VOA慢速英语2014 选举结果可能迫使美国改变外交政策

 

AS IT IS 2014-11-06 Election Results Could Force Changes in US Foreign Policy 选举结果可能迫使美国改变外交政策

President Barack Obama may have less power to negotiate with other countries beginning in January. That is because his political opponents will control both houses of Congress for the first time in his presidency¹. And, many of them disagree with his foreign policies.

Republicans won control of the United States Senate in elections Tuesday. They also strengthened their control of the House of Representatives.

Guy Ziv is a professor at American University in Washington, D.C.  He says Republican control of Congress will limit the president’s power to negotiate on two important foreign policy issues.

“This will create much more difficulty for President Obama to make the kind of progress that he’s wanted to see in both the Iranian negotiations² -- Iran’s nuclear negotiations -- and the Israeli/Palestinian peace process. Both of those issues have regrettably been used over the years as a partisan³ football on Capitol Hill.”

Negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program are to end later this month. International negotiators have been trying to get Iran to limit its nuclear activities. In exchange, some economic limits on the country would be eased. 

Many Senate Republicans say they will not support an agreement that permits Iran to continue enriching any uranium. Enriched uranium can be used to make nuclear weapons. However, President Obama already has the power to end, or waive⁴, sanctions without approval from Congress. Justin Logan is a foreign policy expert at the Cato Institute, a research group. He says Republicans could take that power from the president.

“There’s some prospect⁵ that a large Republican wave and takeover of the Senate could raise the prospect of sanctions bills against Iran without that waiver authority. But that requires Congress to sort of take responsibility for the policy and leave its fingerprints⁶ on the policy. And historically they’ve been very wary⁷ of doing that.”

Republican Senator John McCain has led his party’s criticism of the administration’s support for moderate rebels in Syria. Atlantic Council expert Robert Manning says Senator McCain may pressure the administration to take a more active military role.

“I think on the security side, you're likely to see Senator McCain taking over the Armed Forces Committee in the Senate, and I think that that may be contentious⁸ in terms of defense⁹ spending and, and some of our military activities in the Middle East and elsewhere.”

The U.S. has started to train the Syrian rebels and give them military equipment. But Mr. Logan says Republicans want the Obama administration to do more.

“There’s a program in place. It's not being conducted the way Senator McCain would like it to be conducted. So I think the, the change here might really be how the conversation goes, what sorts of hearings happen, and how Republicans in the Senate can affect, sort of, the press coverage¹⁰ -- what's said about the president’s policies.”

Words in This Story

partisan - adj. strongly supportive of a particular cause

sanctions - n. actions that are taken or orders give to force a country to obey international laws by limiting or stopping trade with that country

wary - adj. not having or showing complete trust in someone or something that could be dangerous or cause trouble

contentious - adj. involving a lot of arguing

conversation - n. a talk, observation of feelings, opinions or ideas

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki says American diplomats¹¹ will work with whoever controls Congress.

“The State Department is a nonpartisan building and one where we work with Democrats¹² and Republicans, so we will continue to move forward with that in mind.”

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 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。

3 partisan   

adj.党派性的；游击队的；n.游击队员；党徒

参考例句：

• In their anger they forget all the partisan quarrels.愤怒之中，他们忘掉一切党派之争。
• The numerous newly created partisan detachments began working slowly towards that region.许多新建的游击队都开始慢慢地向那里移动。

4 waive   

vt.放弃，不坚持(规定、要求、权力等)

参考例句：

• I'll record to our habitat office waive our claim immediately.我立即写信给咱们的总公司提出放弃索赔。
• In view of the unusual circumstances,they agree to waive their requirement.鉴于特殊情况，他们同意放弃他们的要求。

5 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

6 fingerprints   

n.指纹( fingerprint的名词复数 )v.指纹( fingerprint的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Everyone's fingerprints are unique. 每个人的指纹都是独一无二的。
• They wore gloves so as not to leave any fingerprints behind (them). 他们戴着手套，以免留下指纹。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 wary   

adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的

参考例句：

• He is wary of telling secrets to others.他谨防向他人泄露秘密。
• Paula frowned,suddenly wary.宝拉皱了皱眉头，突然警惕起来。

8 contentious   

adj.好辩的，善争吵的

参考例句：

• She was really not of the contentious fighting sort.她委实不是好吵好闹的人。
• Since then they have tended to steer clear of contentious issues.从那时起，他们总想方设法避开有争议的问题。

9 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

10 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

11 diplomats   

n.外交官( diplomat的名词复数 )；有手腕的人，善于交际的人

参考例句：

• These events led to the expulsion of senior diplomats from the country. 这些事件导致一些高级外交官被驱逐出境。
• The court has no jurisdiction over foreign diplomats living in this country. 法院对驻本国的外交官无裁判权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》