密歇根新闻广播 我们应该多想想与中国的关系

 

Someone once wrote that if you keep a diary and look back at what you wrote 20 years ago, you often find the stuff you thought was peripheral¹ actually turned out to have been the most important. For example, you may have filled pages mooning over a now-forgotten Ralph or Susie, and just noted² in passing a job that began your professional career.

News is like that too.

We don’t always see what’s most important. Most of us, so far as I can tell, are so focused on the daily clown show in Washington, that we are paying little attention to tremors³ in our nation’s growing relationship with China.

Few realize it, but among all 50 states, Michigan is actually China’s third largest trading partner. According to China’s consul⁴ general in Chicago, trade between our state and the world’s biggest nation is worth $12 billion a year. Chinese businesses have also invested $2 billion here and created 9,000 jobs.

Yet few have noticed that China’s powerful leader, Xi Jinping, has been consolidating⁵ power and sounding a new, tougher nationalist note. In a speech earlier this week, he said China needs to guard against "erroneous" ideology⁶, promote religion that is "Chinese in origin" and made it clear that he wants the Communist Party to be more, not less involved in people’s lives.

Tom Watkins, who just stepped down as head of the Detroit-Wayne Mental Health Authority, pointed⁷ this out to me the day the latest issue of the Economist⁸ magazine arrived, with Xi on the cover and an editorial proclaiming him “the world’s most powerful man.”

Watkins has been the state’s biggest advocate of stronger ties with China for at least a dozen years, and is once again more heavily involved there.

When I asked what he thought of Xi’s speech, he said “America needs to wake up!”

Watkins, who was also state superintendent⁹ of schools a dozen years ago, has been fascinated by China since he was in the fourth grade, and has been traveling there regularly since the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989. He told me yesterday, "sometimes I feel like a 21st century Paul Revere¹⁰" who should be running around shouting "the Chinese are coming."

He agreed that Xi’s new harder line should be of concern, but should not cause us to shy away from our companion economic superpower.

"We should be seeking ways to build bridges with China and seek better understanding," he told me.

Actually, we don’t have a choice. "Napoleon said, 'Let China sleep, for when she wakes she will shake the world,'" Watkins noted, adding that "the alarm went off about 30 years ago," and we don’t have a choice, neither in Michigan or nationally.

"The Chinese wave will continue to crash upon our shores. We can do nothing and be swamped or learn to surf and ride the wave," he said.

Watkins, who is about 60, noted that he has lived through years in which many Chinese were starving and has arrived in a world where "China is eating our lunch," and we have no choice except to figure out a way to work with it, and build the world’s most important bilateral¹¹ relationship. "Think North Korea," he said.

We all have been.

But we probably should be thinking of China even more.

Jack¹² Lessenberry is Michigan Radio’s Senior Political Analyst¹³. Views expressed in his essays are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Michigan Radio, its management or the station licensee, The University of Michigan.

1 peripheral   

adj.周边的，外围的

参考例句：

• We dealt with the peripheral aspects of a cost reduction program.我们谈到了降低成本计划的一些外围问题。
• The hotel provides the clerk the service and the peripheral traveling consultation.旅舍提供票务服务和周边旅游咨询。

2 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

3 tremors   

震颤( tremor的名词复数 )； 战栗； 震颤声； 大地的轻微震动

参考例句：

• The story was so terrible that It'sent tremors down my spine. 这故事太可怕，它使我不寒而栗。
• The story was so terrible that it sent tremors down my spine. 这故事太可怕，它使我不寒而栗。

4 consul   

n.领事；执政官

参考例句：

• A consul's duty is to help his own nationals.领事的职责是帮助自己的同胞。
• He'll hold the post of consul general for the United States at Shanghai.他将就任美国驻上海总领事(的职务)。

5 consolidating   

v.（使）巩固， （使）加强( consolidate的现在分词 )；（使）合并

参考例句：

• These measures are meant for consolidating the system of basic medical care. 这些举措旨在夯实基层医疗体系，让老百姓看大病不必出远门。 来自互联网
• We are consolidating the Chinese and English versions of our homepage. 我们将为您提供中英文版本一起的主页。 来自互联网

6 ideology   

n.意识形态，(政治或社会的)思想意识

参考例句：

• The ideology has great influence in the world.这种思想体系在世界上有很大的影响。
• The ideal is to strike a medium between ideology and inspiration.我的理想是在意识思想和灵感鼓动之间找到一个折衷。

7 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

8 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。

9 superintendent   

n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长

参考例句：

• He was soon promoted to the post of superintendent of Foreign Trade.他很快就被擢升为对外贸易总监。
• He decided to call the superintendent of the building.他决定给楼房管理员打电话。

10 revere   

vt.尊崇，崇敬，敬畏

参考例句：

• Students revere the old professors.学生们十分尊敬那些老教授。
• The Chinese revered corn as a gift from heaven.中国人将谷物奉为上天的恩赐。

11 bilateral   

adj.双方的，两边的，两侧的

参考例句：

• They have been negotiating a bilateral trade deal.他们一直在商谈一项双边贸易协定。
• There was a wide gap between the views of the two statesmen on the bilateral cooperation.对双方合作的问题，两位政治家各自所持的看法差距甚大。

12 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

13 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。