美国国家公共电台 NPR Troops To Be Deployed To Border To Build And Upgrade 160 Miles Of Fencing

 

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

The government shutdown grinds on over funding for President Trump¹'s border wall. But meanwhile, the Trump administration is moving ahead with plans to construct or upgrade border fencing, some 160 miles along the Arizona and California borders with Mexico. Active duty military will take up the task.

Here to tell us more is NPR's Pentagon reporter Tom Bowman. And, Tom, what exactly is the task? What is the Pentagon going to be doing?

TOM BOWMAN, BYLINE²: Well, I'm told this fencing - send likely combat engineers for the fencing portion of this effort, but it goes beyond that. Homeland Security is requesting medical units. Of course, two children died along the border in the custody³ of U.S. officials, so the sense is they need additional help for the migrants coming through.

And I'm also told aviation units would be part of this as well. They'd provide surveillance along the border to help Customs and Border Protection monitor any movements. And again, this is support for that effort. Active duty troops can't get involved in any arrests or detention⁴ of any migrants. It's against the law.

KELLY: And to be clear, this is something new. This is on top of the existing troops already deployed⁵ to the border.

BOWMAN: Right. So this is new. This is just coming out now. This request was made from Homeland Security.

KELLY: How many more are we talking?

BOWMAN: Well, we don't know at this point. I heard some - one official said maybe thousands of troops. Another said, well, the existing troops might be able to help. There are now 2,300 active troops there on the border along with 2,100 Guard forces. They could provide some of this effort. But clearly, they're going to send additional troops. They could change them out or some could be extended. But acting⁶ Defense⁷ Secretary Patrick Shanahan hinted about more support at a Cabinet meeting at the White House yesterday. Let's listen.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PATRICK SHANAHAN: Restoration of the fences, building out of additional mileage⁸ for the wall. The Army Corps⁹ of Engineers is dialed in on doing this cost effectively, quickly and with the right amount of urgency as to where we can build additional stand-up walls quickly and then get after the threat. The threat is real.

BOWMAN: And he goes on to say that he'll provide assistance to Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, who's making the request to the Pentagon.

KELLY: Any timeline on how long these active duty troops might be there?

BOWMAN: No idea. I was told it could be months to construct the fencing or shore up existing fencing. You know, we're talking 160 miles or so. Now...

KELLY: That's a lot of fencing.

BOWMAN: Right. Active troops are supposed to end their deployment¹⁰, by the way, at the end of the month. So some could be extended, maybe other units could take their place. But what we don't know right - well, the Pentagon is working on the specifics, so we don't have a lot of detail at this point.

KELLY: Let me insert a skeptical¹¹ question here. The president has said if he doesn't get money for a wall from Congress, he might just order the military to build it. Is that what is going on here, the president doing something of an end-run around the border standoff?

BOWMAN: That's quite possible. At this point, the talk's with Congress. The Democrats¹², in particular, appear to be going nowhere. The Pentagon - the president wants $5 billion for the wall. The Democrats are saying that's far too much. And the standoff continues. The government is shut down. But, of course, the Pentagon has not shut down, and they're ready to take orders from the commander in chief.

KELLY: Thank you, Tom.

BOWMAN: You're welcome.

KELLY: NPR's Tom Bowman.

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 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 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

4 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

5 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

6 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

7 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

8 mileage   

n.里程，英里数；好处，利润

参考例句：

• He doesn't think there's any mileage in that type of advertising.他认为做那种广告毫无效益。
• What mileage has your car done?你的汽车跑了多少英里？

9 corps   

n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组

参考例句：

• The medical corps were cited for bravery in combat.医疗队由于在战场上的英勇表现而受嘉奖。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

10 deployment   

n. 部署,展开

参考例句：

• He has inquired out the deployment of the enemy troops. 他已查出敌军的兵力部署情况。
• Quality function deployment (QFD) is a widely used customer-driven quality, design and manufacturing management tool. 质量功能展开(quality function deployment,QFD)是一个广泛应用的顾客需求驱动的设计、制造和质量管理工具。

11 skeptical   

adj.怀疑的，多疑的

参考例句：

• Others here are more skeptical about the chances for justice being done.这里的其他人更为怀疑正义能否得到伸张。
• Her look was skeptical and resigned.她的表情是将信将疑而又无可奈何。

12 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》