2007年VOA标准英语-US, NATO Pledge Support for Afghanistan

By Paula Wolfson
White House
21 May 2007

The situation in Afghanistan dominated talks between President Bush and NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop¹ Scheffer at the Bush family ranch² in Texas. VOA's Paula Wolfson, reports the president wants NATO to do more.

The meeting at the ranch came at a time of growing concern over mounting civilian³ casualties in Afghanistan - a concern that has prompted some members of NATO to reconsider the depth of their support for the military mission.

President Bush says the alliance must remain heavily involved.

"I pledged to the secretary-general we'll work with our NATO allies to convince them that they must share more of the burden and must all share the risks in meeting our goal," he said.

That goal is to defeat extremist threats to democracy in Afghanistan and enable that violence ridden country to finally thrive.

Speaking to reporters after the talks at the Bush ranch, de Hoop Scheffer stressed the stakes are far too high to quit.

"Afghanistan is still one of the front lines in our fight against terrorism," he said. "And it is my strong conviction that that front line should not become a fault line."

President George Bush (l) walks with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer at Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas, 20 May 2007

The secretary-general acknowledged that innocent civilians⁴ have lost their lives in U.S. and allied⁵ air strikes on Taleban insurgents⁶. President Bush said he grieves with the families of the innocent Afghans caught in the crossfire⁷ and accused the Taleban of deliberately⁸ surrounding themselves with civilians as a military tactic⁹.

"They do not mind using human shields because they devalue human life," he said.

A series of recent incidents involving the killing¹⁰ of Afghan civilians has sparked growing outrage¹¹ around the country. Earlier this month President Hamid Karzai summoned foreign military commanders to tell them his people's patience was wearing thin.

De Hoop Scheffer said NATO is doing everything in its power to keep civilian casualties down, and downplayed the notion the casualties are eroding¹² support for the military operation.

"We still have very much the hearts and minds of the Afghan people because they do see that their nation, their own nation has no future under Taleban rule," he said. "I only have to refer to the kind and type of Afghanistan we saw under Taleban rule - a regime of the most gross human rights violations¹³ the world has seen."

NATO has about 37,000 troops deployed¹⁴ in Afghanistan - its largest deployment¹⁵ ever outside Europe.

1 hoop   

n.（篮球）篮圈，篮

参考例句：

• The child was rolling a hoop.那个孩子在滚铁环。
• The wooden tub is fitted with the iron hoop.木盆都用铁箍箍紧。

2 ranch   

n.大牧场，大农场

参考例句：

• He went to work on a ranch.他去一个大农场干活。
• The ranch is in the middle of a large plateau.该牧场位于一个辽阔高原的中部。

3 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。

4 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

5 allied   

adj.协约国的；同盟国的

参考例句：

• Britain was allied with the United States many times in history.历史上英国曾多次与美国结盟。
• Allied forces sustained heavy losses in the first few weeks of the campaign.同盟国在最初几周内遭受了巨大的损失。

6 insurgents   

n.起义，暴动，造反( insurgent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The regular troops of Baden joined the insurgents. 巴登的正规军参加到起义军方面来了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Against the Taliban and Iraqi insurgents, these problems are manageable. 要对付塔利班与伊拉克叛乱分子，这些问题还是可以把握住的。 来自互联网

7 crossfire   

n.被卷进争端

参考例句：

• They say they are caught in the crossfire between the education establishment and the government.他们称自己被卷进了教育机构与政府之间的争端。
• When two industrial giants clash,small companies can get caught in the crossfire.两大工业企业争斗之下，小公司遭受池鱼之殃。

8 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

9 tactic   

n.战略，策略；adj.战术的，有策略的

参考例句：

• Reducing prices is a common sales tactic.降价是常用的销售策略。
• She had often used the tactic of threatening to resign.她惯用以辞职相威胁的手法。

10 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

11 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。

12 eroding   

侵蚀，腐蚀( erode的现在分词 )； 逐渐毁坏，削弱，损害

参考例句：

• The coast is slowly eroding. 海岸正慢慢地被侵蚀。
• Another new development is eroding the age-old stereotype of the male warrior. 另一个新现象是，久已形成的男人皆武士的形象正逐渐消失。

13 violations   

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。

14 deployed   

（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。

15 deployment   

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。