VOA标准英语2010年-'Negative Narrative' or Real Problems

Afghan policemen man at a police check point following an attack by militants¹ in Ghazni, Afghanistan, 15 June 2010

The Pentagon says reports of violence, corruption², poor quality local security forces and slower progress than expected in southern Afghanistan are creating an excessively negative impression of the country as a whole.  Officials say much of the country is relatively³ stable or making slow progress toward stability.

At a Senate hearing last week, U.S. Defense⁴ Secretary Robert Gates expressed concern about what he sees as an inaccurate⁵ portrayal⁶ of what is happening in Afghanistan.

 Defense Secretary Robert Gates testifies on Capitol Hill, 17 June 2010

"I think frankly⁷ that the narrative⁸ over the last week or so, possibly because of the higher casualties and other factors has been too negative," he said.  "I think that we are regaining⁹ the initiative.  I think that we are making headway."

Gates later told an interviewer on Fox News the storyline coming from Afghanistan is "incomplete," and is part of what he called "a rush to judgment¹⁰" before all the additional forces have arrived and the new strategy is fully¹¹ in place.  He appealed for time to allow the strategy to work, and he said he expects clear evidence of that by the end of the year.

Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell says Gates is not blaming the press.

"I don't know that he's laying the blame with anyone in particular," he said. "It just seems as though there is a great deal of not just skepticism, but cynicism about what is going - about our operations there, and an effort to prematurely¹² judge the outcome of the strategy. 

Still, some reporters took the secretary's comments as an assault on their work.

"Frankly, I'm a little shocked," said reporter Daphne Benoit of the French news service Agence France Presse, who just spent two weeks reporting on U.S. and NATO troops in the key southern Afghan city of Kandahar.

"I think it's a little insulting towards reporters because we're risking our lives going to a very dangerous place to try to report as accurately¹³ as possible what's going on during this war, and report as fairly as possible what's going on with the men and women in uniform and what kinds of progress are made, or not," she continued. "And therefore I think that's a pretty unfair judgment on us."

Reporters who "embed¹⁴" with military units have the opportunity to provide detailed¹⁵ stories about the daily challenges the troops face, and any progress they make on security, training Afghan forces and other key missions.  But reporters acknowledge that when living at a small base in Kandahar or at a desert outpost in a remote area, their stories may not have the broader perspective of reports from regional or national headquarters.

Still, Benoit says going where the action is - currently southern Afghanistan - is not only legitimate¹⁶, but important.

"This province is absolutely key to Afghanistan," she said. "Therefore I don't think it's a misrepresentation of reality to focus the attention on this province in particular.  And in this province in particular, there are a lot of security issues.  People don't feel safe in the city.  Governors get killed.  In the week that I was there, 30 soldiers of NATO got killed.  This is the reality of this war, and you have to report on it."

Geoff Morrell agrees that it is important to cover Kandahar and neighboring Helmand Province - both Taliban strongholds.

"I'm not suggesting anybody should shy away from covering those two places," he said. "That's where the concentration of our efforts are.  That's where most of our forces are flowing into.  And they are vitally important to the outcome of this conflict, [I'm] just looking for, you know, a wider context sometimes."

Secretary Gates has compared the current situation in Afghanistan to Iraq three years ago, at the beginning of the new strategy there - a strategy that later proved more successful than its early months suggested.  But others say Afghanistan today is more like Iraq four years ago, when officials were promoting great progress in much of the country while the capital and other key areas were embroiled¹⁷ in violence.

"I don't know exactly where to place Afghanistan along that spectrum¹⁸ myself right now," said Michael O'Hanlon of the Brookings Institution. "We often do hear people make the best of a difficult situation in the executive branch.  And some people will accuse them of lying or distorting the truth.  I think it's more making the best of a difficult situation, trying to find hopefulness amidst many signs of trouble."

O'Hanlon, who travels to Afghanistan to assess the situation for himself, says he is not surprised that in such a war there is good news to report from some areas and not such good news from others.

"That's inevitable¹⁹ because these kinds of wars are complex and there's no way that a general newspaper reader or a TV viewer can easily understand the complexity," he said. "But in this case, I would argue that the Pentagon itself has to get better at explaining things, the Pentagon and the administration more generally."

The Pentagon spokesman, Geoff Morrell, acknowledges that last point.

"It's incumbent²⁰ upon us to do a better job explaining the strategy, and where it's working and how it's working and how the war is broader than Kandahar and Helmand," he said.

US Central Commander Gen. David Petraeus (file)

But it's not all about telling positive or negative stories.  The commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, General David Petraeus, once said of Iraq that the U.S. effort did not have a 'communications problem,'  but rather had a 'results problem.'

At Brookings, Michael O'Hanlon says today in Afghanistan the problem is "somewhere between" the two.
 

1 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。

2 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

3 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

4 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。

5 inaccurate   

adj.错误的，不正确的，不准确的

参考例句：

• The book is both inaccurate and exaggerated.这本书不但不准确，而且夸大其词。
• She never knows the right time because her watch is inaccurate.她从来不知道准确的时间因为她的表不准。

6 portrayal   

n.饰演；描画

参考例句：

• His novel is a vivid portrayal of life in a mining community.他的小说生动地描绘了矿区的生活。
• The portrayal of the characters in the novel is lifelike.该书中的人物写得有血有肉。

7 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

8 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

9 regaining   

复得( regain的现在分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地

参考例句：

• She was regaining consciousness now, but the fear was coming with her. 现在她正在恢发她的知觉，但是恐怖也就伴随着来了。
• She said briefly, regaining her will with a click. 她干脆地答道，又马上重新振作起精神来。

10 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。

11 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

12 prematurely   

adv.过早地，贸然地

参考例句：

• She was born prematurely with poorly developed lungs. 她早产，肺部未发育健全。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His hair was prematurely white, but his busy eyebrows were still jet-black. 他的头发已经白了，不过两道浓眉还是乌黑乌黑的。 来自辞典例句

13 accurately   

adv.准确地，精确地

参考例句：

• It is hard to hit the ball accurately.准确地击中球很难。
• Now scientists can forecast the weather accurately.现在科学家们能准确地预报天气。

14 embed   

vt.把…嵌(埋、插)入，扎牢；使深留脑中

参考例句：

• The harpoon struck but did not embed.鱼叉击中了但并没有插入。
• This photo showed us how did the root of plant embed the soil deeply.这张照片显示植物的根是如何深入到土壤里去的。

15 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

16 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。

17 embroiled   

adj.卷入的；纠缠不清的

参考例句：

• He became embroiled in a dispute with his neighbours. 他与邻居们发生了争执。
• John and Peter were quarrelling, but Mary refused to get embroiled. 约翰和彼得在争吵，但玛丽不愿卷入。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 spectrum   

n.谱，光谱，频谱；范围，幅度，系列

参考例句：

• This is a kind of atomic spectrum.这是一种原子光谱。
• We have known much of the constitution of the solar spectrum.关于太阳光谱的构成，我们已了解不少。

19 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

20 incumbent   

adj.成为责任的，有义务的；现任的，在职的

参考例句：

• He defeated the incumbent governor by a large plurality.他以压倒多数票击败了现任州长。
• It is incumbent upon you to warn them.你有责任警告他们。