VOA常速英语2015--奥巴马重新审视美国中东战略

 

Obama Reviews Middle East Strategy 奥巴马重新审视美国中东战略

WHITE HOUSE—

The death of Saudi Arabia’s king, the collapse¹ of a U.S.-friendly government in Yemen and a problematic relationship with Israel’s leadership are presenting a new set of complications for the Obama administration and its Middle East policy. Not only is the U.S. leader dealing² with adversaries³ in Iran, the Islamic State and al-Qaida, but he is now juggling⁴ trouble with traditional allies as well.

President Obama had a prickly relationship with the late Saudi King Abdullah, but paying his respects to successor King Salman this week marked a fresh start. 

奥巴马总统与已故沙特国王阿卜杜拉关系不佳，但本周他向继任者萨勒曼国王表示敬意，这就标志着新的开始。

Leading a high level delegation⁵, Obama traveled to Saudi Arabia at a time when the U.S. is most depending on the kingdom as an island of stability.

奥巴马带领一支高级代表团来到沙特，此事美国非常需要这个国王成为稳定之岛。

The Middle East suddenly has become even more complex, with the collapse of Yemen’s government and the fight against Islamic State militants⁶ and al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.

随着也门政府倒台和对阿拉伯半岛IS武装分子和基地组织的战斗，中东局势突然变得复杂。

The challenges are reason for the Obama administration to strengthen its ties to the Saudis, who have joined the U.S. in efforts to fight the Islamic State group and AQAP.

这些挑战迫使奥巴马政府加强与沙特的联系，沙特已加入美国对付IS和阿拉伯半岛基地组织的战斗。

Before cutting short a visit to India to head to Saudi Arabia, President Obama again ruled out any major deployment⁸ of U.S. troops in the Middle East.

在缩短对印度访问并前往沙特之前，奥巴马总统再次排除了派遣美国部队到中东的可能。

“Our efforts to go after terrorist networks inside of Yemen without a occupying U.S. army, but rather by partnering and intelligence-sharing with that local government, is the approach that we’re going to need to take.  And that continues to be the case.  The alternative would be for us to play whack-a-mole every time there is a terrorist actor inside of any given country, to deploy⁷ U.S. troops.  And that’s not a sustainable strategy,” said Obama.

“我们在也门追捕恐怖分子网络，而无需美军的驻扎，而是与当地政府建立伙伴关系和情报共享机制，这就是我们准备采取的策略，我们未来还会这样。其他的办法就是一旦哪个国家出现恐怖分子，就进行鼹鼠战术，也就是派遣美国部队，但这并未长远之计。”

Finding a sustainable strategy in a quickly changing landscape is turning out to be a challenge for the Obama administration, said analyst⁹ Michael O’Hanlon.

对奥巴马政府来说，在这样瞬息万变的局势下寻找可持续战略是一项挑战，分析家迈克尔·汉伦表示。

“I think part of what they’re trying to do is just hold on - it’s an ugly time in terms of events and many relationships and I don’t think there’s any plausible¹⁰ grand vision that’s pointing in a happier direction even if it works out as theoretically projected,” said O’Hanlon.

“我认为他们要做的有点就是坚持住，就局势和很多关系来说这是个糟糕的时间，我认为没有什么看似正确的宏伟蓝图能指向良好的结局，即使理论上看似可以。”

And then there is the complex relationship with the closest U.S. ally in the region, Israel, which - like Saudi Arabia - opposes Obama’s efforts to engage Iran in nuclear negotiations¹¹ and any U.S. moves that could be seen as strengthening Iran.

美国与该地区最亲密伙伴以色列的关系也变得复杂，该国像沙特一样反对奥巴马希望让伊朗加入核协商的努力，反对美国任何看起来是在加强伊朗的举动。

Benjamin Netanyahu, as Israel’s prime minister, has always been a guest at the White House but won’t be when he visits in March. U.S. lawmakers invited him to Washington without first consulting President Obama, and the U.S. leader has decided¹² not to meet with him.

一直是白宫常客的以色列总理本杰明·内塔尼亚胡三月份访美时不会到白宫去，美国议员们在没有首先咨询奥巴马总统的前提下就邀请他到华盛顿，于是奥巴马决定不会见他。

Former State Department adviser¹³ Aaron David Miller¹⁴ said that while political and personal relations are troubled, the relationship as a whole is too big to fail.

国务院前顾问亚伦·戴维·米勒说尽管目前政治和个人关系遇到麻烦，但美国与以色列的关系整体大而不倒。

“I don’t think, frankly¹⁵, overall this is going to affect in any galactic way the nature of the relationship,” said Miller.

“坦率地说，我认为从全局上来说这不会影响两国关系的全局。”

Adding to tensions in the region was Iran-backed Hezbollah claiming responsibility for a missile attack on an Israeli convoy¹⁶ at the Israel-Lebanon border Wednesday. Israel responded with airstrikes and artillery¹⁷ fire, raising concerns that missteps by either side could cause yet another conflict to escalate¹⁸ - and a potential new headache for the U.S. administration.

令该地区紧张加剧的是，伊朗支持的真主党承认对周三以色列黎巴嫩边境上以色列车队遭遇的导弹袭击负责，以色列用空袭和火箭炮来应对，这就让人们担心，无论哪一方的失误都可能导致另一场冲突的升级，而这也会令美国政府更加头疼。

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 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

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 juggling   

n. 欺骗, 杂耍(=jugglery) adj. 欺骗的, 欺诈的 动词juggle的现在分词

参考例句：

• He was charged with some dishonest juggling with the accounts. 他被指控用欺骗手段窜改账目。
• The accountant went to prison for juggling his firm's accounts. 会计因涂改公司的帐目而入狱。

5 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。

6 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

7 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。

8 deployment   

n. 部署,展开

参考例句：

• He has inquired out the deployment of the enemy troops. 他已查出敌军的兵力部署情况。
• Quality function deployment (QFD) is a widely used customer-driven quality, design and manufacturing management tool. 质量功能展开(quality function deployment,QFD)是一个广泛应用的顾客需求驱动的设计、制造和质量管理工具。

9 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。

10 plausible   

adj.似真实的，似乎有理的，似乎可信的

参考例句：

• His story sounded plausible.他说的那番话似乎是真实的。
• Her story sounded perfectly plausible.她的说辞听起来言之有理。

11 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

12 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

13 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

14 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

15 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

16 convoy   

vt.护送，护卫，护航；n.护送；护送队

参考例句：

• The convoy was snowed up on the main road.护送队被大雪困在干路上了。
• Warships will accompany the convoy across the Atlantic.战舰将护送该船队过大西洋。

17 artillery   

n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队)

参考例句：

• This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
• The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。

18 escalate   

v.(使)逐步增长(或发展)，(使)逐步升级

参考例句：

• It would tempt Israel's neighbors to escalate their demands.它将诱使以色列的邻国不断把他们的要求升级。
• Defeat could cause one side or other to escalate the conflict.失败可能会导致其中一方将冲突升级。