美国国家公共电台 NPR--Reaction in Ireland to President Biden's visit is lukewarm

Reaction in Ireland to President Biden's visit is lukewarm

Transcript¹

People in Ireland lined up to see President Joe Biden during his visit on Wednesday, but the political reaction to the U.S. president was lukewarm, NPR's Frank Langfitt reports.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

President Joe Biden urged politicians in Northern Ireland yesterday to settle their differences and reopen the government there. Biden was in Belfast to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday peace agreement, which ended Northern Ireland's low-level civil war known as the Troubles. For more on the president's trip to the island of Ireland this week, we turn to NPR's Frank Langfitt, who is in Dublin. Good morning, Frank.

FRANK LANGFITT, BYLINE²: Hey, good morning, Leila.

FADEL: So, Frank, Biden wasn't in Belfast very long. How did he spend his time there?

LANGFITT: Well, he met with these political parties yesterday up in Belfast, and he urged them, as you were saying, to get the government operating again. Northern Ireland is governed through this sort of special system. It's a power-sharing arrangement which was part of the peace agreement. But because of a dispute over the impacts of Brexit, the Democratic Unionist Party, they would like Northern Ireland to remain a part of the U.K. They just won't participate. So the Northern Ireland Assembly has been shut down for more than a year, and this is what Biden said in his speech.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: A government that works to find ways through hard problems together is going to draw even greater opportunity in this region. So I hope the Assembly and the Executive will soon be restored. That's a judgment³ for you to make, not me. But I hope it happens.

LANGFITT: And, you know, Leila, what's really striking about those words is you have an American president in Belfast to celebrate the Good Friday Agreement, which, of course, was brokered⁴ by the U.S. It was a big foreign policy achievement at the time. But at the same time, right now, he's got to acknowledge that a key pillar of that agreement, the power-sharing arrangement - it isn't even operating.

FADEL: Yeah. I mean, people who remember the Troubles in the 1970s and '80s will recall a Belfast of barbed wire and bombings. How different is it all these decades later?

LANGFITT: It's very, very different.

FADEL: Yeah.

LANGFITT: It's a very safe city. Biden spoke⁵ yesterday - he made a point about this - in this glass atrium at the Ulster University campus there. And he said he'd been in the same spot all the way back in 1991 and that a building like that with all that glass would never have withstood the political violence of the time. But he also said to the audience, you know, that politicians and businesses need to do more to keep, you know, Northern Ireland moving forward.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

BIDEN: It's up to us to keep this going, to keep building on the work that has been done every day for the last 25 years, to sustain the peace, unleash⁶ this incredible economic opportunity which is just beginning.

LANGFITT: And, Leila, Biden spoke about a U.S. trade mission later this year. But otherwise, there were not a lot of specifics on exactly what the U.S. might do to help Northern Ireland continue to develop.

FADEL: And what was the reception like for Biden's visit, his speech?

LANGFITT: Yeah, this was interesting. Belfast doesn't get a lot of, you know, global leaders. It's not a major place that people go. There were people out lining⁷ up on the sidewalks to see the motorcade, but the political response was kind of lukewarm. A leader of the Democratic Unionists, he said Biden's word would not make any difference in the party's decision about whether to reopen the government, which it's not going to do right now. And there was this opinion column headline in the Belfast Telegraph that called the address, quote, "as bland⁸ and beige as they come."

FADEL: Now, Biden is now in the Irish Republic, planning to visit his roots, which seems to be the centerpiece of this trip. What's he up to there?

LANGFITT: Yeah, he's going to talk to the Irish parliament today. And last night he was at a castle, which was, he thinks, the last landmark⁹ of Ireland that one of his great-great-grandfathers would have seen sailing to New York in 1849. And he just said it was wonderful to be back in Ireland. The quote was, "feels like I'm coming home."

FADEL: NPR's Frank Langfitt in Dublin. Thank you so much, Frank.

LANGFITT: Hey, great to talk, Leila.

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 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。

4 brokered   

adj.由权力经纪人安排（或控制）的v.做掮客（或中人等）( broker的过去式和过去分词 )；作为权力经纪人进行谈判；以中间人等身份安排…

参考例句：

• a peace plan brokered by the UN 由联合国出面协商的和平计划
• Your husband brokered the deal to go in, transfrer the assets and get our man out. 你丈夫后来插了一脚，把生意都抢了过去，我们的人也被挤了出来。 来自电影对白

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 unleash   

vt.发泄，发出；解带子放开

参考例句：

• They hope to create allies to unleash against diseases,pests,and invasive species.他们希望创造出一些新群体来对付疾病、害虫和一些有侵害性的物种。
• Changing water levels now at times unleash a miasma of disease from exposed sewage.如今，大坝不时地改变水位，从暴露的污水释放出了疾病瘴气。

7 lining   

n.衬里，衬料

参考例句：

• The lining of my coat is torn.我的外套衬里破了。
• Moss makes an attractive lining to wire baskets.用苔藓垫在铁丝篮里很漂亮。

8 bland   

adj.淡而无味的，温和的，无刺激性的

参考例句：

• He eats bland food because of his stomach trouble.他因胃病而吃清淡的食物。
• This soup is too bland for me.这汤我喝起来偏淡。

9 landmark   

n.陆标，划时代的事，地界标

参考例句：

• The Russian Revolution represents a landmark in world history.俄国革命是世界历史上的一个里程碑。
• The tower was once a landmark for ships.这座塔曾是船只的陆标。