PBS高端访谈:白宫方面警告叙利亚不要再发动化武袭击

 　　The White House today reinforced a stark¹ warning to the government of Syria's Bashar al-Assad against using chemical weapons.

　　Last night, the administration announced that the U.S. had detected — quote — "potential preparations" by the regime to use the banned weapons, again.

　　Chief foreign affairs correspondent Margaret Warner reports.

　　President Assad was seen today touring a Russian air base just hours after last night's White House statement.

　　It warned that the Syrian regime would pay a heavy price for launching another chemical attack.

　　Today, the Pentagon elaborated, saying the U.S. has seen active preparations for chemical weapons use at Shayrat air base near Homs in Western Syria.

　　Nancy Youssef is senior national security correspondent at BuzzFeed.

　　The Pentagon told us that they saw evidence of planes that were used to conduct aerial chemical attacks in the past being moved around on Shayrat airfield².

　　We also heard reports of chatter³ happening on the ground in preparation for a possible imminent⁴ attack.

　　The number of people who knew was so limited, and the message from the White House was so ominous⁵, that it created a real confusion that we are just not used to.

　　A chemical weapons attack was launched from that same base in April, killing⁶ dozens of men, women and children.

　　The Syrians denied responsibility. But President Trump⁷ ordered the U.S. military to fire 59 Tomahawk missiles at the base.

　　Mr. Trump's response was a sharp departure from his predecessor's caution about intervening in Syria's civil war.

　　In 2012, President Obama famously warned that the use of chemical weapons use would constitute a red line, triggering U.S. action.

　　But instead, after a deadly August, 2013, attack on a Damascus suburb,

　　then-Secretary of State John Kerry and Russia worked on a deal with Assad that aimed to rid his regime of chemical weapons.

　　Trump officials say that strategy clearly didn't work, and it's taking a tougher approach to Syria and its key backers.

　　U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley spoke⁸ at a House hearing today.

　　I believe that the goal is, at this point, not just to send Assad a message,

　　but to send Russia and Iran a message that, if this happens again, we are putting you on notice.

　　A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin retorted: "Such threats to Syria's legitimate⁹ leaders are unacceptable."

　　Iran's foreign minister said: "Another dangerous U.S. escalation¹⁰ in Syria on fake pretext¹¹ will only serve ISIS," the Islamic State group.

　　Since the April 3 U.S. missile barrage¹², the U.S. has had several confrontations¹³ with pro-Assad forces, shooting down a Syrian air force jet and an armed Iranian-made drone.

　　In response, Russia has threatened to target coalition¹⁴ aircraft in certain parts of Syria. Today, it's unclear what the broader U.S. strategy is.

　　Is the U.S. committed to a form of deterrence¹⁵ against the regime for possible chemical attacks? And, if so, in what form?

　　Going forward, will the U.S. put out a statement every time it suspects chemical weapons attacks? Is that what we are to take away from yesterday's statement?

　　For the PBS NewsHour, I'm Margaret Warner. undefined

1 stark   

adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地

参考例句：

• The young man is faced with a stark choice.这位年轻人面临严峻的抉择。
• He gave a stark denial to the rumor.他对谣言加以完全的否认。

2 airfield   

n.飞机场

参考例句：

• The foreign guests were motored from the airfield to the hotel.用车把外宾从机场送到旅馆。
• The airfield was seized by enemy troops.机场被敌军占领。

3 chatter   

vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战

参考例句：

• Her continuous chatter vexes me.她的喋喋不休使我烦透了。
• I've had enough of their continual chatter.我已厌烦了他们喋喋不休的闲谈。

4 imminent   

adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的

参考例句：

• The black clounds show that a storm is imminent.乌云预示暴风雨即将来临。
• The country is in imminent danger.国难当头。

5 ominous   

adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的

参考例句：

• Those black clouds look ominous for our picnic.那些乌云对我们的野餐来说是个不祥之兆。
• There was an ominous silence at the other end of the phone.电话那头出现了不祥的沉默。

6 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

7 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。

8 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。

9 legitimate   

adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法

参考例句：

• Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。
• That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。

10 escalation   

n.扩大，增加

参考例句：

• The threat of nuclear escalation remains. 核升级的威胁仍旧存在。 来自辞典例句
• Escalation is thus an aspect of deterrence and of crisis management. 因此逐步升级是威慑和危机处理的一个方面。 来自辞典例句

11 pretext   

n.借口，托词

参考例句：

• He used his headache as a pretext for not going to school.他借口头疼而不去上学。
• He didn't attend that meeting under the pretext of sickness.他以生病为借口，没参加那个会议。

12 barrage   

n.火力网，弹幕

参考例句：

• The attack jumped off under cover of a barrage.进攻在炮火的掩护下开始了。
• The fierce artillery barrage destroyed the most part of the city in a few minutes.猛烈的炮火几分钟内便毁灭了这座城市的大部分地区。

13 confrontations   

n.对抗，对抗的事物( confrontation的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• At times, this potential has escalated into actual confrontations. 有时，这一矛盾升级为实际的对抗。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
• These confrontations and uncertainties were bing played out for the first time on a global scale. 所有这一切对抗和不稳定，第一次在全球范围内得到充分的表演。 来自辞典例句

14 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

15 deterrence   

威慑，制止； 制止物，制止因素； 挽留的事物； 核威慑

参考例句：

• An extreme school of "disarmers" pronounced stable deterrence was a dangerous deception. “裁军论者”中的极端派声称，稳定的威摄是一种危险的骗局。
• Escalation is thus an aspect of deterrence and of crisis management. 因此逐步升级是威慑和危机处理的一个方面。