时代周刊:穆罕默德·本·萨勒曼兜售分裂中东计划(7)

For decades, "stability" was what the U.S. expected Saudi Arabia to provide in the Middle East.

几十年来，美国一直都希望沙特能在中东地区保持“稳定”。

But if anything the rapprochement with the White House has emboldened¹ the new regime.

但如果说有什么不同的话，那就是与白宫的友好关系给新政权壮了胆。

Shortly after Trump² departed Riyadh from his first foreign visit last May, the Saudis stunned³ the world by launching a blockade on Qatar.

去年5月，特朗普上任后首次出访就去了利雅得，访问结束后不久，沙特就封锁了卡塔尔，一举震惊了全世界。

In November, bin⁴ Salman appeared to make a hostage of Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri for more than two weeks,

去年11月，本·萨勒曼又疑似曾在黎巴嫩总理萨阿德·哈里里前往利雅得期间深夜发布视频，

after Hariri announced his resignation in a latenight video during a trip to Riyadh.

宣布自己辞职之后将其劫持并扣留了两周之久。

Amid regional and global uproar⁵, the Lebanese leader returned to Beirut and recanted his resignation days later.

就在整个地区乃至全世界一片哗然之际，这位黎巴嫩领导人回到了贝鲁特，并于几天后宣布放弃辞职。

The ultimate target in all these adventures was Iran,

沙特的所有这些冒险行动的最终目标都是伊朗，

which arms the largely Shi’ite Houthis in Yemen, has warm relations with Qatar and plays a central role in Lebanese politics.

因为伊朗不仅为也门什叶派胡塞武装提供了武器，与卡塔尔保持着友好的关系，在黎巴嫩政治中扮演了核心的角色，

It is also the great rival of Saudi Arabia both for regional power and leadership of the Muslim world.

也是沙特阿拉伯争夺地区权力，争夺穆斯林世界领导地位的最大对手。

Bin Salman calls Iran the source of every ill in the Middle East—including, to many scholars' astonishment⁶, religious extremism in Saudi Arabia.

本·萨勒曼称伊朗是中东所有问题的根源，包括沙特的宗教极端主义问题，这让许多学者都感到颇为震惊。

The crown prince dates this extremism to 1979, the year Sunni radicals⁷ stormed the holiest site in Islam, the Grand Mosque⁸ at Mecca,

王储将这种极端主义情绪追溯到了1979年，那一年逊尼派激进分子不仅袭击了伊斯兰教最神圣的圣地——麦加大清真寺，

and called for the overthrow⁹ of the House of Saud on the grounds of insufficient¹⁰ piety¹¹.

还以沙特王室不够虔诚为由呼吁推翻王室。

In bin Salman's improbable telling, the zealots were inspired by the Islamic revolution that had installed a theocracy¹² in Iran a few months earlier...

根据本·萨勒曼那并不可信的讲述，那些逊尼派的狂热分子是受到了几个月前的那场在伊朗建立起了一个神权政体的伊斯兰革命的鼓舞……

ALL THIS ADDS UP to a different Saudi Arabia, one way or another.

不管怎样，就是这些原因合起来改变了沙特的面貌。

To outsiders, the most obvious danger is from bin Salman's impulsiveness¹³ in foreign policy.

在外人看来，最明显的危险其实源自本·萨勒曼在外交政策方面的冲动。

The running war in Yemen is the most worrisome example.

也门持续不断的战争就是最令人忧心的例子。

"This was a somewhat immature¹⁴, ill-advised and improvised¹⁵ action,"

“这一举措不仅有些不成熟、有些欠考虑，也有点儿临时凑合的感觉，”

says Stephen Seche, former U.S. ambassador to Yemen,

前美国驻也门大使斯蒂芬·塞奇说，

that "raises questions about whether he can carry out other very ambitious plans."

“让人怀疑他是否真能落实剩下的那些野心勃勃的计划。”

The challenge is to reconcile that, and the iron fist he shows rivals at home, with the charming fellow flying around the U.S.

问题是如何才能在这一点——以及他在国内向对手展示的铁拳风格——和在美国飞来飞去且讨人喜欢的小伙子这一形象之间妥善调和。

For all the contradictions, few come away from an encounter with bin Salman unaware¹⁶ of the force of his personality, intellect and devotion to change.

尽管本·萨勒曼身上存在种种矛盾，但与他会面时很少有人不被他的个性、才智以及对变革的献身精神打动。

"He really is trying to project a certain image, and he's worked on it extremely hard," says Saab.

“他的确在努力树立自己的形象，在这方面他的确是下了非常非常大的工夫，”萨博说到。

It is more than enough to give hope to those who want to see the possibility of positive disruption in the Middle East.

这已经足以点燃那些盼望看到中东出现积极分裂的可能性的人的希望了。

Says the Woodrow Wilson Center's Miller¹⁷:

伍德罗·威尔逊中心的米勒说：

"I guarantee you that people who this man has sat down with are asking themselves: What's new in the Middle East?

“我敢打赌，凡是和这个人坐下来说过话的人都会问自己：中东最近有什么新鲜事吗?

Two words: Saudi Arabia."

两个字；沙特。

1 emboldened   

v.鼓励，使有胆量( embolden的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Emboldened by the wine, he went over to introduce himself to her. 他借酒壮胆，走上前去向她作自我介绍。
• His success emboldened him to expand his business. 他有了成就因而激发他进一步扩展业务。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 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。

3 stunned   

adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The fall stunned me for a moment. 那一下摔得我昏迷了片刻。
• The leaders of the Kopper Company were then stunned speechless. 科伯公司的领导们当时被惊得目瞪口呆。

4 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。

5 uproar   

n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸

参考例句：

• She could hear the uproar in the room.她能听见房间里的吵闹声。
• His remarks threw the audience into an uproar.他的讲话使听众沸腾起来。

6 astonishment   

n.惊奇，惊异

参考例句：

• They heard him give a loud shout of astonishment.他们听见他惊奇地大叫一声。
• I was filled with astonishment at her strange action.我对她的奇怪举动不胜惊异。

7 radicals   

n.激进分子( radical的名词复数 )；根基；基本原理；[数学]根数

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals. 一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The worry is that the radicals will grow more intransigent. 现在人们担忧激进分子会变得更加不妥协。 来自辞典例句

8 mosque   

n.清真寺

参考例句：

• The mosque is a activity site and culture center of Muslim religion.清真寺为穆斯林宗教活动场所和文化中心。
• Some years ago the clock in the tower of the mosque got out of order.几年前，清真寺钟楼里的大钟失灵了。

9 overthrow   

v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆

参考例句：

• After the overthrow of the government,the country was in chaos.政府被推翻后，这个国家处于混乱中。
• The overthrow of his plans left him much discouraged.他的计划的失败使得他很气馁。

10 insufficient   

adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的

参考例句：

• There was insufficient evidence to convict him.没有足够证据给他定罪。
• In their day scientific knowledge was insufficient to settle the matter.在他们的时代，科学知识还不能足以解决这些问题。

11 piety   

n.虔诚，虔敬

参考例句：

• They were drawn to the church not by piety but by curiosity.他们去教堂不是出于虔诚而是出于好奇。
• Experience makes us see an enormous difference between piety and goodness.经验使我们看到虔诚与善意之间有着巨大的区别。

12 theocracy   

n.神权政治；僧侣政治

参考例句：

• Shangzhou was an important period for the formation and development of theocracy.商周时期是神权政治形成与发展的重要阶段。
• The Muslim brothers look as if they will opt for civil society rather than theocracy.穆斯林兄弟看起来好像更适合文明的社会，而非神权统治。

13 impulsiveness   

n.冲动

参考例句：

• Advancing years had toned down his rash impulsiveness.上了年纪以后，他那鲁莽、容易冲动的性子好了一些。
• There was some emotional lability and impulsiveness during the testing.在测试过程中，患者容易冲动，情绪有时不稳定。

14 immature   

adj.未成熟的，发育未全的，未充分发展的

参考例句：

• Tony seemed very shallow and immature.托尼看起来好像很肤浅，不夠成熟。
• The birds were in immature plumage.这些鸟儿羽翅未全。

15 improvised   

a.即席而作的,即兴的

参考例句：

• He improvised a song about the football team's victory. 他即席创作了一首足球队胜利之歌。
• We improvised a tent out of two blankets and some long poles. 我们用两条毛毯和几根长竿搭成一个临时帐蓬。

16 unaware   

a.不知道的，未意识到的

参考例句：

• They were unaware that war was near. 他们不知道战争即将爆发。
• I was unaware of the man's presence. 我没有察觉到那人在场。

17 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。