VOA标准英语2013--Arab World Awaits Obama's Mideast Trip

 

Arab World Awaits Obama's Mideast Trip

When the U.S. president visited Cairo in 2009, he was hailed as a son of Africa, a man whose middle name "Hussein" hinted at a fundamental shift in America's relations with the Islamic and Arab world. He even spoke¹ an Arabic phrase during his address at Cairo University. "As salamu alaikum," he said.

In the audience that day was former intelligence officer General Sameh Saif al Yazal. He remembers thinking "We got a good one," and change was imminent². Fast forward four years: "The expectations were very high, but when you see it physically³, it was much less than that expectation," he stated.

Among the disappointments was what many in the region saw as Obama's slow response to the "Arab Spring" uprisings against long-time U.S. allies, as in Egypt, and not enough help - especially economic - in the aftermath. One Cairo resident argued it is important for American and Europe to help now because “they helped the dictatorships.”

Al Yazal says the perception that the U.S. continues to side with the interests of governments rather than the people has not gone away. "The feeling now that the Americans are working for the Egyptian administration and the other administrations without looking at the street people - what they want," he added.

Close collaboration⁴ with Yemen's government, for example, allows the U.S. to carry out drone strikes on suspected terrorists. But civilian⁵ casualties from strikes gone wrong have deeply alienated⁶ many ordinary Yemenis.

Yet for the most part, Obama has earned praise for scaling back America's military role in the region. Outside observers, like professor Christian⁷ Donath of the American University in Cairo, welcome the U.S. limits.

"The Obama administration has done a relatively⁸ good job in being very careful in its approach to Syria given that there are a number of competing interests in Syria. And I think for now one of the most important things we can do is focus on the humanitarian⁹ crisis," Donath explained.

Donath believes concern for humanitarian issues and economic outreach directly to the people could do much to improve America's standing¹⁰. But he notes that one thing colors almost everything the U.S. does in the Arab world - America's close ties with Israel, which will be the focus of Obama's trip this time.

"Fundamentally this will be quite difficult for the U.S. to improve our relationship with the people, which seems what we are trying to do," added Donath. "Without somehow addressing the Israel issue and we're not. We haven't been doing that."

Even if Obama can help revive the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians during his trip, few expect the regional dynamic to change any time soon. 

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 imminent   

adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的

参考例句：

• The black clounds show that a storm is imminent.乌云预示暴风雨即将来临。
• The country is in imminent danger.国难当头。

3 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

4 collaboration   

n.合作，协作；勾结

参考例句：

• The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
• He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。

5 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。

6 alienated   

adj.感到孤独的，不合群的v.使疏远( alienate的过去式和过去分词 )；使不友好；转让；让渡（财产等）

参考例句：

• His comments have alienated a lot of young voters. 他的言论使许多年轻选民离他而去。
• The Prime Minister's policy alienated many of her followers. 首相的政策使很多拥护她的人疏远了她。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

8 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。

9 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

10 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。