美国国家公共电台 NPR--Brazil's President Lula travels to China to find support to help end war in Ukraine

Brazil's President Lula travels to China to find support to help end war in Ukraine

Transcript¹

Brazil President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is in China looking for support from Beijing for Brasilia's "peace club" of countries planning to help end the war in Ukraine.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Brazil's president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, is in China this week.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

He expects to meet China's president. And this visit underlines China's influence in South America. China has invested in many countries in that continent, as it has in other places, and it's a big trading partner for Brazil.

FADEL: NPR's South America correspondent Carrie Kahn is in Rio de Janeiro and joins us now. Good morning, Carrie.

CARRIE KAHN, BYLINE²: Good morning.

FADEL: So, I mean, there's been a lot of talk about China's global role - meeting a deal with Saudi and Iran, hosting world leaders - and questions about what it means for its role on this global stage. If you could just talk about this visit by Brazil's leader and what he's hoping to do while in China.

KAHN: Well, he has a big agenda there for the next couple days. It seems like he's brought half the government with him - ministers, governors, dozens of businesspeople - because overall - you talked about the global politics of it all - this is a visit about trade for him. But 40% of Brazil's exports go to China. It's a lot of beef and soy. China is Brazil's No. 1 trading partner. The U.S. is a distant second.

I was talking about the trip to Rodrigo Zeidan. He's a Brazilian economics professor at NYU in Shanghai. He said he gets that the trip is coming at a time of heightened tensions between the U.S. and China, but not everything is about the U.S.

RODRIGO ZEIDAN: It's not about any message to the West. It's really about realpolitik between two very important trade and investment partners.

KAHN: And that's especially since Brazil's relationship with China deteriorated³ under the previous far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro. He frequently insulted the Chinese. Lula pledged to bring Brazil back to the world stage.

FADEL: Now, what's on the itinerary⁴ for Lula in China? I'm assuming he's meeting with Xi Jinping.

KAHN: Yes, they'll meet on Friday. Brazil and China are also part of the so-called BRICS with Russia, India and South Africa, this global south alliance that says it's a counterbalance to the West. Lula spoke⁵ today at the BRICS Development Bank, where he railed against the fact that all trade transactions are in dollars. He wants that to change, with China, to their local currency.

Lula also really wants China to join him in this plan of his to be a mediator⁶ in the Ukraine war. Lula talks about building this peace club of nations to broker⁷ an end to the war. You know, he is an elder leftist and espouses⁸ Brazil's non-aligned global status, which just makes him a - he says - a perfect neutral player in the politics involved. Lula's stand just irks the West, since he never outright⁹ condemns¹⁰ Russia's invasion of Ukraine. He refuses to sell ammunition¹¹ to Ukraine, too. And he just sent his foreign policy adviser¹² to meet with Putin.

FADEL: Well, does Lula have the clout¹³, though, to pull something like that off? I mean, is Brazil a big enough player in the world today to take on that role?

KAHN: Well, when I talk to analysts¹⁴ here in Brazil, they say, no. Lula is punching above his weight. But last time he was president, in the late 2000s, he worked on a nuclear deal with Iran. I was talking with Oliver Stuenkel. He's an international relations professor at Brazil's FGV University. And he said Lula should just stay closer to home and work on things like the environment, not waste the goodwill¹⁵ he already has around the world.

OLIVER STUENKEL: Everybody wants to be friends with Brazil because Brazil is an environmental superpower. But it's not like everybody will eternally sort of support Lula on the foreign policy front.

KAHN: Lula is in the midst of an interesting balancing act with China and with the U.S., and he's very cognizant of China's growing footprint in Latin America and how that worries the U.S., too.

FADEL: NPR's South America correspondent Carrie Kahn in Rio de Janeiro. Thank you so much for your reporting, Carrie.

KAHN: You're welcome.

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 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。

3 deteriorated   

恶化，变坏( deteriorate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Her health deteriorated rapidly, and she died shortly afterwards. 她的健康状况急剧恶化，不久便去世了。
• His condition steadily deteriorated. 他的病情恶化，日甚一日。

4 itinerary   

n.行程表，旅行路线；旅行计划

参考例句：

• The two sides have agreed on the itinerary of the visit.双方商定了访问日程。
• The next place on our itinerary was Silistra.我们行程的下一站是锡利斯特拉。

5 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

6 mediator   

n.调解人，中介人

参考例句：

• He always takes the role of a mediator in any dispute.他总是在争论中充当调停人的角色。
• He will appear in the role of mediator.他将出演调停者。

7 broker   

n.中间人，经纪人；v.作为中间人来安排

参考例句：

• He baited the broker by promises of higher commissions.他答应给更高的佣金来引诱那位经纪人。
• I'm a real estate broker.我是不动产经纪人。

8 espouses   

v.（决定）支持，拥护（目标、主张等）( espouse的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She followed the feminist movement; The candidate espouses Republican ideals. 她支持女权运动；这个侯选人支持共和党人的观点。 来自互联网
• Give me a break – every decent company espouses these things! 让我歇歇吧–每一个正规公司都赞成这些！ 来自互联网

9 outright   

adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的

参考例句：

• If you have a complaint you should tell me outright.如果你有不满意的事，你应该直率地对我说。
• You should persuade her to marry you outright.你应该彻底劝服她嫁给你。

10 condemns   

v.（通常因道义上的原因而）谴责( condemn的第三人称单数 )；宣判；宣布…不能使用；迫使…陷于不幸的境地

参考例句：

• Her widowhood condemns her to a lonely old age. 守寡使她不得不过着孤独的晚年生活。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The public opinion condemns prostitution. 公众舆论遣责卖淫。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

11 ammunition   

n.军火，弹药

参考例句：

• A few of the jeeps had run out of ammunition.几辆吉普车上的弹药已经用光了。
• They have expended all their ammunition.他们把弹药用光。

12 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

13 clout   

n.用手猛击；权力，影响力

参考例句：

• The queen may have privilege but she has no real political clout.女王有特权，但无真正的政治影响力。
• He gave the little boy a clout on the head.他在那小男孩的头部打了一下。

14 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

15 goodwill   

n.善意，亲善，信誉，声誉

参考例句：

• His heart is full of goodwill to all men.他心里对所有人都充满着爱心。
• We paid ￡10,000 for the shop,and ￡2000 for its goodwill.我们用一万英镑买下了这家商店，两千英镑买下了它的信誉。