VOA慢速英语2012--Obama Sets Plan for 'Leaner' Military（在线收听）

IN THE NEWS - Obama Sets Plan for 'Leaner' Military

时事新闻 - 奥巴马制定国防新战略

This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

这里是美国之音慢速英语时事新闻节目。

This week, President Obama announced a new defense plan based on budget cuts in the coming years.

本周，奥巴马总统基于未来数年的预算削减，宣布了一项新的防御计划。

BARACK OBAMA: "Our military will be leaner, but the world must know the United States is going to maintain our military superiority."

奥巴马：“我们的军队将会有所倾斜，但全世界必须知道，美国将继续维持我们的军事优势。”

Mr. Obama said details of the defense budget will be announced in the coming weeks. But he said Asia and the Middle East will get greater attention.

奥巴马先生表示，国防预算细节将在未来几周内公布。但他表示，亚洲和中东地区将获得更大关注。

BARACK OBAMA: "As I made clear in Australia, we'll be strengthening our presence in the Asia Pacific, and budget reductions will not come at the expense of this critical region. We're going to continue investing in our critical partnerships and alliances, including NATO, which has demonstrated time and again -- most recently in Libya -- that it's a force multiplier. We will stay vigilant, especially in the Middle East."

奥巴马：“正如我在澳大利亚明确指出的，我们将加强我们在亚太地区的军事存在，预算削减不能以削弱这一关键地区力量为代价。我们将继续投资于包括北约在内的我们的重要伙伴和盟友，这已经无数次被证明，最近在利比亚就是一次多方军力合作。此外，我们将继续保持警惕，尤其是中东地区。”

Mr. Obama spoke Thursday in a rare presidential appearance in the press briefing room at the Pentagon -- the Defense Department headquarters. He said the nation is at a "moment of transition" after ten years of war.

周四，奥巴马先生在国防部总部五角大楼新闻简报室罕见出席并发言。他表示，经过十多年的战争后，美国正处于一个“过渡时期。”
　

With President Obama, from left: Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and generals Ray Odierno, Army chief of staff; James Amos, Marine commandant; and Martin Dempsey, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman

BARACK OBAMA: "As we look beyond the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the end of long-term, nation-building with large military footprints, we will be able to ensure our security with smaller conventional ground forces. We’ll continue to get rid of outdated Cold War-era systems so that we can invest in the capabilities we need for the future, including intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; counterterrorism; countering weapons of mass destruction; and the ability to operate in environments where adversaries try to deny us access."

奥巴马：“当我们将眼光转移到伊拉克和阿富汗战争之外，以及长期带有大量军事印记的国家建设时代宣告结束。我们将能够以更小规模的常规地面部队保卫国家安全。我们将继续摆脱过时的冷战时期的体系，这样我们就能在未来所需的战斗力上投入更多，包括情报、侦查和巡逻、反恐、打击大规模杀伤性武器，以及在敌人力图阻止我们进入的环境中进行作战的能力。”

Joining Mr. Obama were Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army General Martin Dempsey.

与奥巴马一同出席的还有国防部长利昂·帕内塔（Leon Panetta）和参谋长联席会议主席，陆军上将马丁·登普西将军（Martin Dempsey）。

The president ordered a strategic review last year to help guide decision-making by the Defense Department. American military policy is currently designed to be prepared to fight and win two wars at once. Secretary Panetta said that idea was a "residual of the Cold War." He said this, in some ways, restricted thinking about the future.

奥巴马去年下令进行一项战略评估以帮助指导国防部决策。美国军事政策当前设计的是同时做好参加和打赢两场战争的准备。国防部长帕内塔表示，这一理念是“冷战残留。”他称这一理念在某些方面限制了对未来的思维。

LEON PANETTA: "Our strategy review concluded that the United States must have the capability to fight several conflicts at the same time. We are not confronting obviously the threats of the past, we are confronting the threats of the twenty-first century, and that demands greater flexibility to shift and deploy forces to be able to fight and defeat any enemy anywhere."

帕内塔：“战略评估得出的结论是，美国必须有能力同时应对数场冲突。我们面临的显然不是过去的威胁，而是二十一世纪的威胁，这就要求美军在转移和部署军事力量上具备更大灵活性，以打败任何地方的任何敌人。”

The defense secretary said troop numbers would be cut. But he said the United States will protect and in some cases increase its investments in areas such as special operations and cyberspace.

帕内塔说，美国军队人数将被削减。但他表示，美国将会保持，在某些情况下还会增加其在一些领域的投资，例如特种作战和网络空间。

For some defense experts, including Michael O'Hanlon at the Brookings Institution in Washington, the new strategic plan makes sense.

对包括华盛顿布鲁金斯学会的迈克尔·奥汉隆（Michael O'Hanlon）在内的防务专家来说，这一新的战略计划极具意义。

MICHAEL O'HANLON: "It's been in discussion for twenty years, and it's even more feasible now with Saddam Hussein gone from Iraq, and I think it's also responsive to the set of threats we face today where more of them are likely to be at sea or in the air -- from Iran, for example."

奥汉隆：“二十多年来一直在讨论战略计划，随着萨达姆在伊拉克下台它现在甚至变得更为可行。我认为它对我们当前面临的威胁也能做出反应，当前面临的这种威胁可能是在海上或空中，例如来自伊朗的威胁。”

But former defense official Frank Gaffney, now president of the Center for Security Policy, says the new strategy has many problems.

但前国防部官员，现任安全政策中心主席弗兰克·加夫尼（Frank Gaffney）表示，这一新战略存在诸多问题。

FRANK GAFFNEY: "It may not be up to us how many wars we have to fight. Enemies who perceive us unable to deal with more than one problem at a time may decide to collaborate and work in a simultaneous fashion that will simply overtax us. And worse, the perception that we are so weak as to be unable to deal with that sort of danger invites it."

加夫尼：“必须打多少场战争可能不取决于我们自己。敌人察觉到我们无法同时处理多个问题，可能就会决定相互勾结并同时出手，这样就会使我们承受不住。更糟糕的是，我们如此薄弱以至于无法处理这类威胁的这样一种观感，更会引发这类威胁。”

The defense budget for this year is about five hundred thirty billion dollars. Mr. Panetta said the new strategy aims to cut about four hundred eighty-seven billion dollars over ten years. However, the military may face more than five hundred billion dollars in additional cuts as Congress and the president seek to reduce the federal deficit.

今年国防预算约为5300亿美元。帕内塔先生说，新战略旨在未来十年内削减大约4870亿美元。但由于国会和奥巴马总统寻求降低联邦赤字，军方可能会面临超过5000亿美元的额外削减。

And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember.