美国国家公共电台 NPR--4 months since Russia invaded, Ukraine faces a stark contrast

4 months since Russia invaded, Ukraine faces a stark¹ contrast

Transcript²

European leaders officially made Ukraine a candidate to join the EU. Yet, Ukraine is desperately³ trying to hold two cities under Russian assault.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Today marks exactly four months since Russia invaded Ukraine. Ukraine is making a diplomatic advance and some small military retreats. The European Union yesterday officially made Ukraine a candidate to join the organization, while its military may be pulling back from a city that Ukraine has struggled to defend for weeks. NPR's Greg Myre is covering the war from the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. Hey there, Greg.

GREG MYRE, BYLINE⁴: Hi, Steve.

INSKEEP: I'm remembering at the very beginning when it seemed amazing that the Ukrainians had held out for a week or four weeks, and now it's been four months but nowhere near the end, it seems. How's the country responding?

MYRE: Well, you know, it's still very subdued⁵ because of the war. They sort of got this big good news with the candidacy at the EU yesterday. And President Volodymyr Zelenskyy summed it up very concisely⁶ in a pretty emotional address last night. Let's hear what he said.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: (Non-English language spoken).

MYRE: And he's saying we will win, we will rebuild, we will join the EU, and then we'll rest. He says it was a historic moment. Ukraine now has a path to join the world's largest single bloc⁷ of peaceful, prosperous, democratic nations. In a normal time, this probably would have sent crowds into the streets to celebrate. But there is a curfew at night, and this is a subdued sort of mood here. And so there really hasn't been any public displays. And the more immediate⁸ challenge is this intense fighting in eastern Ukraine.

INSKEEP: What is this tactical withdrawal⁹ that we mentioned?

MYRE: Right. So a Ukrainian official says troops are being withdrawn¹⁰ from Severodonetsk because holding these positions which have just been smashed over many months doesn't really make any sense. Now, this is coming from the region's governor, Sergiy Gaidai. And we should stress he's the governor, not a military official. We haven't yet seen an official word from the military, but he has been providing regular daily updates in line with military assessments¹¹. The Russians already had virtually all of this city, except for a chemical plant where Ukrainian fighters and around 500 civilians¹² are holed up. We're not yet clear if everybody's been able to get out safely. And this has been Russia's main target for weeks, part of this broader effort to take control of eastern Ukraine, the Donbas region, where Ukraine forces have just a few remaining cities and towns.

INSKEEP: Granting that we can't really predict anything with any reliability¹³, there's a sense of where the trend lines are going, where things are heading. Where is this war going after four months?

MYRE: Right. Adding those caveats¹⁴, as you mentioned - but in the big picture, most analyst¹⁵ thinks we are moving towards some sort of a standoff, as appears to be happening today. Russia is making some slow incremental¹⁶ gains. It does seem to have the momentum¹⁷. Ukraine's military is outgunned. It's been suffering pretty high casualties recently. Now, that said, Ukraine is still vigorously contesting every Russian attempt to advance. Russia has to concentrate its firepower in one area for weeks and weeks to make these limited advances. And Ukraine says it's now received these U.S. long-range artillery¹⁸ rocket systems known as HIMARS. Ukraine says it'll help. They'll need many more. And the U.S. has more in the pipeline¹⁹. Certainly an expectation of more fighting, but major breakthroughs are not really being forecast right now.

INSKEEP: Very briefly²⁰, let's try to connect the war to the diplomatic advance. Can Ukraine continue moving toward the European Union at the same time that it's fighting a war?

MYRE: Well, it's going to be very difficult. In general, a candidate country needs about a decade to do this, if not more, even in peacetime. Ukraine has to get its economy back, deal with corruption²¹, improve its judicial²² system - a lot of big challenges ahead, especially in wartime.

INSKEEP: NPR's Greg Myre, thanks so much.

MYRE: My pleasure.

1 stark   

adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地

参考例句：

• The young man is faced with a stark choice.这位年轻人面临严峻的抉择。
• He gave a stark denial to the rumor.他对谣言加以完全的否认。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 desperately   

adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地

参考例句：

• He was desperately seeking a way to see her again.他正拼命想办法再见她一面。
• He longed desperately to be back at home.他非常渴望回家。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 subdued   

adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He seemed a bit subdued to me. 我觉得他当时有点闷闷不乐。
• I felt strangely subdued when it was all over. 一切都结束的时候，我却有一种奇怪的压抑感。

6 concisely   

adv.简明地

参考例句：

• These equations are written more concisely as a single columnmatrix equation. 这些方程以单列矩阵方程表示会更简单。 来自辞典例句
• The fiber morphology can be concisely summarized. 可以对棉纤维的形态结构进行扼要地归纳。 来自辞典例句

7 bloc   

n.集团；联盟

参考例句：

• A solid bloc of union members support the decision.工会会员团结起来支持该决定。
• There have been growing tensions within the trading bloc.贸易同盟国的关系越来越紧张。

8 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

9 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。

10 withdrawn   

vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出

参考例句：

• Our force has been withdrawn from the danger area.我们的军队已从危险地区撤出。
• All foreign troops should be withdrawn to their own countries.一切外国军队都应撤回本国去。

11 assessments   

n.评估( assessment的名词复数 )；评价；（应偿付金额的）估定；（为征税对财产所作的）估价

参考例句：

• He was shrewd in his personal assessments. 他总能对人作出精明的评价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Surveys show about two-thirds use such assessments, while half employ personality tests. 调查表明，约有三分之二的公司采用了这种测评；而一半的公司则采用工作人员个人品质测试。 来自百科语句

12 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

13 reliability   

n.可靠性，确实性

参考例句：

• We mustn't presume too much upon the reliability of such sources.我们不应过分指望这类消息来源的可靠性。
• I can assure you of the reliability of the information.我向你保证这消息可靠。

14 caveats   

警告

参考例句：

• I would offer a caveat for those who want to join me in the dual calling. 为防止发生误解，我想对那些想要步我后尘的人提出警告。 来自辞典例句
• As I have written before, that's quite a caveat. 正如我以前所写，那确实是个警告。 来自互联网

15 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

16 incremental   

adj.增加的

参考例句：

• For logic devices, the incremental current gain is very important. 对于逻辑器件来说，提高电流增益是非常重要的。 来自辞典例句
• By using an incremental approach, the problems involving material or geometric nonlinearity have been solved. 借应用一种增量方法，已经解决了包括材料的或几何的非线性问题。 来自辞典例句

17 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

18 artillery   

n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队)

参考例句：

• This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
• The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。

19 pipeline   

n.管道，管线

参考例句：

• The pipeline supplies Jordan with 15 per cent of its crude oil.该管道供给约旦15%的原油。
• A single pipeline serves all the houses with water.一条单管路给所有的房子供水。

20 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。

21 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

22 judicial   

adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的

参考例句：

• He is a man with a judicial mind.他是个公正的人。
• Tom takes judicial proceedings against his father.汤姆对他的父亲正式提出诉讼。