美国国家公共电台 NPR--The White House is considering a presidential visit to Saudi Arabia

The White House is considering a presidential visit to Saudi Arabia

Transcript¹

Despite its concerns over human rights, the Biden administration is changing its stance toward Saudi Arabia in a bid to lower global oil prices and tame gas costs at the pump.

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The White House is considering a presidential visit to Saudi Arabia this summer. Relations with the Persian Gulf² ally cooled over President Biden's criticism of Saudi human rights violations³. Now the administration wants to lower gas prices, and Saudi oil could help. NPR's international affairs correspondent, Jackie Northam, reports.

JACKIE NORTHAM, BYLINE⁴: The friction⁵ between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia started even before Biden became president. During his campaign, he called the kingdom a pariah⁶, lashed⁷ out at its human rights record and questioned selling weapons to the Gulf nation. As president, Biden allowed the release of an intelligence report laying blame for the killing⁸ of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi on the crown prince and de facto leader of the kingdom, Mohammed bin⁹ Salman. Relations between the two men went into a deep freeze, but the war in Ukraine has changed that.

FIRAS MAKSAD: The high prices of oil, largely as a result of a Western ban on Russian energy, has put Saudi Arabia at the center of things.

NORTHAM: That's Firas Maksad with the Middle East Institute in Washington. He says Biden is looking to Saudi Arabia, the world's largest exporter of crude, to help tame global oil prices and lower the cost of gas at the pump. Maksad says the crown prince, known as MBS, now has a lot of leverage¹⁰.

MAKSAD: Presidents Biden's bad fortune as a result of oil prices in the U.S. is a win for MBS.

NORTHAM: The Saudis will likely have their own wish list for Biden. Jonathan Wood, a Saudi analyst¹¹ at Control Risks, a risk consultancy group, says the kingdom will be looking to renew security guarantees. The Saudis have made it clear they've been let down by the U.S. - for curbing¹² support for Saudi-led forces fighting in Yemen and when the Trump¹³ administration wouldn't give the kingdom the help it wanted after Iranian missiles hit critical oil facilities in 2019. Wood says the crown prince will want to be reassured¹⁴ the U.S. has its back in the future.

JONATHAN WOOD: I think Saudi Arabia will be looking for reassurance¹⁵ that the U.S. will still be a stable and reliable security partner as it faces threats from Yemen and, of course, in its regional competition with Iran.

NORTHAM: The Saudis will also likely be asking for weapons sales. That won't be easy getting through Congress, which takes a dim, bipartisan view of the Saudi-led air campaign in Yemen that's left thousands of civilians¹⁶ dead. And then there's the killing of journalist Khashoggi by Saudi agents in 2018. It created outrage¹⁷ in the U.S. and around the world. But Ayham Kamel, the head of Middle East and North Africa at the Eurasia Group, a global political risk consultancy, says discussing Khashoggi is a nonstarter for the crown prince.

AYHAM KAMEL: It will be in the background. It will certainly shape opinion in the U.S. But Saudi Arabia has made it very clear, we will not have the relationship revolve¹⁸ around the Khashoggi issue and the crisis.

NORTHAM: Firas Maksad says it may be tough for President Biden to sell that to the American public. But there are other considerations for dealing¹⁹ with Saudi Arabia.

MAKSAD: President Biden needs to tell the American people - is that Saudi Arabia continues to be a key player in the global energy markets. So America's got to deal with the world as it is, not which it wishes it to be.

NORTHAM: Human rights advocates say the U.S. needs to keep pressuring Saudi Arabia to improve its record on those issues. The Saudi Embassy gave NPR a statement saying Saudi-U.S. relations are long standing²⁰ and have withstood the test of time and that issues facing the world today require the two countries to, quote, "work closely together to safeguard our common interests."

Jackie Northam, NPR News, Washington.

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1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

3 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 friction   

n.摩擦，摩擦力

参考例句：

• When Joan returned to work,the friction between them increased.琼回来工作后，他们之间的摩擦加剧了。
• Friction acts on moving bodies and brings them to a stop.摩擦力作用于运动着的物体，并使其停止。

6 pariah   

n.被社会抛弃者

参考例句：

• Shortly Tom came upon the juvenile pariah of the village.不一会儿，汤姆碰上了村里的少年弃儿。
• His landlady had treated him like a dangerous criminal,a pariah.房东太太对待他就像对待危险的罪犯、对待社会弃儿一样。

7 lashed   

adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥

参考例句：

• The rain lashed at the windows. 雨点猛烈地打在窗户上。
• The cleverly designed speech lashed the audience into a frenzy. 这篇精心设计的演说煽动听众使他们发狂。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 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。

9 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

10 leverage   

n.力量，影响；杠杆作用，杠杆的力量

参考例句：

• We'll have to use leverage to move this huge rock.我们不得不借助杠杆之力来移动这块巨石。
• He failed in the project because he could gain no leverage. 因为他没有影响力，他的计划失败了。

11 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。

12 curbing   

n.边石，边石的材料v.限制，克制，抑制( curb的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Progress has been made in curbing inflation. 在控制通货膨胀方面已取得了进展。
• A range of policies have been introduced aimed at curbing inflation. 为了抑制通货膨胀实施了一系列的政策。

13 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。

14 reassured   

adj.使消除疑虑的；使放心的v.再保证，恢复信心( reassure的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• The captain's confidence during the storm reassured the passengers. 在风暴中船长的信念使旅客们恢复了信心。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The doctor reassured the old lady. 医生叫那位老妇人放心。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 reassurance   

n.使放心，使消除疑虑

参考例句：

• He drew reassurance from the enthusiastic applause.热烈的掌声使他获得了信心。
• Reassurance is especially critical when it comes to military activities.消除疑虑在军事活动方面尤为关键。

16 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

17 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。

18 revolve   

vi.(使)旋转；循环出现

参考例句：

• The planets revolve around the sun.行星绕着太阳运转。
• The wheels began to revolve slowly.车轮开始慢慢转动。

19 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。

20 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。