VOA常速英语2007年-US Defense Secretary Calls for Increased Budget

By Al Pessin
Pentagon
26 November 2007

U.S. Defense¹ Secretary Robert Gates is calling for a significant expansion in the budgets of government agencies that promote U.S. interests through diplomacy², foreign aid, information and other aspects of what he calls "soft" power. VOA's Al Pessin reports from the Pentagon.

Secretary Gates says the U.S. government needs "new institutions for the 21st Century with a 21st Century mind-set." He told an audience at Kansas State University recent conflicts, including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, have proved that military power alone can not prevail in this century's challenges. He said that means devoting "considerably³ more resources" to other parts of the U.S. government.

"There is a need for a dramatic increase in spending on the civilian⁴ instruments of national security - diplomacy, strategic communications, foreign assistance, civic⁵ action and economic reconstruction⁶ and development," he said. "We must focus our energies beyond the guns and steel of the military, beyond just our brave soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen. We must also focus our energies on the other elements of national power that will be so crucial in the years to come."

Gates says that means more money for the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development, whose budgets are currently a small fraction of the size of his budget for the Defense Department.

He says the U.S. government might also need new organizations to expand and coordinate⁷ its capabilities⁸ to deliver assistance on governance, rule of law, internal reconciliation⁹ and basic services, and to communicate its policies and goals to the world. He suggests the need for a new National Security Act, updating the law passed in 1947 that established the current U.S. government foreign affairs structure, in order to better deal with the conflicts of the future.

"These conflicts will be fundamentally political in nature, and require the application of all elements of national power," he said. "Success will be less a matter of imposing¹⁰ one's will and more a function of shaping behavior - of friends, adversaries¹¹, and most importantly, the people in between."

Secretary Gates also said while U.S. military power will continue to be important in promoting U.S. interests, the most important U.S. military role may be to enable partner nations "to defend and govern themselves." He says the skills needed to do that are now a mission for the entire U.S. military.

He says more effective U.S. government civilian and military efforts to build democratic societies around the world could also "make it less likely that military force will have to be used" in various potential conflict zones of the future.

1 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。

2 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。

3 considerably   

adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上

参考例句：

• The economic situation has changed considerably.经济形势已发生了相当大的变化。
• The gap has narrowed considerably.分歧大大缩小了。

4 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

5 civic   

adj.城市的，都市的，市民的，公民的

参考例句：

• I feel it is my civic duty to vote.我认为投票选举是我作为公民的义务。
• The civic leaders helped to forward the project.市政府领导者协助促进工程的进展。

6 reconstruction   

n.重建，再现，复原

参考例句：

• The country faces a huge task of national reconstruction following the war.战后，该国面临着重建家园的艰巨任务。
• In the period of reconstruction,technique decides everything.在重建时期，技术决定一切。

7 coordinate   

adj.同等的，协调的；n.同等者；vt.协作，协调

参考例句：

• You must coordinate what you said with what you did.你必须使你的言行一致。
• Maybe we can coordinate the relation of them.或许我们可以调和他们之间的关系。

8 capabilities   

n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力

参考例句：

• He was somewhat pompous and had a high opinion of his own capabilities. 他有点自大，自视甚高。 来自辞典例句
• Some programmers use tabs to break complex product capabilities into smaller chunks. 一些程序员认为，标签可以将复杂的功能分为每个窗格一组简单的功能。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

9 reconciliation   

n.和解，和谐，一致

参考例句：

• He was taken up with the reconciliation of husband and wife.他忙于做夫妻间的调解工作。
• Their handshake appeared to be a gesture of reconciliation.他们的握手似乎是和解的表示。

10 imposing   

adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的

参考例句：

• The fortress is an imposing building.这座城堡是一座宏伟的建筑。
• He has lost his imposing appearance.他已失去堂堂仪表。

11 adversaries   

n.对手，敌手( adversary的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• That would cause potential adversaries to recoil from a challenge. 这会迫使潜在的敌人在挑战面前退缩。 来自辞典例句
• Every adversaries are more comfortable with a predictable, coherent America. 就连敌人也会因有可以预料的，始终一致的美国而感到舒服得多。 来自辞典例句