CNN 2011-01-28

4,000 miles away from U.S. shores, is only a little larger than the state of Georgia, and has a population about 30 times smaller than America's. The uprising that drove out Tunisia's longtime president may not be on many Americans' radar¹, but experts say it should be.

“If I'm a textiles analyst² in Chicago or I work at a Walmart in Galveston, why should I care about what's happening in Tunisia?”

“You might not care about what's happening in Tunisia, Per se, but you should care about what lesson it sends to the rest of the region, where there are many countries with which the United States has very close ties and which are very important to the U.S. in terms of price of oil or the war against terrorism.”

Robert Malley of the International Crisis Group is talking about countries very close to Tunisia that have had the same kinds of problems, but where the stakes are much higher for America. Tunisia's revolt started with younger citizens fed up with high unemployment, rising costs of living and a corrupt³ federal government. Similar problems are occurring in Egypt. There, like in Tunisia, a protester set himself on fire. And the same thing could happen in Jordan, Yemen, Saudi Arabia. The common factors in all these countries? They've all been ruled for a long time by single autocratic rulers. They're all key U.S. allies in the war on terror. And they have all been struggling to fight off some very dangerous Islamist militant⁴ groups.Here's something Americans can relate to, this tweet from Cairo: "Today, Ben Ali, tomorrow, Hosni Mubarak." Today, it's Tunisia's president. Tomorrow, could it be Egypt's? Egypt's regime isn't under as much pressure as Tunisia's was yet.“

”The discontent is there. It's bubbling over continuously. It's not in our interests to try to keep this lid down artificially because, ultimately, the explosion will be even worse later on than it would be in the short term.“

And revolutions in places like Egypt could lead to Islamic militants⁵ or other radicals⁶ taking power or at least having more room to operate than they do now.

”We saw it on 9/11 and we will see it again. What happens in the Middle East, what happens in the Arab world can have a direct impact on our own security.“

But analysts⁷ say there's a positive flip⁸ side if this is a successful transition to democracy in Tunisia. And it's another reason Americans should pay attention. If it leads to more social and economic freedoms, they say, more people in the Middle East will see how that works, will see the alternative to militant Islam. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

1 radar   

n.雷达，无线电探测器

参考例句：

• They are following the flight of an aircraft by radar.他们正在用雷达追踪一架飞机的飞行。
• Enemy ships were detected on the radar.敌舰的影像已显现在雷达上。

2 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。

3 corrupt   

v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的

参考例句：

• The newspaper alleged the mayor's corrupt practices.那家报纸断言市长有舞弊行为。
• This judge is corrupt.这个法官贪污。

4 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

5 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

6 radicals   

n.激进分子( radical的名词复数 )；根基；基本原理；[数学]根数

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals. 一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The worry is that the radicals will grow more intransigent. 现在人们担忧激进分子会变得更加不妥协。 来自辞典例句

7 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。

8 flip   

vt.快速翻动；轻抛；轻拍；n.轻抛；adj.轻浮的

参考例句：

• I had a quick flip through the book and it looked very interesting.我很快翻阅了一下那本书，看来似乎很有趣。
• Let's flip a coin to see who pays the bill.咱们来抛硬币决定谁付钱。