新西兰英语 659 New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister at UN
英语课
The Foreign Affairs Minister, Murray McCully, gave a 15 minute speech to the General Assembly at the United Nations on Saturday. He made two main points about the Security Council. The first point was about Syria. He said the UN is not doing enough to stop the killings 1 in Syria. He blamed this on the power of veto used by Russia and China. The United Nations wants sanctions against the Syrian government but needs all five permanent members of the Security Council to approve this. Russia and China refused to vote for sanctions.
The other point Murray McCully made was that New Zealand leads the Pacific Island Forum 2 at the moment. We are close to the Pacific countries and are doing a good job of helping 3 them. Mr McCully was trying show that New Zealand would be a good choice as a non-permanent member country of the Security Council for 2015/ 16.
Australia is hoping to be chosen in October this year for non-permanent membership of the Security Council for 2013 and 14.
The Security Council of the UN has 15 members. Five of these are permanent: France, Britain, USA, Russia and China. They can use their power of veto. Ten member countries serve for two years. They cannot veto UN resolutions.
Vocabulary
blame them – it is their fault
veto – the right to say ‘No’ to a possible law
sanctions – penalty e.g. refuse to trade with that country
permanent – forever
non-permanent – temporary
approve – say ‘Yes’
resolutions – a court decision
Question
Why does a country (e.g. Australia or New Zealand) want to be a member of the Security Council?
谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发
- His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
- The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。
n.论坛，讨论会
- They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
- The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。