美国国家公共电台 NPR--Leaders from across the Middle East are meeting in Saudi Arabia

Leaders from across the Middle East are meeting in Saudi Arabia

Transcript¹

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad is officially ending years of isolation² by the region's powers over his brutal³ civil war that has killed an estimated half a million people.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Leaders from across the Arab world are meeting in Saudi Arabia, and someone who hasn't been in the room for more than a decade is making a reappearance. Syria's President Bashar al-Assad is officially ending years of isolation by the region's power over a civil war that has killed about half a million people. Washington has condemned⁴ the kingdom's normalization⁵ of ties with Assad. The invitation is seen as another sign of the strained relationship between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. Also, there's a surprise visitor today. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is in Jeddah, where the summit is taking place. And that's also where NPR's Aya Batrawy is right now, and she joins me now. Good morning.

AYA BATRAWY, BYLINE⁶: Good morning, Leila.

FADEL: So, Aya, we'll get to Zelenskyy's surprise visit in a moment. But I want to start with Bashar al-Assad's reappearance at the summit - quite significant. He was something of a pariah⁷ in the region over his crackdown on the opposition⁸ to his rule, the torture in prisons, the hundreds of thousands who've been killed in the Civil War. And now he's just welcomed back.

BATRAWY: Yeah. I mean, ultimately, yes, there were important countries like Egypt and the United Arab Emirates that had already been building ties with Syria for years. But the big shift really happened after February's earthquakes that hit Turkey and parts of Syria. It gave Saudi Arabia the opening that it was looking for to reengage with Syria at first for humanitarian⁹ purposes. But not everyone in the region agrees with this embrace of Assad. The image of Assad standing¹⁰ with leaders today for that - their group photo, shaking hands, is jarring to also many Syrians as well. I spoke¹¹ with Mohammed Alaa Ghanem. He's the policy chief at the Syrian American Council, an opposition group that's calling for democracy in Syria. He says Arab states are legitimizing Assad without extracting real concessions¹² first.

MOHAMMED ALAA GHANEM: Has Assad changed anything? Has Assad released political prisoners, especially women and children? Assad has made absolutely no changes, no concessions that would merit readmitting him. So sadly, normalizing ties with him can only be seen as capitulation.

FADEL: So this war started in protests against Assad's rule. They were violently repressed. That led to a civil war. Saudi Arabia backed the rebels trying to topple Assad. So does the Saudi invitation to Assad mean somehow that Assad has officially won?

BATRAWY: Well, he oversees¹³ an economy that's in tatters. U.S. sanctions are also an obstacle to how far countries can go in normalizing with him. And there are still parts of the country that are not under his control. But Russia and Iran rushed to his aid, and he wasn't toppled in the end. And now Syria's civil war is at a stalemate. Millions of Syrian refugees are looking to go back home, but they need - the country needs to be rebuilt, and Arab states want a piece of that. And they're hoping Syria can reorient itself back into the Arab fold and sort of move away from Iran, which still has a big footprint there.

FADEL: OK, so we obviously do need to discuss this visit from Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. What do you make of his appearance this morning?

BATRAWY: I mean, it is an unusual one 'cause he's from Ukraine and this is a summit of Arab leaders. But for Zelenskyy, this is a chance to lay out his country's demands, that Russia returns all Ukrainian territory it has annexed¹⁴ since 2014. And he's making that pitch to Arab states that have close ties with Russia, both politically and economically. Saudi Arabia has an oil pact¹⁵ with Russia that's helped Russia's economy by keeping oil prices higher. And there have been Arab countries that have helped Russians evade¹⁶ sanctions by keeping business open. So - but for Saudi Arabia, for the crown prince, this is a chance to flex¹⁷ his diplomatic muscles and show that he's not going to be pressured by the U.S. or by Russia to pick sides.

FADEL: NPR's Aya Batrawy in Jeddah, thank you so much.

BATRAWY: Thanks, Leila.

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 isolation   

n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离

参考例句：

• The millionaire lived in complete isolation from the outside world.这位富翁过着与世隔绝的生活。
• He retired and lived in relative isolation.他退休后，生活比较孤寂。

3 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

4 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

5 normalization   

n.（normalisation）正常化，标准化

参考例句：

• The visit signalled the normalization of relations between the two countries.这次访问显示两国关系已经正常化。
• He was pleased to the normalization of relationship between the police and the people.他很高兴警方和人民之间关系的正常化。

6 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。

7 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。

8 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。

9 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

10 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。

11 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

12 concessions   

n.（尤指由政府或雇主给予的）特许权( concession的名词复数 )；承认；减价；（在某地的）特许经营权

参考例句：

• The firm will be forced to make concessions if it wants to avoid a strike. 要想避免罢工，公司将不得不作出一些让步。
• The concessions did little to placate the students. 让步根本未能平息学生的愤怒。

13 oversees   

v.监督，监视( oversee的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She oversees both the research and the manufacturing departments. 她既监督研究部门又监督生产部门。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Department of Education oversees the federal programs dealing with education. 教育部监管处理教育的联邦程序。 来自互联网

14 annexed   

[法] 附加的，附属的

参考例句：

• Germany annexed Austria in 1938. 1938年德国吞并了奥地利。
• The outlying villages were formally annexed by the town last year. 那些偏远的村庄于去年正式被并入该镇。

15 pact   

n.合同，条约，公约，协定

参考例句：

• The two opposition parties made an electoral pact.那两个反对党订了一个有关选举的协定。
• The trade pact between those two countries came to an end.那两国的通商协定宣告结束。

16 evade   

vt.逃避，回避；避开，躲避

参考例句：

• He tried to evade the embarrassing question.他企图回避这令人难堪的问题。
• You are in charge of the job.How could you evade the issue?你是负责人，你怎么能对这个问题不置可否？

17 flex   

n.皮线，花线；vt.弯曲或伸展

参考例句：

• We wound off a couple of yards of wire for a new lamp flex.我们解开几码电线作为新的电灯花线。
• He gave his biceps a flex to impress the ladies.他收缩他的肱二头肌以吸引那些女士们的目光。