经济学人191:来自俄罗斯的援助 普京的公关部队

 　　Russia's aid convoy¹

　　来自俄罗斯的援助

　　Putin's PR coup²

　　普京的“公关部队”

　　Russia offers to send aid to eastern Ukraine

　　俄罗斯表示愿意为乌克兰东部地区提供援助

　　HELP is on the way. Or so Russian state television declared on August 12th, as nearly 300 lorries with food, medicine and generators³ set off from a base outside Moscow for the besieged⁴ city of Luhansk in eastern Ukraine.

　　俄罗斯国家电视台8月12日宣布对乌的援助已经在路上了，接近300辆满载食物、药品以及发电设备的货运卡车已经从莫斯科外的基地出发，准备开往乌克兰东部去帮助卢甘斯克地区那些被围困的城市。

　　Confusion reigns⁵ over what the lorries are carrying, and over how they will cross into Ukraine. As The Economist⁶ went to press, the convoy was heading to Rostov, a Russian city close to the border. It is a measure of Ukrainian distrust of Russian machinations that an aid convoy should be widely suspected of being a Trojan horse for invasion.

　　但是人们一直对卡车上到底装载何物表示怀疑，同时也对他们如何穿过俄乌边境到达任务地区表示质疑。按经济学人的推测，护送车队的目的地将在靠近边境的俄罗斯城镇—罗斯托夫。因为乌克兰当局怀疑这是俄罗斯的诡计，并且这批援助车队极可能是为侵略做准备而送来的“特洛伊木马”。

　　普京.jpg

　　In March Vladimir Putin, Russia's president, sent columns of troops without insignia into Crimea while claiming only local pro-Russian volunteers were at large. Yet the aid convoy is unlikely to be cover for an invasion. Had Mr Putin decided⁷ to invade, he would not have needed a stealth fleet of lorries—he has as many as 45,000 troops on the border. Russia does not have to hide arms in aid lorries to get them to its proxy⁸ forces.

　　今年3月，当克里米亚地区公投声称亲俄选民占了大多数时，俄罗斯总统弗拉德·普京向该地区输送了一队没有官方标识的军队。不过，这一批的援助车队看上去不太可能是为了侵略打掩护。即使普京已经决定开始侵略行动，他也没必要将军队藏在货运卡车中——在俄乌边境上，他至少驻守了多达45，000人的军队。俄罗斯没必要使用这种偷偷摸摸的方式来运送它的武装力量。

　　Most likely the offer of Russian aid to Luhansk, a city wracked by fighting and left without water or power, is a clever push by Mr Putin to be seen at home to be doing something to protect civilians¹⁰ in the east. Polling by the Levada Centre, a think-tank, shows public support for Russian military intervention¹¹ in Ukraine dropping from 40% to 26% between June and July, but support for non-military aid remains¹² high. Either the Russian supplies go through, making Mr Putin look the peacemaker, or they are blocked by Ukrainian forces, allowing Russia to appear the nobler party.

　　在普京看来，俄罗斯向被战乱和激进左翼分子围困的卢甘斯克地区提供援助，是他能够在克林姆林宫为保护俄罗斯身在该地区公民做的明智之举。由智囊团——内华达中心进行的调查显示，6到7月之间，公众们对于俄罗斯军事干预乌克兰事务的支持率从40%降低到了26%，但是对于提供非军事援助，人们一如既往地支持。不管是最后俄方的援助车队能穿过边境到达目的地，还是说虽然被乌克兰军队阻挡无法进入，但是允许俄方在一些高层聚会中有所作为的行为。

　　Mr Putin has taken advantage of a blind spot within the Ukrainian government and in the West: the mounting civilian⁹ death toll¹³ of the “anti-terrorist operation” in eastern Ukraine. On August 13th the UN reckoned that 2,086 people had been killed in the fighting, double the number from just two weeks ago. As Ukrainian forces recapture territory from pro-Russian rebels, their shelling often ends up striking civilian areas.

　　现在，普京已经牢牢抓住了乌政府的一项污点：根据8月13日的统计，在乌克兰东部“反恐行动”中死亡的公民数已经达到2086人，相比两周前，这个人数已经翻番了。因为乌克兰军队在从那些亲俄的反政府主义者手中重新夺得一些地区的控制权时，通常以进攻平民居住区收尾。

　　Yet the convoy carries the risk of escalating¹⁴ tensions rather than bringing relief. Any fight at the border over the passage of the lorries into Ukraine could erupt into a wider clash presaging¹⁵ Mr Putin calling in the troops. After months of Russia's backing anti-government rebels, suspicions in Kiev are high.

　　然而，援助车队不但不能让形势缓和，反而提高了冲突升级的危机。一旦这一路上发生任何战斗都可能带来更为巨大冲突，那时也预示着普京极有可能会呼唤军队的介入。并且，由于数月来俄罗斯对于反政府势力的暗中支持支持，基辅当局有理由高度怀疑俄罗斯的用心。

　　More probably, a break in the fighting to let the lorries in is part of a plan to slow down the pace of the Ukrainian advance, helping¹⁶ to turn the war into a frozen conflict. That would suit Mr Putin fine. But, however deft¹⁷ he may be at controlling the pictures on television, the events on the ground are harder to dictate¹⁸.

　　更可能的是，这种暂停战事以让车队顺利到达卢甘斯克的行为只是拖缓乌克兰前进的计划的一部分，这将有助于将这场战争转入冻结状态。那样正和了普京的如意算盘。不过，无论如何，他可能也只能完全掌控电视画面所呈现的一切，战场上的一切都是未知数。

1 convoy   

vt.护送，护卫，护航；n.护送；护送队

参考例句：

• The convoy was snowed up on the main road.护送队被大雪困在干路上了。
• Warships will accompany the convoy across the Atlantic.战舰将护送该船队过大西洋。

2 coup   

n.政变；突然而成功的行动

参考例句：

• The monarch was ousted by a military coup.那君主被军事政变者废黜了。
• That government was overthrown in a military coup three years ago.那个政府在3年前的军事政变中被推翻。

3 generators   

n.发电机，发生器( generator的名词复数 )；电力公司

参考例句：

• The factory's emergency generators were used during the power cut. 工厂应急发电机在停电期间用上了。
• Power can be fed from wind generators into the electricity grid system. 电力可以从风力发电机流入输电网。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 besieged   

包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Paris was besieged for four months and forced to surrender. 巴黎被围困了四个月后被迫投降。
• The community besieged the newspaper with letters about its recent editorial. 公众纷纷来信对报社新近发表的社论提出诘问，弄得报社应接不暇。

5 reigns   

n.君主的统治( reign的名词复数 )；君主统治时期；任期；当政期

参考例句：

• In these valleys night reigns. 夜色笼罩着那些山谷。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The Queen of Britain reigns, but she does not rule or govern. 英国女王是国家元首，但不治国事。 来自辞典例句

6 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

7 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

8 proxy   

n.代理权，代表权；（对代理人的）委托书；代理人

参考例句：

• You may appoint a proxy to vote for you.你可以委托他人代你投票。
• We enclose a form of proxy for use at the Annual General Meeting.我们附上委任年度大会代表的表格。

9 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

10 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。

11 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

12 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

13 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

14 escalating   

v.（使）逐步升级( escalate的现在分词 )；（使）逐步扩大；（使）更高；（使）更大

参考例句：

• The cost of living is escalating. 生活费用在迅速上涨。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The cost of living is escalating in the country. 这个国家的生活费用在上涨。 来自辞典例句

15 presaging   

v.预示，预兆( presage的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• There is talk of the failed deal presaging a break-up. 对于交易失败的就预示着解散的说法不过是传言。 来自互联网

16 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

17 deft   

adj.灵巧的，熟练的（a deft hand 能手）

参考例句：

• The pianist has deft fingers.钢琴家有灵巧的双手。
• This bird,sharp of eye and deft of beak,can accurately peck the flying insects in the air.这只鸟眼疾嘴快，能准确地把空中的飞虫啄住。

18 dictate   

v.口授；(使)听写；指令，指示，命令

参考例句：

• It took him a long time to dictate this letter.口述这封信花了他很长时间。
• What right have you to dictate to others?你有什么资格向别人发号施令？