VOA News
May 27, 2013
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart are meeting in Paris to try to accelerate peace efforts for Syria after the European Union's top diplomats failed to reach a compromise over whether to arm opposition fighters.
Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov started one-on-one talks in a Paris hotel Monday aimed at breathing life into a proposed peace conference on Syria. The two will later be joined by French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius for a working dinner as they push to bring warring sides in Syria together.
The U.S. and Russia have been trying to arrange the talks for next month, envisioned them as a forum for the Syrian government and opposition to negotiate terms for an interim government to end the civil war.
Earlier, EU foreign ministers had gathered in Brussels to decide the future of the 27-nation bloc's arms embargo on Syria, which expires Friday. Britain and France have been pushing for an amendment that would allow sending weapons to the Syrian opposition.
The issue is dividing the EU. Austria has been firm in ruling out arming the rebels.
But British Foreign Minister William Hague said the rebels need weapons.
"In our view, it is important to show that we are prepared to amend our arms embargo so that the Assad regime gets a clear signal that it has to negotiate seriously. Therefore, for us, amending the embargo is part of supporting the diplomatic work and trying to bring about a political solution," he said.
Meanwhile the 60-member Syrian National Coalition, Syria's main opposition group, met in Istanbul Monday and blocked a deal to fully admit a liberal faction headed by a Saudi-backed veteran dissident, Michel Kilo.
The SNC's Qatar-backed Muslim Brotherhood alliance successfully resisted an expansion that would have granted Saudi Arabia more influence. Kilo's bloc had been seeking up to 22 new seats in the coalition, but ended up with five.
Heavy fighting raged in Syria around the strategic rebel-held border town of Qusair and the capital, Damascus, amid renewed reports of chemical weapons attacks by Assad's forces.
In Geneva, U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay lamented the "horrific" level of rights violations in war-torn Syria, saying "a humanitarian, political and social disaster is already upon us, and what looms is truly a nightmare." She addressed diplomats as she opened one of the U.N. Human Rights Council's four annual sessions.
The Syrian conflict has killed more than 80,000 people since it began as peaceful protests against Assad in March 2011.
Language Notes 
counterpart (n) 對應的人(或物)
accelerate (v) 促進;促使...早日發生
compromise (n) 妥協方案,折衷辦法
歐盟的外交高層未能對是否提供軍火給反對軍 (to arm opposition fighters) 達成折衷方案 (compromise)，美國國務卿 (U.S. Secretary of State) 與俄羅斯的對應夥伴 (counterpart) 日前在巴黎會面，希望能加速敘利亞的和平工作 (to accelerate peace efforts)。(編按：“counterpart”是指另一個組織中，工作內容、職務上相對應的人士，通常組織內的層級也是對等的；本新聞事件中，美國國務卿在俄羅斯的“counterpart” 係指俄羅斯的外交部長 Sergei Lavrov。)
envision (v) 想像,展望
interim (n) 過渡期間
bloc (n) 團體;聯盟;集團
embargo (n) 禁止(或限制)買賣
amendment (n) 修正案
rebel (n) 造反者;反抗者 XXXXX* 當名詞時，需注意重音：
美俄努力安排下月進行的談話 (talks)，希望能促成敘利亞政府與反對軍會談 (forum)，讓兩方談判條件 (negotiate terms)，進而結束內戰 (civil war) 與成立過渡政府 (interim government)。稍早前，各歐盟成員國的外交部長在布魯塞爾集會 (gathered)，討論二十七國 (27-nation bloc) 對敘利亞的軍火禁令 (arms embargo)，該禁令在(原新聞發布日)周五即將失效 (expires)。英國與法國努力推動修正案 (amendment)，讓武器能送達敘利亞的反抗軍。歐盟這個議題上意見分歧，奧地利的立場一直很堅定 (firm)，反對 (ruling out) 提供武器給反叛份子 (rebels)。
faction (n) (政黨,組織等內部的)派別,宗派
dissident (n) 意見不同的人;異議份子
rage (v) 肆虐,激烈進行
lament (v) 哀悼,為...悲痛
loom (v) 隱現，(危險、憂慮等)迫近
由六十人組成的敘利亞全國聯盟 (Syrian National Coalition) 是敘利亞最主要的反對派團體，日前在伊斯坦堡 (Istanbul) 開會，阻擋完全承認 Michel Kilo 所領導的自由派系 (a liberal faction)一案。Michel Kilo是退伍軍人，為沙烏地所支持的 (Saudi-backed)異議份子 (dissident) 。
聯合國人權事務高級專員 Navi Pillay 對飽受戰禍的 (war-torn) 敘利亞所發生的「可怖的」(“horrific”) 人權侵害 (rights violations) 感到悲痛 (lamented)。在聯合國人權理事會每年四場例會中，她在其中一場開場與各國外交官致辭時說到，「在我們面前的是人道上 (humanitarian)，政治上，社會上的大災難，一場在眼前逼近 (looms) 的惡夢。」
Language Tips
複合形容詞在第221期的電子報曾介紹過，巧妙使用的話，可以取代子句，提供豐富的訊息。複合形容詞也有文法書稱之為連字號形容詞 (hyphenated adjectives)，而連字號前後連字的規則，粗略可分四到五種，細分則有十來種可能的歸納方法。規則細節之多，實無法硬背，只能在學習時多多注意，理解字詞構成結構與所表達的意思之間的關連性。
本文中主要出現兩種複合形容詞的結構。數字詞加名詞單位：27-nation (二十七國的)、60-member (六十個成員的)。名詞加過去分詞：Saudi-backed (沙烏地支持的)、Qatar-backed (卡達支持的)、rebel-held (反叛份子把持的)、war-torn (戰事擾亂的)。還有慣用語的one-on-one (一對一的)。
有些使用頻率很高的複合形容詞，可以直接當成單字來學習與記憶。像是 one-on-one (一對一)、war-torn (戰事擾亂的) 就是常見的說法。其它複合形容詞，只要結構正確，就可以依樣畫葫蘆的來造字，例如表達「由多少單位成員組成的」，只要把數字加上單位名詞即可，新聞中有27-nation、60-member，依照這樣的結構可以有a two-hour show (兩小時的節目)、a one-liter bottle (一公升的瓶子)。
但需注意的是，除了上述這種數字加單位(成員)的類型外，「數詞加上名詞」的複合形容詞組合，在名詞部份通常需要加上-ed字尾 (名詞加上-ed尾巴，有文法書稱之為「假分詞」)，如 a three-legged stool (三隻腳的凳子)、a two-faced politician (雙面人的政治人物)。同樣的，另一個常見的結構是「形容詞加名詞」的複合形容詞，也要加上-ed字尾，常見例子有 hot-tempered (急性子的)、narrow-minded (心胸狹窄的)、middle-aged (中年的)、far-sighted (眼光遠大的)。
新聞中還有另一大類是由「名詞加分詞」組成的複合形容詞，其中分詞可以是現在分詞或過去分詞，構成時由名詞跟分詞之間的主被動來決定。新聞裡的 "the Saudi-backed veteran" 和 "the rebel-held town" 恰巧都是「名詞加上過去分詞」的組合，我們可還原成子句來看看名詞與分詞之間的關係，前者是 “the veteran who is backed by Saudi” (為沙烏地所支持的退伍軍人)，後者為 “the town that is held by rebels” (被反叛份子占領的城鎮)。
上述複合形容詞裡的分詞選擇牽扯到主被動判斷，這常是英語學習者感到困惑的地方。可以看一下這個有趣的例子：a heart-broken man (心碎的男人)、a heart-breaking man (令人心碎的男人)。前者指的是「情傷中的男子」，後者是「傷人心的男子」。兩者間有很大的語意差異，主被動用錯的話可就表錯意了 (但所指還不至於完全相反，畢竟心碎的男子也有可能是讓別人傷心的男子，但這是題外話了)。還無法直覺上判斷要使用現在分詞或是過去分詞時，寫成子句是一個協助判斷的方法。此例寫成子句來看，前者是 “a man whose heart is broken”，後者是 “a man who breaks other people’s heart”，這樣讀來，差異就很明顯了。
順帶一提，跟複合形容詞一樣，分詞當形容詞用時也一定要注意過去分詞和現在分詞的差別，例如 boiled water 跟 boiling water，哪一個是放涼能飲用的「滾過的開水」，哪一個是會燙傷人的「沸騰的滾水」呢？
Check your vocabulary!
Fill in the blanks with a word or phrase from the list above. Make necessary changes. After you finish, select the text below to reveal the hidden answers.
1. The government has imposed an arms embargo on countries involved in international terrorism.
2. The pro-war faction within the party condemned any attempt at negotiation.
3. The U.S. Congress is the counterpart of the British Parliament.
4. He envisions a day when every household will have access to the Internet.
5. After several hours of discussions, they managed to reach a compromise.
6. The driver stepped on the gas and accelerated the car.
7. The two countries believe that a crisis is looming.
Source：http://www.voanews.com/content/syria/1668877.html
編譯：簡嘉呈
館藏介紹
英語宅急便 
