PBS高端访谈:美国驻叙利亚军队打击ISIS 战况复杂

 　　HARI SREENIVASAN: The coming battle for the ISIS capital, Raqqa, in Syria is beginning to take shape; 400 additional American troops, Marines and some Army Rangers¹ will join 500 U.S. special operations troops already on the ground, with an array of Turkish and rebel forces. Russian and Syrian army troops are also there.

　　The top American general for Middle East operations, General Joseph Votel, was on Capitol Hill today in the Senate Armed Services Committee.

　　Chairman John McCain pushed him on a particular flash point: U.S. support for Syrian Kurdish forces, whom Turkey considers terrorists.

　　SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, R-Ariz.: I think there's a possibility of an impending² conflict between Turkey and the Kurds, as opposed to us all working together to try to defeat ISIS and remove them from Raqqa. Do you see that as a scenario³ that we should be concerned about?

　　GEN. JOSEPH VOTEL, Commander, U.S. Central Command: I do, Mr. Chairman. And to that end, we are trying to take actions to prevent that from occurring.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: For more, I spoke⁴ with Michael Gordon, the chief military correspondent for The New York Times, who said U.S. troops will play a key role in the upcoming battle.

　　MICHAEL GORDON, The New York Times: If you look at what we're doing in Iraq right now, and I have been there, the United States is providing artillery⁵ support, along with the French. It's providing — firing surface-to-surface rockets into Western Mosul. It's providing air support. And it's providing advisers⁶.

　　And this is what has enabled the Iraqi forces to move forward in what is a very difficult fight. Well, something very similar is needed in Syria in we want the Syrian fighters to go into a town that's defended by 3,000 to 4,000 ISIS militants⁷.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: You were just there a couple weeks ago, and there's lots of different factions⁸ here who at certain times are working toward a shared goal and other times are working toward their own ends. It's a complicated situation.

　　Lay out the map for us a little bit.

　　MICHAEL GORDON: The map is a bit chaotic⁹.

　　In Northern Syria, the Turkish military has intervened. And along with Turkish-supported opposition¹⁰ forces, Syrian oppositions¹¹ forces, they have taken the town of Al-Bab. And, at times, the Turks have threatened to move on Manbij.

　　You also have hundreds of American troops there serving primarily as advisers. And they have helped train and equip the security forces in the town of Manbij. And more recently, the Syrian government and the Russians have moved into that area.

　　So it's a bit of a tinderbox right now.

　　美国驻叙利亚军队打击ISIS 战况复杂

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: Given all, who goes in to take Raqqa?

　　MICHAEL GORDON: Well, that's the billion-dollar question really.

　　What the Trump¹² administration has done so far pretty much goes by the Obama administration's playbook. I mean, their idea was the local provide the fighters, we provide the firepower, and that's how we grab back territory from ISIS.

　　But the big question is, who are going to be the fighters who seize the town? And the most capable forces that the American military has found in the region is this YPG Kurdish militia¹³. They're the ones that have the most experience fighting. They're the ones that played the key role in taking back Manbij.

　　They're the force that the American military is counting on to be a component¹⁴, not the majority of the force, that takes Raqqa, but a key component of the assault force.

　　The problem is, Turkey considers them to be terrorists, and they have sort of drawn¹⁵ a red line at arming the YPG. But, unless we arm the YPG, they're in no position to help out in the Raqqa assault. And that's pretty much where things stand at this point.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: All right, so best-case scenario, this operation goes as planned and we recapture this particular town or city. Then what?

　　MICHAEL GORDON: Well, I mean, there are a couple things.

　　First, best case from the American military's standpoint is, they work with the YPG, they give them anti-tank weapons, vehicles, machine guns, heavy machine guns, the Raqqa fight goes forward. That's going to be a long, difficult fight, just like Mosul is.

　　Then, once the capital of the Islamic State is retaken, a couple things happen. First, there has to be a day-after plan for who governs the city, who provides essential services, who is really going to be in control there. It can't be the YPG.

　　Second, the war with ISIS isn't over. I mean, they have already begun to move some of their senior leadership to Deir el-Zour. They're in al-Qaim in Iraq. They still have a shrunken caliphate in parts of Syria and Iraq. And so that fight has to go on.

　　And, lastly, steps have to be taken to avoid a confrontation¹⁶ between the Kurds and the Turks, who are our NATO ally. When I was in Syria with General Votel, I talked to the head of the Manbij military council, and I asked him, who is your greatest enemy, ISIS or the Turks? He said that Turkey is the main enemy.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: All right, Michael Gordon of The New York Times, thanks so much.

　　MICHAEL GORDON: All right, thank you.

1 rangers   

护林者( ranger的名词复数 )； 突击队员

参考例句：

• Do you know where the Rangers Stadium is? 你知道Rangers体育场在哪吗？ 来自超越目标英语 第3册
• Now I'm a Rangers' fan, so I like to be near the stadium. 现在我是Rangers的爱好者，所以我想离体育场近一点。 来自超越目标英语 第3册

2 impending   

a.imminent, about to come or happen

参考例句：

• Against a background of impending famine, heavy fighting took place. 即将发生饥荒之时，严重的战乱爆发了。
• The king convoke parliament to cope with the impending danger. 国王召开国会以应付迫近眉睫的危险。

3 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。

4 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。

5 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。

6 advisers   

顾问，劝告者( adviser的名词复数 )； （指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• a member of the President's favoured circle of advisers 总统宠爱的顾问班子中的一员
• She withdrew to confer with her advisers before announcing a decision. 她先去请教顾问然后再宣布决定。

7 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。

8 factions   

组织中的小派别，派系( faction的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The gens also lives on in the "factions." 氏族此外还继续存在于“factions〔“帮”〕中。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源
• rival factions within the administration 政府中的对立派别

9 chaotic   

adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的

参考例句：

• Things have been getting chaotic in the office recently.最近办公室的情况越来越乱了。
• The traffic in the city was chaotic.这城市的交通糟透了。

10 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

11 oppositions   

（强烈的）反对( opposition的名词复数 )； 反对党； （事业、竞赛、游戏等的）对手； 对比

参考例句：

• That's fine because all perihelic oppositions of Mars are spectacular. 但它和最近的几次区别不大，因为火星所有的近日对冲都很壮观。
• He tried his best to bear down all of his oppositions. 他尽全力击败一切反对意见。

12 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。

13 militia   

n.民兵，民兵组织

参考例句：

• First came the PLA men,then the people's militia.人民解放军走在前面，其次是民兵。
• There's a building guarded by the local militia at the corner of the street.街道拐角处有一幢由当地民兵团守卫的大楼。

14 component   

n.组成部分，成分，元件；adj.组成的，合成的

参考例句：

• Each component is carefully checked before assembly.每个零件在装配前都经过仔细检查。
• Blade and handle are the component parts of a knife.刀身和刀柄是一把刀的组成部分。

15 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

16 confrontation   

n.对抗，对峙，冲突

参考例句：

• We can't risk another confrontation with the union.我们不能冒再次同工会对抗的危险。
• After years of confrontation,they finally have achieved a modus vivendi.在对抗很长时间后，他们最后达成安宁生存的非正式协议。