VOA慢速英语--拜登力争在上任后首次出访之行中加强与盟国的关系

Biden Aims to Strengthen Ties with Allies in First Foreign Trip as President

American President Joe Biden began his first foreign trip in office Wednesday. He is expected to strengthen ties with European allies during an eight-day trip.

Biden told reporters Wednesday that the trip is meant to show the leaders of China and Russia that the United States and Europe are still close.

Biden is also looking to unite allies on their efforts to fight the disease COVID-19. He wants to urge them to agree on a plan to deal with China, even as the U.S. expresses concern about Europe's economic links to Russia. Biden also wants to urge non-European allies, including Australia, to take more aggressive action to fight global warming.

A G7 meeting in Britain

Biden's first stop will be an address to U.S. troops in Britain. The next day, he is to meet with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. While in Britain, Biden will attend a meeting with leaders of the Group of Seven (G-7) nations. He will then travel to Brussels for a meeting with NATO officials and the heads of the European Union. Those meetings come as some observers say Europeans are expecting less from U.S. leadership on foreign issues.

Central and Eastern Europeans hope to tie the U.S. more closely to their security. Germany is looking to keep U.S. military troops in the country so it does not need to build up its own forces. France, however, believes that the European Union must be more independent in the future.

The president will end his trip by meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin in Geneva, Switzerland. Biden wants to privately¹ pressure Putin to end recent aggressive actions. They include cyberattacks on American businesses by Russian-based hackers³. Other areas of disagreement include the jailing of opposition⁴ leader Alexei Navalny and repeated efforts by Russia to interfere⁵ in U.S. elections.

Alexander Vershbow is a former U.S. diplomat⁶ and former deputy secretary general of NATO. He said there is a concern that the U.S. will return to policies in place during former president Donald Trump⁷'s administration after elections next year "or in the next presidential election."

Possible areas tension

There will be several possible areas of tension during the meetings with European officials. On climate change, the U.S. wants to regain⁸ credibility after Trump withdrew from the Paris climate agreement. Biden could also feel pressure on the issue of trade. And leaders whose COVID-19 vaccination⁹ efforts have been slower are likely to pressure Biden to share more of the U.S. vaccine¹⁰ surplus with countries around the world.

Another central issue will be China. Reports say Biden believes the West must publicly show it can compete economically with China as the world recovers from the coronavirus crisis.

Biden and the other G-7 leaders are expected to announce a financing program to help developing countries build roads, ports and similar infrastructure¹¹. The program is meant to compete directly with China's Belt and Road Initiative. Biden has said he believes the competition with China is the defining one for the 21st century.

Biden is also expected to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan while in Brussels, Belgium. The two leaders have had tense moments in their relationship over the years.

Biden waited until April to call Erdogan for the first time as president. In that call, he told the Turkish leader that he would formally recognize the systematic¹² killings¹³ and removal of Armenians in the early 20th century as "genocide." Earlier administrations had avoided the term.

Biden is dealing¹⁴ differently with Russia than Trump did. The only meeting between Trump and Putin was in Helsinki, Finland in July 2018.

Richard Haass is president of the Council on Foreign Relations, a research group in Washington D.C. He told the Associated Press, "By and large, these are not meetings on outcomes, these are ‘get to know you again' meetings for the U.S. and Europe."

The idea is "to demonstrate again that the U.S. is back on the right course," Haas said.

Words in This Story

hacker² –n. a person who secretly gets into computer systems in order to get information or to cause damage

credibility –n. the quality of being believed or accepted as true, real or honest

century –n. a period of 100 years

1 privately   

adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地

参考例句：

• Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
• The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。

2 hacker   

n.能盗用或偷改电脑中信息的人，电脑黑客

参考例句：

• The computer hacker wrote that he was from Russia.这个计算机黑客自称他来自俄罗斯。
• This site was attacked by a hacker last week.上周这个网站被黑客攻击了。

3 hackers   

n.计算机迷( hacker的名词复数 )；私自存取或篡改电脑资料者，电脑“黑客”

参考例句：

• They think of viruses that infect an organization from the outside.They envision hackers breaking into their information vaults. 他们考虑来自外部的感染公司的病毒，他们设想黑客侵入到信息宝库中。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Arranging a meeting with the hackers took weeks againoff-again email exchanges. 通过几星期电子邮件往来安排见面，他们最终同意了。 来自互联网

4 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。

5 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

6 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。

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 regain   

vt.重新获得，收复，恢复

参考例句：

• He is making a bid to regain his World No.1 ranking.他正为重登世界排名第一位而努力。
• The government is desperate to regain credibility with the public.政府急于重新获取公众的信任。

9 vaccination   

n.接种疫苗，种痘

参考例句：

• Vaccination is a preventive against smallpox.种痘是预防天花的方法。
• Doctors suggest getting a tetanus vaccination every ten years.医生建议每十年注射一次破伤风疫苗。

10 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

11 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

12 systematic   

adj.有系统的，有计划的，有方法的

参考例句：

• The way he works isn't very systematic.他的工作不是很有条理。
• The teacher made a systematic work of teaching.这个教师进行系统的教学工作。

13 killings   

谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发

参考例句：

• His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。

14 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。