美国国家公共电台 NPR New Year To Bring New Test For Trump Administration On Key Russia Sanctions

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

When Donald Trump¹, Jr., met with a Russian lawyer during his dad's presidential campaign last year, he was hoping to learn incriminating information about Hillary Clinton. But according to Trump, the lawyer wanted to talk about repealing² the Magnitsky Act. This is a law that was passed to sanction certain Russian officials suspected of human rights abuses. NPR's Miles Parks looks back at the law on its fifth anniversary.

MILES PARKS, BYLINE³: Bill Browder spent most of the last decade fighting for his friend and lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky.

BILL BROWDER: I made a vow⁴ to his memory, to his family, to myself that I was going to go out and get the people who killed him and make sure they faced justice.

PARKS: In 2012, he helped push the Magnitsky Act through Congress to punish those people. The law prevented the Russian officials responsible from entering the United States and froze their American assets. And it's since been expanded to target human rights abusers across the globe. To convince lawmakers, Browder has told the story over and over, in public hearings and in their private offices, how uncovering a $230 million fraud scheme led to Magnitsky being horrifically punished, denied medical treatment and beaten to death chained to a bed in his prison cell.

BROWDER: It's such a pure story of good versus⁵ evil, that you had this guy who was a patriot⁶, who was trying to do the right thing by his country, and it was such an evil country that they crushed him and killed him and that everybody at the highest levels participated in the cover-up of his death, including the president of Russia, Putin.

PARKS: The story's made impact internationally, too. Four other countries have taken similar legislative⁷ action, including Canada, the United Kingdom and, last month, Lithuania. But in Browder's eyes, the United States' list of violators is still too small. Forty-four people are on it. But Browder says in 2012 he presented over 250 names to the State Department along with evidence of human rights violations⁸. New names have typically been announced each year after January 1st.

BROWDER: And so this is the big test for Donald Trump about whether he is really a friend of Putin's or whether he's a tough guy. It's highly significant and highly pregnant with meaning, whatever he does or doesn't do.

PARKS: Miles Parks, NPR News, Washington.

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 repealing   

撤销，废除( repeal的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• In addition, repealing the alternative minimum tax would also help. 此外，废除替代性最低税也会有所帮助。
• Repealing the investment tax credit. 取消投资税款扣除。

3 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。

4 vow   

n.誓(言)，誓约；v.起誓，立誓

参考例句：

• My parents are under a vow to go to church every Sunday.我父母许愿，每星期日都去做礼拜。
• I am under a vow to drink no wine.我已立誓戒酒。

5 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

6 patriot   

n.爱国者，爱国主义者

参考例句：

• He avowed himself a patriot.他自称自己是爱国者。
• He is a patriot who has won the admiration of the French already.他是一个已经赢得法国人敬仰的爱国者。

7 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。

8 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。