voa标准英语2008-Obama to Foster US-Europe Relations

After Barack Obama takes the oath of office January 20 as the 44th President of the United States, his administration will face a host of problems including the global financial crisis, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and strained relations with Russia. In Focus, VOA's André de Nesnera looks at another issue the Obama administration will have to deal with - relations with Europe.

Analysts² agree that after eight years of President Bush's administration, relations between the United States and Europe are in a holding pattern, waiting for Barack Obama to officially take office as the new president.
　

President George W. Bush (file)

Looking back at Mr. Bush's time in office, Charles Kupchan with the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, says the United States and the European Union have made a remarkable³ comeback in relations during the last several years.

"The first year was extraordinarily⁴ rocky, and the Iraq war brought to a head tensions between the United States and Europe," he said. "But I think in the second term, Bush reached out to the Europeans. The Europeans, at least at the elite⁵ level, reciprocated⁶. And on many issues, ranging from Kosovo to Georgia to the financial crisis, there has been a real upturn⁷ in U.S.-European cooperation."

Kupchan and other experts say that while relations between President Bush and European leaders have warmed, he still remains⁸ a very unpopular president in most European countries. Analysts say that is in large part due to what the Europeans see as Bush's "follow us or get out of the way" policy.

It is no secret that most Europeans wanted to see Barack Obama elected president. While running for office, Mr. Obama visited Europe. And on July 24, he addressed an estimated 200,000 people in Germany's capital, Berlin.
　

Sen. Barack Obama delivers a speech at the Victory Column in Berlin, 24 July 2008

"Yes, there have been differences between America and Europe. No doubt there will be differences in the future," he said. "But the burdens of global citizenship⁹ continue to bind¹⁰ us together. A change of leadership in Washington will not lift this burden. In this new century, Americans and Europeans alike will be required to do more - not less. Partnership¹¹ and cooperation among nations is not a choice. It is the only way, the one way to protect our common security and advance our common humanity."

Mr. Obama then said America has no better partner than Europe.

"True partnership and true progress requires constant work and sustained sacrifice," he said. "They require sharing the burdens of development and diplomacy¹², of peace and progress. They require allies who will listen to each other, learn from each other and, most of all, trust each other."
　

President-elect Barack Obama waves after giving his acceptance speech at Grant Park in Chicago, 4 Nov. 2008

Analysts say Europe's great enthusiasm for Mr. Obama is in large part due to his stated goal of repairing bonds, restoring goodwill¹³ and Washington listening to its European allies.

"There was an enthusiasm for what most Europeans understand to be an individual who, again, unlike Bush, they perceive to share most of their deepest ideological¹⁴ and philosophical¹⁵ commitments, both in terms of domestic policy - a more activist¹⁶ stake - but also in terms of foreign policy - a more restrained and less unilateral American foreign policy," said Wess Mitchell, who is with the Washington-based Center for European Policy Analysis. "That's at least what most Europeans expect to see under an Obama administration."

Analyst¹ Charles Kupchan says there is another reason why many Europeans have embraced Mr. Obama.

"They saw the election of an African-American as a sign of an America that is multicultural¹⁷, that is diverse, that is young, that is multiracial - in many respects the kinds of developments that many Europeans would like for themselves, but probably will not be able to obtain for quite awhile because of discomfort¹⁸ with minorities that remains across most European nation states," he said. "And so I think that in many respects, there was almost a vicarious pleasure in seeing a younger African-American reach the presidency¹⁹."

Members of President-elect Obama's inner circle have been trying to lower expectations as he prepares to take the oath of office on January 20. They say the issues facing the United States and Europe are daunting²⁰. They include preventing Iran from gaining nuclear weapons; how to deal with a resurgent Russia; whether to push ahead in bringing Georgia and Ukraine into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO; and the question of deploying²² a missile defense²³ shield in Eastern Europe.
　

US soldier with NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) patrols Farah province, Afghanistan (file)

But experts say the war in Afghanistan will be an early test for relations between the United States and Europe. Barack Obama wants more U.S. troops sent to southern Afghanistan, where there is fierce fighting against the Taliban. But he also wants other NATO countries, such as Germany, to do the same. German officials have been reluctant to provide troops for dangerous missions.

William Drozdiak, President of The American Council on Germany, says Berlin must show leadership and fulfill²⁴ its responsibilities to the alliance.

"There's clearly a desire by not just the Obama administration, but by all the other NATO allies - Britain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands - who have troops in southern Afghanistan, who want to see the burden shared equally," he said. "And this whole question of 'caveats,' of opting²⁵ out of missions that are deemed to be too dangerous, is something that is bad for morale²⁶ within the alliance."

Experts say that as president, Barack Obama will have a difficult diplomatic mission vis-à-vis Germany - urging Chancellor²⁷ Angela Merkel to deploy²¹ more troops in 2009 at a time when Berlin faces parliamentary elections and German public opinion is against sending soldiers to the most dangerous parts of Afghanistan.

1 analyst   

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。

2 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

3 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

4 extraordinarily   

adv.格外地；极端地

参考例句：

• She is an extraordinarily beautiful girl.她是个美丽非凡的姑娘。
• The sea was extraordinarily calm that morning.那天清晨，大海出奇地宁静。

5 elite   

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。

6 reciprocated   

v.报答，酬答( reciprocate的过去式和过去分词 )；（机器的部件）直线往复运动

参考例句：

• Her passion for him was not reciprocated. 她对他的热情没有得到回应。
• Their attraction to each other as friends is reciprocated. 作为朋友，他们相互吸引着对方。 来自辞典例句

7 upturn   

n.情况好转

参考例句：

• Experts have forecast an upturn in the stock market.专家已预测股票市场价格有上升趋势。
• The economy is experiencing an upturn.经济正在好转。

8 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

9 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

10 bind   

vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬

参考例句：

• I will let the waiter bind up the parcel for you.我让服务生帮你把包裹包起来。
• He wants a shirt that does not bind him.他要一件不使他觉得过紧的衬衫。

11 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。

12 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。

13 goodwill   

n.善意，亲善，信誉，声誉

参考例句：

• His heart is full of goodwill to all men.他心里对所有人都充满着爱心。
• We paid ￡10,000 for the shop,and ￡2000 for its goodwill.我们用一万英镑买下了这家商店，两千英镑买下了它的信誉。

14 ideological   

a.意识形态的

参考例句：

• He always tries to link his study with his ideological problems. 他总是把学习和自己的思想问题联系起来。
• He helped me enormously with advice on how to do ideological work. 他告诉我怎样做思想工作，对我有很大帮助。

15 philosophical   

adj.哲学家的，哲学上的，达观的

参考例句：

• The teacher couldn't answer the philosophical problem.老师不能解答这个哲学问题。
• She is very philosophical about her bad luck.她对自己的不幸看得很开。

16 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

17 multicultural   

adj.融合多种文化的，多种文化的

参考例句：

• Children growing up in a multicultural society.在多元文化社会中长大的孩子们。
• The school has been attempting to bring a multicultural perspective to its curriculum.这所学校已经在尝试将一种多元文化视角引入其课程。

18 discomfort   

n.不舒服，不安，难过，困难，不方便

参考例句：

• One has to bear a little discomfort while travelling.旅行中总要忍受一点不便。
• She turned red with discomfort when the teacher spoke.老师讲话时她不好意思地红着脸。

19 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

20 daunting   

adj.使人畏缩的

参考例句：

• They were faced with the daunting task of restoring the house.他们面临着修复房子的艰巨任务。
• Starting a new job can be a daunting prospect.开始一项新工作有时会让人望而却步。

21 deploy   

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。

22 deploying   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
• Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。

23 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。

24 fulfill   

vt.履行，实现，完成；满足，使满意

参考例句：

• If you make a promise you should fulfill it.如果你许诺了，你就要履行你的诺言。
• This company should be able to fulfill our requirements.这家公司应该能够满足我们的要求。

25 opting   

v.选择，挑选( opt的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• What courses are most students opting for? 多数学生选什么课程？ 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Wells doesn't rule out opting out and then re-signing with Houston. 威尔斯没有排除跳出合同再与火箭重签的可能。 来自互联网

26 morale   

n.道德准则，士气，斗志

参考例句：

• The morale of the enemy troops is sinking lower every day.敌军的士气日益低落。
• He tried to bolster up their morale.他尽力鼓舞他们的士气。

27 chancellor   

n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长

参考例句：

• They submitted their reports to the Chancellor yesterday.他们昨天向财政大臣递交了报告。
• He was regarded as the most successful Chancellor of modern times.他被认为是现代最成功的财政大臣。