VOA标准英语2010年-Obama: Resetting Relations with Russia

During the President Barack Obama's first year in office, his administration sought to reset¹ America's relationship with Russia that had become strained under President George W. Bush

Peter Fedynsky | Moscow 12 January 2010

 Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov holds a "reset" button given to him by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

In March, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with a gift meant to underscore the Obama administration's commitment to reset relations with Russia.  It was a button with "reset," supposedly translated into Russian.

HILLARY CLINTON: "We worked hard to get the right Russian word. Do you think we got it?"

SERGEI LAVROV: "You got it wrong. It should be 'perezagruzka.' This says 'peregruzka,' which means 'overcharged.'"

Despite the mistranslation, independent Russian political analyst² Alexander Konovalov welcomes better ties.  He says the Bush administration seemed to ignore Russia because of its relatively³ small economy and aging nuclear arsenal⁴.

"The main difference of the Obama administration is that it realizes [the previous administration's] purely⁵ mathematical approach was incorrect," he said.  "Russia's significance in the world is actually much greater.  America needs Russia, just as Russia needs the United States."

Konovalov says both countries can cooperate in the war against terror, drug trafficking, Afghanistan, Iran's nuclear program, and nuclear non-proliferation in general. 

In July, President Obama visited Moscow and signed a preliminary agreement to reduce the world's two biggest nuclear arsenals⁶ by as much as one-third.

"We've taken important steps forward to increase nuclear security and to stop the spread of nuclear weapons. This starts with the reduction of our own nuclear arsenals," said President Obama.

Both countries are working on a replacement⁷ for the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which expired in December.  The White House and Kremlin say agreement can be reached soon. 

Russia has welcomed President Obama's decision to cancel plans for a controversial Central European missile defense⁸ system.  And in a concession⁹ to the United States, Moscow has allowed use of its territory to supply NATO troops in Afghanistan.  Nonetheless, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev said last month his country will develop new missile technology that raised concerns in Washington.

"When we draft and sign the agreement, we will still handle the issue of developing our strategic offensive forces. Without them, it is impossible to defend our country," said Medvedev.

Alexander Konovalov says U.S.-Russian relations clearly improved over the past year, but not enough to provide any true satisfaction.

"The road ahead is considerably¹⁰ longer than the one we covered during the past year.  What is needed above all is a completely new level of trust," he added.

Much of that mistrust is focused on former Soviet¹¹ republics.  The Obama administration rejects Russian claims of special privileges in those republics and the Kremlin opposes any NATO expansion that would include Georgia and Ukraine.

1 reset   

v.重新安排，复位；n.重新放置；重放之物

参考例句：

• As soon as you arrive at your destination,step out of the aircraft and reset your wristwatch.你一到达目的地，就走出飞机并重新设置手表时间。
• He is recovering from an operation to reset his arm.他做了一个手臂复位手术，正在恢复。

2 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。

3 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

4 arsenal   

n.兵工厂，军械库

参考例句：

• Even the workers at the arsenal have got a secret organization.兵工厂工人暗中也有组织。
• We must be the great arsenal of democracy.我们必须成为民主的大军火库。

5 purely   

adv.纯粹地，完全地

参考例句：

• I helped him purely and simply out of friendship.我帮他纯粹是出于友情。
• This disproves the theory that children are purely imitative.这证明认为儿童只会单纯地模仿的理论是站不住脚的。

6 arsenals   

n.兵工厂，军火库( arsenal的名词复数 )；任何事物的集成

参考例句：

• We possess-each of us-nuclear arsenals capable of annihilating humanity. 我们两国都拥有能够毁灭全人类的核武库。 来自辞典例句
• Arsenals are factories that produce weapons. 军工厂是生产武器的工厂。 来自互联网

7 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。

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。

9 concession   

n.让步，妥协；特许(权)

参考例句：

• We can not make heavy concession to the matter.我们在这个问题上不能过于让步。
• That is a great concession.这是很大的让步。

10 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。

11 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。