mr. Zuma did not say when he intends to contact Mr. Mugabe.

1 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。

2 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。

3 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

4 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

5 gratuitous   

adj.无偿的，免费的；无缘无故的，不必要的

参考例句：

• His criticism is quite gratuitous.他的批评完全没有根据。
• There's too much crime and gratuitous violence on TV.电视里充斥着犯罪和无端的暴力。

6 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

7 reconciliation   

n.和解，和谐，一致

参考例句：

• He was taken up with the reconciliation of husband and wife.他忙于做夫妻间的调解工作。
• Their handshake appeared to be a gesture of reconciliation.他们的握手似乎是和解的表示。

8 tolerance   

n.宽容；容忍，忍受；耐药力；公差

参考例句：

• Tolerance is one of his strengths.宽容是他的一个优点。
• Human beings have limited tolerance of noise.人类对噪音的忍耐力有限。