VOA标准英语2013--阿拉伯人支持美国可能对叙利亚的打击

 

Arabs Brace¹ for Possible US Strike on Syria 阿拉伯人支持美国可能对叙利亚的打击

CAIRO — The threat of a U.S. military strike on Syria in response to an alleged² chemical weapon attack by the Assad government has set an already tense Middle East further on edge.

The carnage near Damascus last week has appalled³ many throughout the Middle East. But possible retaliation⁴ by the United States, acting⁵ alone or in partnership⁶, has left others equally unsettled.

Policy analyst⁷ Joel Rubin, of the Ploughshares Fund, says Washington might wait until it has broader support for any military action.

"It is possible that the administration will want to go to the United Nations, will want to seek some level of affirmation for those efforts to get some legitimacy⁸ from an international body. It’s not 100 percent clear that they will do that," he said.

The U.S. has failed to get regional backing. The Arab League - which two years ago approved Western military intervention⁹ in Libya - is pressing for a diplomatic resolution. 

"Clearly a lot of members of the Arab League probably unofficially support these strikes but, in terms of the domestic message, American strikes and Western military operations in the Middle East are still very contentious¹⁰ and potentially sources of instability and discontent,” said Syria analyst Torbjorn Soltveldt, of Maplecroft Risk Assessment¹¹, speaking to VOA via Skype.

Many nations in the Middle East are already facing political unrest, with anti-American sentiment running high. A U.S. strike before U.N. inspectors¹² have determined¹³ who carried out the chemical attack could spark more anti-American feeling.

Also, some of the evidence being cited against the Syrian government is reportedly coming from Israel and that only heightens doubt in a region deeply suspicious of America's ally.

"In the U.S. you have a problem with your political credibility in dealing¹⁴ with Arab countries," said Mustafa Labbad, the director of the Al-Sharq Center for Regional and Strategic Studies in Cairo. "Iraq was accused of having weapons of mass destruction and, after the invasion, all the world saw it was a lie."

He says people across the region could take to the streets over what they see as hypocrisy¹⁵.

"There is no evidence that Syria used chemical weapons. That Bashar al-Assad is a dictator? He is. But other U.S. allies are also as well dictators," he said.

Labbad says there is one saving grace to reported U.S. plans to use military strikes - that they're apparently¹⁶ not aimed at toppling Assad.  He says the alternative - the possibility of anarchy¹⁷ or of jihadi successors, and an even more Syrian refugees, has many in the already unstable¹⁸ region alarmed. 

1 brace   

n. 支柱,曲柄,大括号; v. 绷紧,顶住,(为困难或坏事)做准备

参考例句：

• My daughter has to wear a brace on her teeth. 我的女儿得戴牙套以矫正牙齿。
• You had better brace yourself for some bad news. 有些坏消息,你最好做好准备。

2 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

3 appalled   

v.使惊骇，使充满恐惧( appall的过去式和过去分词)adj.惊骇的；丧胆的

参考例句：

• The brutality of the crime has appalled the public. 罪行之残暴使公众大为震惊。
• They were appalled by the reports of the nuclear war. 他们被核战争的报道吓坏了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 retaliation   

n.报复，反击

参考例句：

• retaliation against UN workers 对联合国工作人员的报复
• He never said a single word in retaliation. 他从未说过一句反击的话。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

6 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

7 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

8 legitimacy   

n.合法，正当

参考例句：

• The newspaper was directly challenging the government's legitimacy.报纸直接质疑政府的合法性。
• Managing from the top down,we operate with full legitimacy.我们进行由上而下的管理有充分的合法性。

9 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

10 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。

11 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

12 inspectors   

n.检查员( inspector的名词复数 )；（英国公共汽车或火车上的）查票员；（警察）巡官；检阅官

参考例句：

• They got into the school in the guise of inspectors. 他们假装成视察员进了学校。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Inspectors checked that there was adequate ventilation. 检查员已检查过，通风良好。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

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。

15 hypocrisy   

n.伪善，虚伪

参考例句：

• He railed against hypocrisy and greed.他痛斥伪善和贪婪的行为。
• He accused newspapers of hypocrisy in their treatment of the story.他指责了报纸在报道该新闻时的虚伪。

16 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

17 anarchy   

n.无政府状态；社会秩序混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• There would be anarchy if we had no police.要是没有警察，社会就会无法无天。
• The country was thrown into a state of anarchy.这国家那时一下子陷入无政府状态。

18 unstable   

adj.不稳定的，易变的

参考例句：

• This bookcase is too unstable to hold so many books.这书橱很不结实，装不了这么多书。
• The patient's condition was unstable.那患者的病情不稳定。