VOA常速英语2014--Ukraine Crisis Sharpens Debate on Obama Foreign Policy 乌克兰危机加剧奥巴马外交政策争议

 

Ukraine Crisis Sharpens Debate on Obama Foreign Policy 乌克兰危机加剧奥巴马外交政策争议

WASHINGTON — Events in Ukraine have reignited debate in Washington about President Barack Obama’s foreign policy and whether his administration suffers from a fundamental naïveté about the goals and motives² of America’s adversaries³.

乌克兰事件再次引发了华盛顿有关奥巴马外交政策的辩论，奥巴马政府在认识对手的目的和动机方面，是不是太天真了。

Pointing to Syria’s ongoing⁴ civil war bloodbath, Iran’s nuclear ambitions, and Russia’s intervention⁵ in Ukraine, Republican lawmakers have criticized President Obama’s leadership on the world stage. Among those who took issue with his handling of global affairs was Senator Ted¹ Cruz, who spoke⁶ on ABC’s This Week program.

美国国会共和党议员批评说，无论在处理叙利亚血腥内战，还是伊朗的核野心，还是俄罗斯干预乌克兰问题上，奥巴马政府都没有在世界舞台上发挥应有的领导作用。

“A critical reason for [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s aggression⁷ has been President Obama’s weakness.  [The administration’s] policy has been to alienate⁸ and abandon our friends,” said Cruz.

克鲁兹参议员说： “俄罗斯总统普京侵略乌克兰的一个关键原因是奥巴马总统的软弱，奥巴马政府的政策一直是疏远和背弃我们的盟友。”

Expanding on the critique was House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, who also spoke on ABC’s This Week.

美国国会情报委员会主席罗杰斯也提出批评：

“Up to date, we thought it was a different century and the administration thought, ‘Well, if we just act nice, everyone will act nice with us.’  And that is just unfortunately not the way that [President] Putin and the Russian Federation⁹ see the rest of the world,” said Rogers.

“我们一直以为时代已经变了，奥巴马政府觉得，‘如果我们对别人好，别人也会对我们好。’不幸的是，普京和俄罗斯联邦并不这么想。”

White House Spokesman Jay Carney took issue with the criticism.

白宫也听到了这些批评。

“There is an argument out there, factless, founded on no substantiated¹⁰ basis, that suggests that the president of Russia has taken the action that he’s taken because of actions the United States has taken. I think that any historian, anybody knowledgeable¹¹ about Russia or the former Soviet¹² Union, would be as dismissive of that suggestion as I am trying to be now,” said Carney.

白宫发言人卡尼说： “有人不顾事实，毫无根据地说，是因为美国的行为方式，才导致俄罗斯总统采取他已经采取的行动。我想，任何历史学家，任何了解俄罗斯和前苏联的人都会和我一样，对这种说法不屑一顾。”

President Obama should focus on the immediate¹³ situation in Ukraine, according to analyst¹⁴ Michael O’Hanlon of the Brookings Institution.

布鲁金斯学会的分析人士迈克尔?奥汉隆说，奥巴马应该集中精力处理乌克兰目前的局势。

“I do not think he should worry, and I do not think he is inclined to worry, that this broader cacophony¹⁵ of criticism about his supposedly ‘feckless’  foreign policy needs to be proven wrong by how he reacts to Ukraine.  The stakes are too high, and the potential for doing something really wrong is too high,” said he.

他说：“批评他外交政策无能的声音越来越大，我认为他不必担心，我想他也不至于担心要在乌克兰问题上采取什么行动来证明这些批评是错误的。利益攸关，轻举妄动的风险太大。”

O’Hanlon describes the administration’s response to Ukraine as “fairly robust,” but adds stronger measures may be needed.

奥汉隆说，奥巴马政府对乌克兰的反应“比较强硬”，可是他说，可能有必要采取更加有力的措施。

“If Russia were to launch some kind of a blatant¹⁶ assault against Ukraine, I think helping¹⁷ Ukraine’s military with various kinds of assistance should be seriously considered,” added O’Hanlon.

他说：“如果俄罗斯公然攻击乌克兰，那么我认为，我们要认真考虑对乌克兰军队提供各种援助。”

Russia says it is acting¹⁸ in Crimea to protect Russian nationals from what Moscow considers an illegitimate Ukrainian government.

俄罗斯表示，出兵克里米亚是为了保护俄罗斯公民，防止他们受到乌克兰非法政府的伤害。

1 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

2 motives   

n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• to impeach sb's motives 怀疑某人的动机
• His motives are unclear. 他的用意不明。

3 adversaries   

n.对手，敌手( adversary的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• That would cause potential adversaries to recoil from a challenge. 这会迫使潜在的敌人在挑战面前退缩。 来自辞典例句
• Every adversaries are more comfortable with a predictable, coherent America. 就连敌人也会因有可以预料的，始终一致的美国而感到舒服得多。 来自辞典例句

4 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

5 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

6 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。

7 aggression   

n.进攻，侵略，侵犯，侵害

参考例句：

• So long as we are firmly united, we need fear no aggression.只要我们紧密地团结，就不必惧怕外来侵略。
• Her view is that aggression is part of human nature.她认为攻击性是人类本性的一部份。

8 alienate   

vt.使疏远，离间；转让(财产等)

参考例句：

• His attempts to alienate the two friends failed because they had complete faith.他离间那两个朋友的企图失败了，因为他们彼此完全信任。
• We'd better not alienate ourselves from the colleagues.我们最好还是不要与同事们疏远。

9 federation   

n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会

参考例句：

• It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
• Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。

10 substantiated   

v.用事实支持（某主张、说法等），证明，证实( substantiate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The results of the tests substantiated his claims. 这些检验的结果证实了他的说法。
• The statement has never been substantiated. 这一陈述从未得到证实。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

11 knowledgeable   

adj.知识渊博的；有见识的

参考例句：

• He's quite knowledgeable about the theatre.他对戏剧很有心得。
• He made some knowledgeable remarks at the meeting.他在会上的发言颇有见地。

12 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。

13 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

14 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。

15 cacophony   

n.刺耳的声音

参考例句：

• All around was bubbling a cacophony of voices.周围人声嘈杂。
• The drivers behind him honked,and the cacophony grew louder.后面的司机还在按喇叭，且那刺耳的声音越来越大。

16 blatant   

adj.厚颜无耻的；显眼的；炫耀的

参考例句：

• I cannot believe that so blatant a comedy can hoodwink anybody.我无法相信这么显眼的一出喜剧能够欺骗谁。
• His treatment of his secretary was a blatant example of managerial arrogance.他管理的傲慢作风在他对待秘书的态度上表露无遗。

17 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

18 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。