英国卫报：美国如何创造了一个无尽战争的世界(4)

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Later that year, Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace prize and in December, he travelled to Oslo to give his dazzling acceptance speech.

当年晚些时候，奥巴马被授予诺贝尔和平奖，12月，他前往奥斯陆发表了令人眼花缭乱的获奖演讲。

The premise¹ of his Nobel lecture was that terrorism, which he privately² described (according to interviews) as a boring regulatory quandary³, was so new and threatening that it required thinking “in new ways about the notions of just war and the imperatives⁴ of a just peace”.

他的诺贝尔演讲的前提是，恐怖主义，他私下描述（根据采访）为一个无聊的监管困境，出现的时间很短，威胁很大，它需要 "以新的方式思考正义战争的概念和正义和平的必要条件"。

No matter the illusions some had cultivated when Obama ran, for a president, at least of the United States, an anti-war stance in power was out of the question.

无论奥巴马竞选时有些人抱有怎样的幻想，对于一位总统，至少是美国的总统来说，在执政期间采取反战立场是不可能的。

All respect was due to his elected ancestor Martin Luther King’s rejection⁵ of war when he won his own Nobel in 1964 with the message that violence “solves no social problem: it merely creates new and more complicated ones.”

他的当选祖先马丁-路德-金在1964年赢得自己的诺贝尔奖时表示，暴力 "不能解决任何社会问题：它只会制造新的和更复杂的问题"，拒绝战争的他值得所有尊重。

But neither King nor Mohandas Gandhi before him had led a great nation.

但是，无论是金还是在他之前的莫汉达斯-甘地都没有领导过一个伟大的国家。

It was a brilliant self-defence, not only of the ethics⁶ of Obama’s own role, but of American violence in a world where, he insisted, too many naively⁷ demand peace.

这是一次出色的自我辩护，不仅是对奥巴马自己角色的伦理辩护，也是对美国在一个他坚持认为有太多人天真地要求和平的世界中实施暴力的辩护。

“In many countries,” Obama remarked, “there is a deep ambivalence⁸ about military action today, no matter what the cause.

奥巴马说："在许多国家，不管出于什么原因，今天对军事行动都有一种深深的矛盾心理。

And at times, this is joined by a reflexive suspicion of America, the world’s sole military superpower.”

有时，这种情绪还伴随着对美国这个世界上唯一的军事超级大国的本能怀疑。"

As the New York Times editorialists pointed⁹ out in lauding¹⁰ Obama’s rhetoric¹¹, “he directly challenged the widespread ambivalence and aversion” toward the Afghan war among Americans, too.

正如《纽约时报》的社论在赞扬奥巴马的言论时指出的那样，"他直接挑战了美国人对阿富汗战争普遍存在的矛盾心理和厌恶情绪"。

In his eloquent¹² rationale for the uses of US military power for a new age, the saving grace, perhaps, was that Obama insisted on humane¹³ constraints¹⁴.

在他为新时代美国使用军事力量所提出的辩护理由中，也许值得庆幸的是，奥巴马坚持了人性化这个限制。

He recalled the US’s onetime contribution to a less war-torn globe, that is, after the second world war, constructing the international systems and institutions that were intended to reduce international conflict.

他回顾了美国曾经为一个不那么饱受战争摧残的世界做出的贡献，即在二战后构建旨在减少国际冲突的国际体系和机构。

And that contribution during and after the cold war left the world a “legacy for which my own country is rightfully proud”, though there may have been costs and mistakes along the way.

这种贡献在冷战期间及之后给世界留下了 "我的国家理应感到自豪的遗产"，尽管这一路走来可能也付出了不少代价，犯了不少错。

But in the face of terror, what the American contribution required was not an end to war but precisely¹⁵ playing by the rules of humane warfare¹⁶.

但是，面对恐怖，美国的贡献所要求的不是结束战争，而是严格遵守人道战争的规则。

1 premise   

n.前提；v.提论，预述

参考例句：

• Let me premise my argument with a bit of history.让我引述一些史实作为我立论的前提。
• We can deduce a conclusion from the premise.我们可以从这个前提推出结论。

2 privately   

adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地

参考例句：

• Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
• The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。

3 quandary   

n.困惑，进迟两难之境

参考例句：

• I was in a quandary about whether to go.我当时正犹豫到底去不去。
• I was put in a great quandary.我陷于进退两难的窘境。

4 imperatives   

n.必要的事( imperative的名词复数 )；祈使语气；必须履行的责任

参考例句：

• Nixon, however, had other imperatives. 但尼克松另有需要。 来自辞典例句
• There could be some cultural imperatives in there somewhere! 在公共传播那里，在某些方面，可能有更迫切的文化需要！ 来自互联网

5 rejection   

n.拒绝，被拒，抛弃，被弃

参考例句：

• He decided not to approach her for fear of rejection.他因怕遭拒绝决定不再去找她。
• The rejection plunged her into the dark depths of despair.遭到拒绝使她陷入了绝望的深渊。

6 ethics   

n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准

参考例句：

• The ethics of his profession don't permit him to do that.他的职业道德不允许他那样做。
• Personal ethics and professional ethics sometimes conflict.个人道德和职业道德有时会相互抵触。

7 naively   

adv. 天真地

参考例句：

• They naively assume things can only get better. 他们天真地以为情况只会变好。
• In short, Knox's proposal was ill conceived and naively made. 总而言之，诺克斯的建议考虑不周，显示幼稚。

8 ambivalence   

n.矛盾心理

参考例句：

• She viewed her daughter's education with ambivalence.她看待女儿的教育问题态度矛盾。
• She felt a certain ambivalence towards him.她对他的态度有些矛盾。

9 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。

10 lauding   

v.称赞，赞美( laud的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Let sing out our own song lauding life, lauding world. 让我们以我们自己的歌来咏赞生命，咏赞世界吧！ 来自互联网
• Vice President-elect Joe Biden also spoke, lauding the value of work and the dignity it brings. 副总统当选人乔·拜登经常说，要赞颂工作的价值及其带来的高贵。 来自互联网

11 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

12 eloquent   

adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的

参考例句：

• He was so eloquent that he cut down the finest orator.他能言善辩，胜过最好的演说家。
• These ruins are an eloquent reminder of the horrors of war.这些废墟形象地提醒人们不要忘记战争的恐怖。

13 humane   

adj.人道的，富有同情心的

参考例句：

• Is it humane to kill animals for food?宰杀牲畜来吃合乎人道吗？
• Their aim is for a more just and humane society.他们的目标是建立一个更加公正、博爱的社会。

14 constraints   

强制( constraint的名词复数 )； 限制； 约束

参考例句：

• Data and constraints can easily be changed to test theories. 信息库中的数据和限制条件可以轻易地改变以检验假设。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史
• What are the constraints that each of these imply for any design? 这每种产品的要求和约束对于设计意味着什么？ 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

15 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

16 warfare   

n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突

参考例句：

• He addressed the audience on the subject of atomic warfare.他向听众演讲有关原子战争的问题。
• Their struggle consists mainly in peasant guerrilla warfare.他们的斗争主要是农民游击战。