时代周刊:穆罕默德·本·萨勒曼兜售分裂中东计划(3)

Yet since September, the crown prince has sent dozens of nonviolent clerics and Islamic intellectuals to prison,

然而，自去年9月以来，这位王储已经将数十名非暴力神职人员和伊斯兰知识分子投入了监狱，

leading current and former U.S. officials to question whether his talk of reform masks a crackdown on dissent¹.

多位现任及前任美国官员纷纷开始质疑，他的改革言论背后是否还藏着他对异见人士的镇压。

"More people today probably feel better about their country, particularly young people," says a former top White House official.

“如今，感觉自己的祖国已经变得更好了的人，尤其是年轻人，已经越来越多了，”一位前白宫高级官员表示。

"But people have suffered, and the political repression² has not lightened up. This is not a democratic reform."

“但民众是遭过罪的，政治压迫也并没有比过去减轻。可见本·萨拉曼的改革并不是民主改革。”

In the U.S., bin³ Salman has found some important supporters, though,

尽管如此，本·萨勒曼还是在美国拉到了一些重要的支持者，

including President Donald Trump⁴ and his influential⁵ son-in-law Jared Kushner.

比如总统唐纳德·特朗普和他颇有影响力的女婿贾里德·库什纳。

The President has not only pursued a tighter alliance with the kingdom and embraced it as a bulwark⁶ against a surging Iran;

总统不仅竭力紧密与沙特的联盟关系，将其视为防御伊朗崛起的堡垒；

he has also invested deeply in the crown prince personally, tweeting reassurances⁷ through a string of controversies⁸.

还对王储投入了很深的个人感情，在王储陷入一连串的争议时上推特为他发表安抚言论。

If White House support were enough to gain backing for his reforms,

如果白宫的支持已经足以帮他实现改革的话，

bin Salman would not have proceeded from Washington to Boston, New York City, Seattle, Silicon⁹ Valley, Beverly Hills and Dallas.

本·萨尔曼就不可能离开华盛顿再去波士顿、纽约、西雅图、硅谷、贝弗利山和达拉斯。

The question is whether others will buy what the White House has signed on for.

问题是，白宫表态支持了，其他人会不会买账。

"Is this a savvy¹⁰ transaction by a young guy who knows his country has to change,

这究竟是一个知道自己的国家必须改变却还想继续保持严格的专制统治的年轻人

but who intends to maintain strict and authoritarian¹¹ control at home,

提出来的一笔精明的买卖呢，

or is this a transformation¹² that will fundamentally alter the American conception of Saudi Arabia? "

还是一场将从根本上改变美国对沙特阿拉伯的印象的变革呢?”

asks Aaron David Miller¹³, a longtime State Department official now at the Woodrow Wilson Center.

曾在国务院长期任职，现在伍德罗·威尔逊中心工作的亚伦·戴维·米勒问道。

"When I was at the State Department, we prayed for a leader like this.

“在国务院的时候，我们还盼着沙特能出现这样一位领导人。

(But) beware of wishing something you don't really want."

(只是)对你并不是真正想要的东西许愿可得留神啊。”

UPON THE DEATH or abdication¹⁴ of bin Salman's father,

本·萨勒曼的父亲离世或退位后，

the throne will skip an entire generation—hundreds of middle-aged¹⁵ princes—and fall to him.

王位将跳过整整一代人——数百名已经步入中年的王子——最终落到他的头上。

The crown prince is a man in a hurry.

王储是个急性子。

"I don't want to waste my time," he says. "I am young."

“我不想浪费时间，”他说。“因为我还很年轻。”

The dire¹⁶ condition of the kingdom kindly¹⁷ accommodated his impatience¹⁸.

在王国现在面临的严峻形势下，王储的急躁情绪显得稍微情有可原了。

By 2015, when the crown reached bin Salman's father, the Saudi oil economy was running on fumes¹⁹.

2015年本·萨勒曼父亲继承王位之时，沙特的石油经济已经奄奄一息。

The price of a barrel, which Saudis had projected to remain at at least $100 a barrel, had fallen to $50,

曾预计至少将维持在每桶100美元的油价跌至每桶50美元，

and immense cash reserves stood a few years from exhaustion²⁰.

当时还有巨额的准备金能勉强支撑几年。

At the same time, the U.S., having edged closer to energy independence with natural gas and oil shale²¹,

与此同时，随着天然气和油页岩的开采，美国已经逐渐接近能源独立，

no longer needed Riyadh the way it once did, and was noticeably less attentive²².

已经不再像过去那样需要利雅得了，对沙特也明显不那么在意了。

More worrying still, President Barack Obama, unlike other past Presidents, was willing to engage persistently²³ with Iran, the Saudis' chief nemesis²⁴.

更令人担忧的是，美国总统巴拉克·奥巴马，与以往历届总统不同，愿意保持和沙特的头号宿敌伊朗的接触。

Iran, despite remaining a thorn in Washington's side, was aligned²⁵ with the U.S. in its desire

因为尽管伊朗那时仍是华盛顿的眼中钉，但它和美国一样，

to destroy ISIS, the Sunni extremists who executed Americans on camera and used Saudi textbooks in their schools.

也渴望摧毁ISIS这群公然在镜头前处决美国人，在学校使用沙特的教科书的逊尼派极端分子。

1 dissent   

n./v.不同意，持异议

参考例句：

• It is too late now to make any dissent.现在提出异议太晚了。
• He felt her shoulders gave a wriggle of dissent.他感到她的肩膀因为不同意而动了一下。

2 repression   

n.镇压，抑制，抑压

参考例句：

• The repression of your true feelings is harmful to your health.压抑你的真实感情有害健康。
• This touched off a new storm against violent repression.这引起了反对暴力镇压的新风暴。

3 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。

4 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。

5 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

6 bulwark   

n.堡垒，保障，防御

参考例句：

• That country is a bulwark of freedom.那个国家是自由的堡垒。
• Law and morality are the bulwark of society.法律和道德是社会的防御工具。

7 reassurances   

n.消除恐惧或疑虑( reassurance的名词复数 )；恢复信心；使人消除恐惧或疑虑的事物；使人恢复信心的事物

参考例句：

• We have had some reassurances from the council that the building will be saved. 理事会保证会保留那座建筑，这使我们得到了些许安慰。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Everybody's reassurances have encouraged me. 大家的勉励鼓舞了我。 来自辞典例句

8 controversies   

争论

参考例句：

• We offer no comment on these controversies here. 对于这些争议，我们在这里不作任何评论。 来自英汉非文学 - 历史
• The controversies surrounding population growth are unlikely to subside soon. 围绕着人口增长问题的争论看来不会很快平息。 来自辞典例句

9 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

10 savvy   

v.知道，了解；n.理解能力，机智，悟性；adj.有见识的，懂实际知识的，通情达理的

参考例句：

• She was a pretty savvy woman.她是个见过世面的漂亮女人。
• Where's your savvy?你的常识到哪里去了？

11 authoritarian   

n./adj.专制(的)，专制主义者，独裁主义者

参考例句：

• Foreign diplomats suspect him of authoritarian tendencies.各国外交官怀疑他有着独裁主义倾向。
• The authoritarian policy wasn't proved to be a success.独裁主义的政策证明并不成功。

12 transformation   

n.变化；改造；转变

参考例句：

• Going to college brought about a dramatic transformation in her outlook.上大学使她的观念发生了巨大的变化。
• He was struggling to make the transformation from single man to responsible husband.他正在努力使自己由单身汉变为可靠的丈夫。

13 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

14 abdication   

n.辞职；退位

参考例句：

• The officers took over and forced his abdication in 1947.1947年军官们接管了政权并迫使他退了位。
• Abdication is precluded by the lack of a possible successor.因为没有可能的继承人，让位无法实现。

15 middle-aged   

adj.中年的

参考例句：

• I noticed two middle-aged passengers.我注意到两个中年乘客。
• The new skin balm was welcome by middle-aged women.这种新护肤香膏受到了中年妇女的欢迎。

16 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

17 kindly   

adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地

参考例句：

• Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
• A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。

18 impatience   

n.不耐烦，急躁

参考例句：

• He expressed impatience at the slow rate of progress.进展缓慢，他显得不耐烦。
• He gave a stamp of impatience.他不耐烦地跺脚。

19 fumes   

n.(强烈而刺激的)气味，气体

参考例句：

• The health of our children is being endangered by exhaust fumes. 我们孩子们的健康正受到排放出的废气的损害。
• Exhaust fumes are bad for your health. 废气对健康有害。

20 exhaustion   

n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述

参考例句：

• She slept the sleep of exhaustion.她因疲劳而酣睡。
• His exhaustion was obvious when he fell asleep standing.他站着睡着了，显然是太累了。

21 shale   

n.页岩，泥板岩

参考例句：

• We can extract oil from shale.我们可以从页岩中提取石油。
• Most of the rock in this mountain is shale.这座山上大部分的岩石都是页岩。

22 attentive   

adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的

参考例句：

• She was very attentive to her guests.她对客人招待得十分周到。
• The speaker likes to have an attentive audience.演讲者喜欢注意力集中的听众。

23 persistently   

ad.坚持地；固执地

参考例句：

• He persistently asserted his right to a share in the heritage. 他始终声称他有分享那笔遗产的权利。
• She persistently asserted her opinions. 她果断地说出了自己的意见。

24 nemesis   

n.给以报应者，复仇者，难以对付的敌手

参考例句：

• Uncritical trust is my nemesis.盲目的相信一切害了我自己。
• Inward suffering is the worst of Nemesis.内心的痛苦是最厉害的惩罚。

25 aligned   

adj.对齐的，均衡的

参考例句：

• Make sure the shelf is aligned with the top of the cupboard.务必使搁架与橱柜顶端对齐。