Accountable

美国国务卿鲍威尔昨天代表布什政府宣称，联合国秘书长安南应对最近联合国“石油换食品”计划中出现的失误负全责。外电报道如下：The Bush administration, which earlier backed Secretary-General Kofi Annan in the U.N. oil-for-food scandal, on Tuesday demanded he be held accountable for mismanagement in the program. "What we have heard, so far, is that there were serious problems inside the U.N. on the management of this. We're not sure if there were criminal problems, but there were certainly management problems,"outgoing Secretary of State Colin Powell told Fox News. "And the secretary-general will have to be accountable for those management problems," he added in the television interview. Accountable在这里的意思是“负有责任的，有义务的”。例如：He is accountable to us for this action.(他应该为这次行动负责。) 此外,accountable还有“应加解释的，应加说明的”的含义,例如:an accountable phenomenon(应做解释的现象)。 据悉，“石油换食品”计划旨在缓解伊拉克人民的生活困境，允许伊利用石油出口收入进口急需的食物药品等物资。该计划由伊拉克与联合国安理会共同签署和负责实施，对缓解伊人道主义危机起到一定作用。在伊拉克战争前，该国有60%的人口依靠“石油换食品”计划提供的食品援助生存。然而从去年1月份开始，媒体报道联合国官员在该计划执行中存在操作失误和巨额腐败。一家伊拉克报纸当时报道说，萨达姆曾用伊拉克的石油收入贿赂来自46个国家的270多名外国政界和新闻界人士，包括“石油换食品”计划管理办公室负责人以谋求国际社会支持。目前针对计划中出现的严重问题，调查正在进一步进行之中。 （中国日报网站编）