新闻周刊:巴沙尔·阿萨德的争议得到了解释(4)

As one of the lesser¹ but not least-known of at least two dozen individuals vying² for the presidency³ in 2020, Gabbard has long sought to set herself apart from the pack by emphasizing her opposition⁴ to costly⁵, lengthy⁶ and often murky⁷ U.S. engagements abroad. With the recent Democratic debates being relatively⁸ light on foreign policy, however, her recent attack on Harris highlighted her ability to take on heavyweights in the 2020 race and come out on top.

作为至少20多位角逐2020年总统大选的候选人中知名度较低但并非最不知名的一位，加巴德长期以来一直试图通过强调她反对代价高昂、时间长且常常模糊不清的美国海外行动，来让自己在众多候选人中脱颖而出。然而，由于民主党最近的辩论相对较少涉及外交政策，她最近对哈里斯的攻击凸显了她在2020年竞选中与重量级人物较量并最终胜出的能力。

Gabbard came out as the most-searched candidate in only four states?—Alaska, Hawaii, Iowa and South Carolina?—ahead of Wednesday's debate. Throughout the event itself, however, she took the lead in all 50.

盖博出来的热门候选人只有四个州：阿拉斯加、夏威夷、爱荷华州和南卡罗莱纳州——周三辩论之前。然而，在整个比赛过程中，她在50场比赛中都取得了领先。

Now the woman who would be the first-ever female, Hindu and Samoan-American president faced a massive challenge in maintaining this relevance⁹ and capitalizing on it to narrow her shortcomings in the polls ahead of June, when she could also secure a potential vice¹⁰ presidential slot depending on her relationship with the frontrunner. Until then, however, the fact that Assad was also trending Wednesday on Twitter showed that many still saw her fateful sitdown with the leader as a primary issue.

如今，这位即将成为首位女性、印度裔和萨摩亚裔美国总统的女性，面临着巨大的挑战，她要保持这种相关性，并利用这种相关性来缩小自己在6月之前的民调中的不足，同时根据她与领先者的关系，她也可能获得副总统职位。然而，在那之前，阿萨德周三在Twitter上也有上升趋势，这一事实表明，很多人仍将她与阿萨德的命运对话视为首要问题。

As for Assad himself, there was little sign that the leader who has since retaken the majority of the country would be leaving anytime soon. While Iran remained his only major regional ally, he has fostered close relations with neighboring Iraq and Lebanon and has begun to rebuild ties with Jordan, as well as Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. Abroad, his continued backing from Russia and China meant there was a good chance that a new Democratic president would inherit a Syria policy that saw Assad still in charge in spite of his widespread condemnation¹¹ in the West.

至于阿萨德本人，几乎没有迹象表明这位重新夺回叙利亚大部分地区的领导人会很快离开。尽管伊朗仍然是他在该地区唯一的主要盟友，但他与邻国伊拉克和黎巴嫩建立了密切关系，并开始与约旦、巴林和阿联酋重建关系。在国外，他继续得到俄罗斯和中国的支持，这意味着一位新的民主党总统很有可能继承一项叙利亚政策，即尽管阿萨德在西方受到广泛谴责，但他仍将执掌政权。

1 lesser   

adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地

参考例句：

• Kept some of the lesser players out.不让那些次要的球员参加联赛。
• She has also been affected,but to a lesser degree.她也受到波及，但程度较轻。

2 vying   

adj.竞争的；比赛的

参考例句：

• California is vying with other states to capture a piece of the growing communications market.为了在日渐扩大的通讯市场分得一杯羹，加利福尼亚正在和其他州展开竞争。
• Four rescue plans are vying to save the zoo.4个拯救动物园的方案正争得不可开交。

3 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

4 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

5 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

6 lengthy   

adj.漫长的，冗长的

参考例句：

• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
• The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。

7 murky   

adj.黑暗的，朦胧的；adv.阴暗地，混浊地；n.阴暗；昏暗

参考例句：

• She threw it into the river's murky depths.她把它扔进了混浊的河水深处。
• She had a decidedly murky past.她的历史背景令人捉摸不透。

8 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

9 relevance   

n.中肯，适当，关联，相关性

参考例句：

• Politicians' private lives have no relevance to their public roles.政治家的私生活与他们的公众角色不相关。
• Her ideas have lost all relevance to the modern world.她的想法与现代社会完全脱节。

10 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

11 condemnation   

n.谴责; 定罪

参考例句：

• There was widespread condemnation of the invasion. 那次侵略遭到了人们普遍的谴责。
• The jury's condemnation was a shock to the suspect. 陪审团宣告有罪使嫌疑犯大为震惊。