PBS高端访谈:奥巴马总统在最后一次出访中谈论特朗普

 　　ALISON STEWART, PBS NEWSHOUR WEEKEND ANCHOR: President Barack Obama completes his last scheduled major foreign trip of his presidency¹ when he flies home tonight from the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in Peru.

　　"New York Times" White House correspondent Gardiner Harris is traveling with the president and he joins me now via Skype from Lima.

　　Gardiner, last night, President Obama to some young people out of University in Lima, and he mentioned the incoming administration will likely concentrate on trade. What did he say?

　　GARDINER HARRIS, NEW YORK TIMES WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: He did. He basically has spent this whole week during this last trip abroad as president trying to reassure² his audiences. Obviously, Trump³'s presidency has caused an enormous amount of anxiety amongst America's traditional allies, although, of course, Mr. Obama actually met today with President Putin. And amongst the Russians and President Putin, Trump is a great hero. But for most of the audiences, there's been a lot of anxiety. So, he is trying to reassure them.

　　On trade, though, he said that it is likely to be the one issue where there's going to be a lot of uncertainty⁴ and perhaps some disagreements around the world, because if, he said, that Trump had most of his campaign had been about trade and making a change in the United States policies towards trade.

　　STEWART: Earlier in the week when he was in Greece, which obviously has gone through austerity and economic issues, he warned against, and this is a quote, "a crude sort of nationalism". We've obviously seen far right movements in Germany and France.

　　First of all, what was he talking about specifically? And who's his audience here? What was his point?

　　HARRIS: Right. So, it's a little unclear what his specific point was. The president started the week in Washington on Monday, giving a very reassuring⁵ press conference. His aides filed out of the White House and they were basically weeping around the White House that day, and he tried to be reassuring not only to the American people, but to his own staff that everything is going to be fine and we didn't have to worry that much, that presidents have a hard time making dramatic changes from their predecessors⁶.

　　So, over the course of the week, you would have seen him occasionally diverged⁷ from that reassuring message and say some things that made clear that he himself is worried. And one of the earliest occasions was when he said we have to watch out for the rise of a crude nationalism.

　　奥巴马总统在最后一次出访中谈论特朗普

　　Now, was he talking about in the Middle East? Was he talking about in the United States? He didn't make that clear then. But we all interpreted it, of course, as a worry about appointments such as Steven Bannon in the White House who has described as a nationalist. Others have described Steven Bannon as a white nationalist.

　　Steven Bannon, of course, was the CEO of Breitbart News, an alt-right website where there are many views that are anti-Semitic, that are anti-minority and other fairly alarmist views for much of the American public.

　　So, the president's remarks, while vague, instantly went into that maelstrom⁸ of controversy⁹ about Steven Bannon's appointment and those of others within the Obama administration.

　　STEWART: President Obama headed back to the United States and in 60 days, Donald Trump will take the presidency, the role as president of the United States. The two men met. We all saw that.

　　Is there anything on the schedule for these two men to meet and work together in the next 60 days?

　　HARRIS: There's not. President Obama has, of course, said multiple times that his greatest priority over the next two months is to ensure that there's a smooth transition between his administration and the Trump administration. The Trump administration has obviously gotten off to a fairly rocky start. Donald Trump denies that, but officials throughout the government have said for days that they were not hearing from anybody in the Trump administration.

　　That seems to be changing. The Trump administration seems to be finding its feet. They are starting to make obviously some high level appointments. More are expected in the coming days, and one would expect that Mr. Trump would come back to Washington multiples times over the next several weeks and perhaps see the president.

　　The two actually seemed to have a very productive meeting in the Oval Office more than a week ago as you mentioned, Alison. So, I think the expectation is that Mr. Trump and perhaps his wife Melania will again appear at the White House in the coming weeks.

　　STEWART: Gardiner Harris from "The New York Times", thanks for sharing your reporting.

　　HARRIS: Sure. Thanks for having me, Alison.

1 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

2 reassure   

v.使放心，使消除疑虑

参考例句：

• This seemed to reassure him and he continued more confidently.这似乎使他放心一点，于是他更有信心地继续说了下去。
• The airline tried to reassure the customers that the planes were safe.航空公司尽力让乘客相信飞机是安全的。

3 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

4 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

5 reassuring   

a.使人消除恐惧和疑虑的，使人放心的

参考例句：

• He gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. 他轻拍了一下她的肩膀让她放心。
• With a reassuring pat on her arm, he left. 他鼓励地拍了拍她的手臂就离开了。

6 predecessors   

n.前任( predecessor的名词复数 )；前辈；（被取代的）原有事物；前身

参考例句：

• The new government set about dismantling their predecessors' legislation. 新政府正着手废除其前任所制定的法律。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Will new plan be any more acceptable than its predecessors? 新计划比原先的计划更能令人满意吗？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 diverged   

分开( diverge的过去式和过去分词 )； 偏离； 分歧； 分道扬镳

参考例句：

• Who knows when we'll meet again? 不知几时咱们能再见面！
• At what time do you get up? 你几时起床？

8 maelstrom   

n.大乱动；大漩涡

参考例句：

• Inside,she was a maelstrom of churning emotions.她心中的情感似波涛汹涌，起伏不定。
• The anxious person has the spirit like a maelstrom.焦虑的人的精神世界就像一个大漩涡。

9 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。