VOA双语新闻 Bush Defends US Military Base Closings

President Bush is defending plans to close some U.S. military bases, saying the savings¹ will help refocus forces on fighting terrorism. The president spoke² at graduation day for the U.S. Naval³ Academy.

布什总统为关闭一些美军军事基地的计划进行辩护。他说，从关闭军事基地节省的资金能加强反恐的力量。布什总统是在美国海军学院毕业典礼上讲这番话的。

President Bush says plans to close or reduce dozens of military bases across the United States will save nearly $50 billion over 20 years. He told future officers that those savings will help fund new technologies to make U.S. fighting forces faster, lighter⁴, more agile⁵, and more lethal⁶.

布什总统说，关闭或者减少美国几十个军事基地可以在20年里节省近500亿美元。他告诉这些未来的指挥官们，节省下来的资金可以用于新的技术，让美国军队行动更迅速，更加轻装和敏捷，致命率更高。

"In this time of unprecedented⁷ dangers, we need you to take on two difficult missions at once. We need you to defeat the terrorists who want to destroy what we stand for and how we live, and at the same time we need you to transform our military for the 21st Century so we can deter⁸ and defeat the new adversaries⁹ who may threaten our people in the decades ahead," he said.

布什总统说：“面对前所未有的危险，我们需要你们同时肩负两个任务。一方面，我们需要你们打败恐怖主义者，因为他们想破坏我们的主张和我们的生活方式。同时，我们需要你们将我们的军队建设成21世纪的部队，使我们能威摄并打败我们新的敌人，这些敌人可能在几十年以后对我们构成威胁。”

The president last spoke at the Naval Academy Commencement months before the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, telling graduates then that they were inheriting a "safer and more peaceful world."

总统上次在海军学院毕业典礼上的讲话是在9/11事件几个月之前。他当时对毕业生说，他们从前辈人那里继承了一个“更加安全和和平的世界”。

President Bush Friday said the midshipmen who graduated that day could not have known how soon their leadership would be tested. He spoke of several members of the class of 2001, from the leader of a rifle platoon in Iraq to a member of a Navy special operations team in Afghanistan.

布什总统星期五说，这一天毕业的海军学院学员们可能以前没想到他们的领导能力这么快就要经受考验。他谈到了几个2001届的学员，有一个成了在伊拉克的一个自动步枪排排长，另一个是在阿富汗的海军特种部队成员。

"The lesson of September 11th is clear: New dangers can arrive on our shores without warning. In this era of surprise, we cannot know for certain who might attack us or where or when but we can anticipate how we might be attack and we can transform our capabilities¹⁰ to defend our citizens and deliver justice to our enemies," he said.

“9/11给我们带来的教训是很清楚的：在没有任何警告的情况会发生新的危险。在这个会突然发生事件的时代，我们不确定谁可能袭击我们，也不能确定什么时间，在什么地方袭击我们。但是我们可以预测我们会怎么遭到袭击。我们能够保卫国民，惩罚敌人。”

In Iraq, President Bush says difficult and dangerous work remains¹¹, but U.S. troops are committed to helping¹² train Iraqi security forces so they can defend their own country.

布什总统说，在伊拉克，困难和危险的工作仍然存在，但美军决心帮助伊拉克训练军队，从而使他们能保卫自己的国家。

He says Afghanistan and Iraq have now chosen their leaders in free elections, displaying a courage that Mr. Bush says is inspiring democratic reformers across the broader Middle East.

他说，阿富汗和伊拉克已经通过自由选举选择了他们自己的领导人，他们展现的勇气激发了其它中东地区开展民主改革。

In the last 18 months, he says the world has seen changes in Georgia, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, and Lebanon. That, the president says, is only the beginning.

布什总统还说，全世界在过去的18个月里都看到格鲁吉亚、乌克兰、吉尔吉斯斯坦和黎巴嫩都发生了变化。他指出，这仅仅是个开端。

"Across Central Asia and the broader Middle East, we are seeing the rise of a new generation whose hearts burn for liberty. And they are going to have it. America is standing¹³ with these democratic reformers because we know that the only force powerful enough to stop the rise of tyranny and terror and replace hatred¹⁴ with hope is the force of human freedom," he said.

他说：“在中亚和广大的中东地区，我们正看到新一代正在成长，他们渴望自由。他们一定会获得自由。美国与这些民主改革者并肩一道，因为我们知道，要停止暴政和恐怖、将希望替代仇恨只有依靠人类自由的力量才能做到。”

The president and Mrs. Bush spend the weekend at the presidential retreat at Camp David then return to Washington for Monday's Memorial Day services at Arlington National Cemetery¹⁵.

总统和第一夫人将在戴维营度过周末。星期一，他们回到华盛顿参加在阿灵顿国家公墓为阵亡将士纪念日举行的仪式。
 

1 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 naval   

adj.海军的，军舰的，船的

参考例句：

• He took part in a great naval battle.他参加了一次大海战。
• The harbour is an important naval base.该港是一个重要的海军基地。

4 lighter   

n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级

参考例句：

• The portrait was touched up so as to make it lighter.这张画经过润色，色调明朗了一些。
• The lighter works off the car battery.引燃器利用汽车蓄电池打火。

5 agile   

adj.敏捷的，灵活的

参考例句：

• She is such an agile dancer!她跳起舞来是那么灵巧！
• An acrobat has to be agile.杂技演员必须身手敏捷。

6 lethal   

adj.致死的；毁灭性的

参考例句：

• A hammer can be a lethal weapon.铁锤可以是致命的武器。
• She took a lethal amount of poison and died.她服了致命剂量的毒药死了。

7 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

8 deter   

vt.阻止，使不敢，吓住

参考例句：

• Failure did not deter us from trying it again.失败并没有能阻挡我们再次进行试验。
• Dogs can deter unwelcome intruders.狗能够阻拦不受欢迎的闯入者。

9 adversaries   

n.对手，敌手( adversary的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• That would cause potential adversaries to recoil from a challenge. 这会迫使潜在的敌人在挑战面前退缩。 来自辞典例句
• Every adversaries are more comfortable with a predictable, coherent America. 就连敌人也会因有可以预料的，始终一致的美国而感到舒服得多。 来自辞典例句

10 capabilities   

n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力

参考例句：

• He was somewhat pompous and had a high opinion of his own capabilities. 他有点自大，自视甚高。 来自辞典例句
• Some programmers use tabs to break complex product capabilities into smaller chunks. 一些程序员认为，标签可以将复杂的功能分为每个窗格一组简单的功能。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

11 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。

12 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。

13 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

14 hatred   

n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨

参考例句：

• He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
• The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。

15 cemetery   

n.坟墓，墓地，坟场

参考例句：

• He was buried in the cemetery.他被葬在公墓。
• His remains were interred in the cemetery.他的遗体葬在墓地。