VOA标准英语2014--美国高估了中东的重要性了吗?

 

Does US Overstate Importance of Middle East? 美国高估了中东的重要性了吗?

STATE DEPARTMENT— 

Secretary of State John Kerry says the United States must remain “deeply engaged” in the Middle East because it has a direct impact on the U.S. economy and national security. But is the Obama administration overstating those threats?

In the six months since the collapse¹ of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, there has been an upsurge of violence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and 50 days of fighting in Gaza.

Yet Kerry continues to meet separately with Palestinian and Israeli leaders, looking for an opening to restart talks on a two-state solution while keeping up momentum² at home, where he says Americans cannot wall themselves off from the Middle East.

“We have to be deeply engaged - deeply engaged - in this region because it is directly in the interest of our national security and our economy," he said.

But in an essay for the magazine Politico, Cato Institute analyst³ Justin Logan says Washington overstates the region’s importance.

“American attention to the Middle East is disproportionate compared to the Middle East’s strategic impact," he said.

On security, Kerry says no ocean can shield Americans from danger.

 “And that is a primary reason why the Middle East matters. But it also matters because our friends are so important to us. We are proudly and unapologetically connected to Israel and many Arab states with whom we have worked closely for decades," he said.

Those decades of military support should have changed the U.S. view of risks facing Israel, Logan says.

“It has a qualitative⁴ military edge over all of its conceivable rivals in the Middle East. It has terrorism problems. It has a very nasty dispute with the Palestinians. But none of these endanger Israel’s survival as a Jewish state in that part of the world. So we tend to overstate that consideration," he said.

On economic risks, Logan says the Middle East accounts for just six percent of global Gross Domestic Product, including oil exports, with no one power positioned to monopolize⁵ supply.

“Iran isn’t going to conquer Saudi Arabia, vice⁶ versa, etc.  So the energy security problems, which are under-defined, actually aren’t that great for us. They could be. But there’s no prospective⁷ danger in the near term," he said.

Kerry says the United States cannot walk away from the Middle East even as it approaches its own energy independence.

“Any serious disruption to the Gulf⁸ oil supplies can have major consequences for our own well-being⁹, as well as the global economy to which we are all attached today," he said.

Kerry says the United States is also linked to the Middle East by “rich spiritual and ethical¹⁰ traditions” that have helped shape Americans’ belief in the importance of every human being - a conviction that he says is now “under vicious assault.”

“Sure, we could turn away, pretend that we don’t see or hear what is happening. But America would not be America if we turned our back on that suffering. It is not who we are, it is not in our DNA¹¹, and it is not in our interest," he said.

Kerry says nowhere are the “building blocks of international security” at graver risk today than in the Middle East, where in Egypt, for example, he says violence threatens to drag the entire region into “total turmoil¹².”

1 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

2 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

3 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。

4 qualitative   

adj.性质上的，质的，定性的

参考例句：

• There are qualitative differences in the way children and adults think.孩子和成年人的思维方式有质的不同。
• Arms races have a quantitative and a qualitative aspects.军备竞赛具有数量和质量两个方面。

5 monopolize   

v.垄断，独占，专营

参考例句：

• She tried to monopolize his time.她想独占他的时间。
• They are controlling so much cocoa that they are virtually monopolizing the market.他们控制了大量的可可粉，因此他们几乎垄断了整个市场。

6 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

7 prospective   

adj.预期的，未来的，前瞻性的

参考例句：

• The story should act as a warning to other prospective buyers.这篇报道应该对其他潜在的购买者起到警示作用。
• They have all these great activities for prospective freshmen.这会举办各种各样的活动来招待未来的新人。

8 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

9 well-being   

n.安康，安乐，幸福

参考例句：

• He always has the well-being of the masses at heart.他总是把群众的疾苦挂在心上。
• My concern for their well-being was misunderstood as interference.我关心他们的幸福，却被误解为多管闲事。

10 ethical   

adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的

参考例句：

• It is necessary to get the youth to have a high ethical concept.必须使青年具有高度的道德观念。
• It was a debate which aroused fervent ethical arguments.那是一场引发强烈的伦理道德争论的辩论。

11 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

12 turmoil   

n.骚乱，混乱，动乱

参考例句：

• His mind was in such a turmoil that he couldn't get to sleep.内心的纷扰使他无法入睡。
• The robbery put the village in a turmoil.抢劫使全村陷入混乱。