VOA慢速英语2019 美国推出“蓝点网络”对抗中国“一带一路”

The U.S. Secretary of Commerce announced this week that the United States plans to invest and trade more in Asia.

美国商务部长本周宣布，美国计划在亚洲进行更多的投资和贸易。

Secretary Wilbur Ross spoke¹ about American efforts to support "sustainable" projects in Asia as a way to answer China's "Belt and Road" infrastructure² program.

威尔伯·罗斯部长谈到了美国为支持亚洲“可持续发展”项目的努力，以此作为对中国“一带一路”基础设施计划的回应。

Ross and U.S. President Donald Trump³'s national security adviser⁴, Robert O'Brien, were in Thailand for a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN.

罗斯和美国总统唐纳德·川普的国家安全顾问罗伯特·奥布赖恩在泰国参加了东盟国家会议。

Like O'Brien, Ross tried to overcome suspicions that the Trump administration is uninterested in Asia. The president sent his adviser to the ASEAN summit, but he himself did not attend for the second time in two years.

像奥布赖恩一样，罗斯也试图消除人们对川普政府不重视亚洲的怀疑。川普派他的顾问参加了东盟峰会，但是他本人在两年内已经第二次缺席会议。

"We have no intention of vacating our military or geopolitical position," Ross told reporters. He added that many people had misunderstood Trump's 2017 decision to pull out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership⁵ trade deal.

罗斯对记者表示：“我们无意让出我们的军事或地缘政治地位。”他还说，许多人误解了川普2017年退出跨太平洋伙伴关系贸易协定的决定。

"We are here permanently⁶, and we will be continuing to invest more here, and we will be continuing to have more bilateral⁷ trade," Ross said.

罗斯表示：“我们要永远留在这里。我们要继续加大对这里的投资，我们要继续扩大双边贸易。”

To demonstrate that desire, U.S. officials launched the Trump administration's "Blue Dot Network" on Monday at a conference of business leaders. More than 200 American business leaders attended the meeting.

为了证明这一意愿，美国官员周一在一次商业领袖会议上启动了“蓝点网络”计划。200多位美国商业领袖参加了这次会议。

The plan's name comes from a picture of Earth taken by the Voyager 1 spacecraft. The name is also the name of a book written by American scientist Carl Sagan.

该计划的名称来自于旅行者一号宇宙飞船拍摄的地球照片。这也是美国科学家卡尔·萨根写的一本书的名字。

Ross said the Blue Dot Network will include countries that want "sustainable infrastructure development." Earlier, O'Brien compared the network to a "Michelin Guide" for rating investment projects in infrastructure, such as roads, ports and energy systems.

罗斯表示，蓝点网络将会囊括那些希望基础设施可持续发展的国家。奥布赖恩早些时候曾将该网络比作对道路、港口和能源系统等基础设施投资项目进行评级的“米其林指南。”

It is unclear what kind of investments would come from the Blue Dot Network plan. The U.S. government described it as an alliance of governments, companies and civil society that would operate under "shared standards."

目前尚不清楚蓝点网络计划将会进行什么类型的投资。美国政府将其描述为由政府、企业和民间社会组成的、在“共同标准”下运作的联盟。

During the meetings in Bangkok, Japan and the United States signed an agreement to work together on $10 billion in Japanese investment in liquefied natural gas projects. Other plans include an agreement to work with the Asian Development Bank in getting up to $7 billion in financing for other Asian energy projects.

在曼谷会议期间，日本和美国签署了一项协议，在日本投资100亿美元的液化天然气项目上共同合作。其它计划包括与亚洲开发银行合作，为其它亚洲能源项目提供多达70亿美元的融资。

O'Brien said the plan would help countries avoid paying for projects that forced them to take on too much debt and were not "high quality." O'Brien was speaking about China's "Belt and Road" infrastructure projects. U.S. officials have said the Chinese-supported projects hurt the financial systems of the countries involved by tying them to large debts.

奥布赖恩表示，该计划将会帮助各国避免为一些“质量不高”的项目而被迫承担过多的债务。奥布赖恩说的是中国的“一带一路”基础设施项目。美国官员称，中国支持的项目通过捆绑大量债务，损害了所涉国家的金融体系。

Ross talked about U.S. trade and investment in East Asia and the Pacific, saying of Australia, "We'd be (happy) to sell more military aircraft if that suits your department of defense⁸."

罗斯谈到美国在东亚和太平洋地区的贸易和投资时提到了澳大利亚，称“如果适合贵国国防部，我们将很高兴向贵国出售更多的战机。”

On Tuesday, China opened a large conference on imports in Shanghai to demonstrate its desire to do business.

周二，中国在上海举办的大型进口博览会上展示了该国开展贸易的意愿。

President Xi Jinping promised to open Chinese markets even more. He drank wine with French President Emmanuel Macron, who urged Chinese and U.S. officials to end their trade war.

习近平主席承诺进一步开放中国市场。他同法国总统伊曼纽尔·马克龙举杯共饮，马克龙督促中美两国官员停止贸易战。

Xi said that China was willing to increase talks on several free trade deals and investment agreements. He also said China was "happy" to enter into high-standard free trade agreements with more countries." And, he promised to improve conditions for foreign investment.

习主席表示，中国愿意就几项自由贸易协定和投资协定加强谈判。他还称，中国“很高兴”与更多国家达成高标准的自由贸易协定。同时他还承诺改善外国投资环境。

1 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。

2 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

3 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

4 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

5 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

6 permanently   

adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地

参考例句：

• The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。

7 bilateral   

adj.双方的，两边的，两侧的

参考例句：

• They have been negotiating a bilateral trade deal.他们一直在商谈一项双边贸易协定。
• There was a wide gap between the views of the two statesmen on the bilateral cooperation.对双方合作的问题，两位政治家各自所持的看法差距甚大。

8 defense   

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。