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VOA常速英语2007年-2007 Marks a Year of Russian Muscle-Flexing

时间:2008-01-11 03:24:57

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(单词翻译)

By Peter Fedynsky
Moscow
17 December 2007

2007 was a year in which Russia deployed2 new weapons, withdrew from a major European security treaty, and held a widely criticized election campaign, all while continuing to enjoy economic growth and a stronger currency. VOA Moscow Correspondent Peter Fedynsky looks at a year of Russian muscle-flexing.

At the Moscow Air Show in August, Russia signaled an intention to revive its commercial and military aviation industries, which fell on hard times after the Soviet3 collapse4. Just days before the exhibition, one of the planes on display, the TU-160 strategic bomber5, took to the skies again on orders of President Vladimir Putin.

Mr. Putin said he decided6 to renew round-the-clock strategic air combat patrols as he announced 14 bombers7 accompanied by support planes and refueling tankers8 had already taken off that day.

Russia's strategic aviation had been grounded due to economic difficulties in the 1990s.

The Kremlin engaged in a flurry of other publicized military activity - deployment9 of an upgraded missile defense10 system around Moscow; ongoing11 construction of three new nuclear submarines; military exercises with China; air force maneuvers12 over distant oceans. Other moves put foreign countries on notice - Kremlin suspension of a key European security treaty and a threat to deploy1 nuclear weapons near Poland. This - in response to a U.S. proposal for a missile defense system in Central Europe to guard against a possible Iranian missile attack.

But in remarks to VOA, independent Russian military analyst13 Alexander Khramchekhin said the rebuilding of Russia's military is more public relations than reality.

"The move," says Khramchekhin, "is partly an attempt to resolve a psychological complex, in other words, to show that Russia has become as strong as before. It is, he says, largely a propaganda campaign for domestic rather than foreign consumption."

Military imagery was, indeed, used by the ruling United Russia Party in a TV ad during the recent parliamentary campaign. The commercial featured fighter jets, President Putin in a flight suit, and elite14 troops with guns in hand.

The Kremlin, however, went beyond imagery to assure control of parliament in a December 2 election.

Riot police used force to disperse15 opposition16 campaign rallies and opposition leaders were jailed. The opposition was also denied access to nationwide TV, and its campaign literature was confiscated17. These and other violations19 were noted20 by European election observers.

The president of the OSCE's Parliamentary Assembly, Goran Lennmarker, pointed21 to President Vladimir Putin's campaign on behalf of the ruling United Russia Party.

"The merging22 of the state and political parties is an abuse of power and a clear violation18 of international commitments and standards," he said. "The other point is that the media showed a strong bias23 in favor of the president and the ruling United Russia Party."

The Kremlin claims credit for reviving the Russian military and economy, and President Putin says leadership continuity is needed to assure further success. Kremlin control of national media assures no one will challenge such claims. And continuity was virtually guaranteed when Mr. Putin supported Dmitri Medvedev as the next president. Mr. Medvedev returned the favor by asking Mr. Putin to become prime minister.

Given such control by the ruling elite, opposition presidential candidate and former chess champion Garry Kasparov withdrew from the race, calling the presidential election "a farce24."

"It's not the end of the world; it just shows that this game is a fake not only on the day of the election with the election fraud, but at every stage of this process," he said.

In June, the Kremlin tightened25 its grip on Russian energy production, pressuring British Petroleum26 to give up its stake in Siberia's Kovykta field, one of the world's largest gas deposits. And as energy exports continue to boost Russia's economy, its people this year began saving more rubles and selling off U.S. dollars.

In more good news for the Kremlin, Russia won its bid for the 2012 Winter Olympic Games and a research submarine planted a Russian flag on the bottom of the Arctic Ocean at the North Pole in a bid to claim vast undersea oil deposits.

Such Russian muscle-flexing this year was accompanied by a mini-sensation in August, when the Kremlin released photographs featuring … the muscles of a bare-chested President Putin on a fishing trip.


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 deploy Yw8x7     
v.(军)散开成战斗队形,布置,展开
参考例句:
  • The infantry began to deploy at dawn.步兵黎明时开始进入战斗位置。
  • The president said he had no intention of deploying ground troops.总统称并不打算部署地面部队。
2 deployed 4ceaf19fb3d0a70e329fcd3777bb05ea     
(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。
3 Soviet Sw9wR     
adj.苏联的,苏维埃的;n.苏维埃
参考例句:
  • Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
  • Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。
4 collapse aWvyE     
vi.累倒;昏倒;倒塌;塌陷
参考例句:
  • The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
  • The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。
5 bomber vWwz7     
n.轰炸机,投弹手,投掷炸弹者
参考例句:
  • He flew a bomber during the war.他在战时驾驶轰炸机。
  • Detectives hunting the London bombers will be keen to interview him.追查伦敦爆炸案凶犯的侦探们急于对他进行讯问。
6 decided lvqzZd     
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
参考例句:
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
7 bombers 38202cf84a1722d1f7273ea32117f60d     
n.轰炸机( bomber的名词复数 );投弹手;安非他明胶囊;大麻叶香烟
参考例句:
  • Enemy bombers carried out a blitz on the city. 敌军轰炸机对这座城市进行了突袭。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The Royal Airforce sill remained dangerously short of bombers. 英国皇家空军仍未脱离极为缺乏轰炸机的危境。 来自《简明英汉词典》
8 tankers f6c16f554e37ea81859ae031ca991f5d     
运送大量液体或气体的轮船[卡车]( tanker的名词复数 ); 油轮; 罐车; 油槽车
参考例句:
  • They should stop offloading waste from oil tankers into the sea. 他们应当停止从油轮上往海里倾倒废弃物。
  • The harbour admits large tankers and freighters. 这个港口容得下巨型油船和货轮。
9 deployment 06e5c0d0f9eabd9525e5f9dc4f6f37cf     
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。
10 defense AxbxB     
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。
11 ongoing 6RvzT     
adj.进行中的,前进的
参考例句:
  • The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
  • The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。
12 maneuvers 4f463314799d35346cd7e8662b520abf     
n.策略,谋略,花招( maneuver的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • He suspected at once that she had been spying upon his maneuvers. 他立刻猜想到,她已经侦察到他的行动。 来自辞典例句
  • Maneuvers in Guizhou occupied the Reds for four months. 贵州境内的作战占了红军四个月的时间。 来自辞典例句
13 analyst gw7zn     
n.分析家,化验员;心理分析学家
参考例句:
  • What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务?
  • The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。
14 elite CqzxN     
n.精英阶层;实力集团;adj.杰出的,卓越的
参考例句:
  • The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
  • We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。
15 disperse ulxzL     
vi.使分散;使消失;vt.分散;驱散
参考例句:
  • The cattle were swinging their tails to disperse the flies.那些牛甩动着尾巴驱赶苍蝇。
  • The children disperse for the holidays.孩子们放假了。
16 opposition eIUxU     
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。
17 confiscated b8af45cb6ba964fa52504a6126c35855     
没收,充公( confiscate的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • Their land was confiscated after the war. 他们的土地在战后被没收。
  • The customs officer confiscated the smuggled goods. 海关官员没收了走私品。
18 violation lLBzJ     
n.违反(行为),违背(行为),侵犯
参考例句:
  • He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说,那是违反规则的。
  • He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。
19 violations 403b65677d39097086593415b650ca21     
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。
20 noted 5n4zXc     
adj.著名的,知名的
参考例句:
  • The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
  • Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。
21 pointed Il8zB4     
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。
22 merging 65cc30ed55db36c739ab349d7c58dfe8     
合并(分类)
参考例句:
  • Many companies continued to grow by merging with or buying competing firms. 许多公司通过合并或收买竞争对手的公司而不断扩大。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
  • To sequence by repeated splitting and merging. 用反复分开和合并的方法进行的排序。
23 bias 0QByQ     
n.偏见,偏心,偏袒;vt.使有偏见
参考例句:
  • They are accusing the teacher of political bias in his marking.他们在指控那名教师打分数有政治偏见。
  • He had a bias toward the plan.他对这项计划有偏见。
24 farce HhlzS     
n.闹剧,笑剧,滑稽戏;胡闹
参考例句:
  • They played a shameful role in this farce.他们在这场闹剧中扮演了可耻的角色。
  • The audience roared at the farce.闹剧使观众哄堂大笑。
25 tightened bd3d8363419d9ff838bae0ba51722ee9     
收紧( tighten的过去式和过去分词 ); (使)变紧; (使)绷紧; 加紧
参考例句:
  • The rope holding the boat suddenly tightened and broke. 系船的绳子突然绷断了。
  • His index finger tightened on the trigger but then relaxed again. 他的食指扣住扳机,然后又松开了。
26 petroleum WiUyi     
n.原油,石油
参考例句:
  • The Government of Iran advanced the price of petroleum last week.上星期伊朗政府提高了石油价格。
  • The purpose of oil refinery is to refine crude petroleum.炼油厂的主要工作是提炼原油。

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