美国国家公共电台 NPR--Russia and the U.S. engage in name-calling — over the U.S. Embassy's Moscow address

Russia and the U.S. engage in name-calling — over the U.S. Embassy's Moscow address

Transcript¹

MOSCOW — The United States and Russia's bitter disagreements over the conflict in Ukraine have spilled over into new unexpected terrain²: what to call the address of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.

Russian authorities have renamed the street outside the embassy after a separatist region that claims to be independent from Ukraine, "Donetsk People's Republic Square."

Like most of the world besides Russia, the U.S. refuses to recognize the Donetsk "republic" and, so far, appears to be refusing to use the new address.

The idea to rename the location surfaced in April, when Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin announced an online public vote that seemed intended to provoke by design.

The clear winner with 45% — and accusations³ of vote rigging — was Donetsk People's Republic Square.

When the new street signs went up last month, Russian officials embraced the moment.

"I hope the United States won't take too long to recognize the new republics," said Russian Foreign Ministry⁴ spokeswoman Maria Zakharova during a June press conference in which she welcomed the change. She added that Russians should feel free to write to the Embassy at the new address — often.

In February, Russian President Vladimir Putin formally recognized the independence of Donetsk and its neighbor, the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic, before sending in Russian troops he said were part of a "special military operation" to "liberate⁵" the broader Donbas region from Ukraine.

Following the change of address, this week the U.S. unveiled a workaround of sorts. The Embassy's website quietly switched its listed contacts to coordinates⁶: "55,75566° N, 37,58028°E." At least one section of the website, meanwhile, has kept the traditional address: Bolshoy Deviatinsky Pereulok No. 8.

An Embassy spokeswoman declined to comment on the change.

Yet Russian taxi driver Denis Usmanov — who's been shuttling passengers around Moscow for the past seven years — tells NPR both Russia and the U.S. miss a more essential point.

"It doesn't matter what they call it," says Usmanov in an interview with NPR. "The important thing is to get you where you need to go."

Where the streets have new names

For Moscow, the shifting nature of streets and politics isn't exactly new.

The Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 saw czarist-era addresses ditched in favor of those honoring the communist leadership.

The end of the Soviet⁷ Union in 1991 brought the return of many historical names — in what the city's democratically elected officials saw as one small but important facet⁸ of the changes underway.

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"Symbolically⁹, we wanted to show the end of one period and the beginning of another," Sergei Stankevich, who served as deputy mayor for the city in the early 1990s, says in an interview.

The U.S. has its own history of name changing when it comes to the Kremlin.

During the height of the Cold War, U.S. officials renamed a stretch of land near the old Soviet Embassy Andrei Sakharov Plaza¹⁰ in honor of the famed Soviet dissident physicist¹¹.

More recently, Washington, D.C.'s City Council changed the name of a square across from the current Russian Embassy in honor of opposition¹² leader Boris Nemtsov — a vocal¹³ opponent of President Vladimir Putin before Nemtsov's murder in 2015.

Former Deputy Mayor Stankevich notes that it took Moscow residents some time to adapt to the changing street name — and it may be a while before Russians, too, embrace Donetsk People's Square.

"It's just what today we call 'trolling,' " says Stankevich. "The Russian authorities are trying to make the Americans psychologically uncomfortable. And I suspect one day it will change again."

But even if Russia gets the last laugh for now, the U.S. can take some comfort in numbers.

This week, Moscow's mayor announced another online vote determined¹⁴ that the British Embassy, just down the road, will now be located at "Luhansk People's Republic Square."

1 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。

2 terrain   

n.地面，地形，地图

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• He knows the terrain of this locality like the back of his hand.他对这一带的地形了如指掌。

3 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

4 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

5 liberate   

v.解放，使获得自由，释出，放出；vt.解放，使获自由

参考例句：

• They did their best to liberate slaves.他们尽最大能力去解放奴隶。
• This will liberate him from economic worry.这将消除他经济上的忧虑。

6 coordinates   

n.相配之衣物；坐标( coordinate的名词复数 )；（颜色协调的）配套服装；[复数]女套服；同等重要的人（或物）v.使协调，使调和( coordinate的第三人称单数 )；协调；协同；成为同等

参考例句：

• The town coordinates on this map are 695037. 该镇在这幅地图上的坐标是695037。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

8 facet   

n.(问题等的)一个方面；(多面体的)面

参考例句：

• He has perfected himself in every facet of his job.他已使自己对工作的各个方面都得心应手。
• Every facet of college life is fascinating.大学生活的每个方面都令人兴奋。

9 symbolically   

ad.象征地，象征性地

参考例句：

• By wearing the ring on the third finger of the left hand, a married couple symbolically declares their eternal love for each other. 将婚戒戴在左手的第三只手指上，意味着夫妻双方象征性地宣告他们的爱情天长地久，他们定能白头偕老。
• Symbolically, he coughed to clear his throat. 周经理象征地咳一声无谓的嗽，清清嗓子。

10 plaza   

n.广场，市场

参考例句：

• They designated the new shopping centre York Plaza.他们给这个新购物中心定名为约克购物中心。
• The plaza is teeming with undercover policemen.这个广场上布满了便衣警察。

11 physicist   

n.物理学家，研究物理学的人

参考例句：

• He is a physicist of the first rank.他是一流的物理学家。
• The successful physicist never puts on airs.这位卓有成就的物理学家从不摆架子。

12 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

13 vocal   

adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目

参考例句：

• The tongue is a vocal organ.舌头是一个发音器官。
• Public opinion at last became vocal.终于舆论哗然。

14 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。