VOA慢速英语2013 拉美外交官批评美国从事间谍活动

 

AS IT IS 2013-08-18 South American Diplomats¹ Criticize U.S. Spying 拉美外交官批评美国从事间谍活动

Hi again. Welcome back to As It Is. I’m Kelly Jean Kelly.

Today we are going to Surf City, California. Riding the waves on surfboards has become a way of life there.

“Oh man, I love just getting out away from it all, get in the water and it is all blue and clean, and it just takes away all your problems.”

But first, we go to South America. American Secretary of State John Kerry was in Colombia and Brazil this week talking with other diplomats. He made the visit to improve relations between the United States and Latin America. But South American leaders are expressing concerns about American spy programs. Those programs are reported to target communications across South America. Christopher Cruise² has more.

Barack Obama’s administration has said the American government wants to work with many South American countries. Here is Secretary of State John Kerry in Colombia this week, visiting a sports program for soldiers and police wounded by landmines³.

“We will do everything possible that we can do to try to be helpful, to support this program and other programs and ultimately⁴ to try to help bring peace in Colombia.”

But tensions have increased between the United States and South America recently. Many South American officials are angry about reports that the United States government has examined emails and phone calls across Latin America.

Last week, foreign ministers from Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Uruguay, and Venezuela expressed their anger to the United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon. Venezuela’s Elias Jaua spoke⁵ for the group.

He called the spy programs illegal. And, he said the programs threatened the trust and security of the international community.

Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos says he wants more information about American intelligence gathering⁶. Brazil’s president Dilma Rousseff says her country does not agree at all with the intervention⁷.

Carl Meachem is the director of the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic⁸ and International Studies. He says Brazilians’ concerns grow out of the Cold War era. At that time, the United States supported repressive governments in Latin America.

“What they attach this whole issue of surveillance to is the United States acting⁹ as a big brother. They would say, ‘On the one hand, you have the president of the United States that wants to reach out and be nice and develop a closer relationship,’ but on the hand, they would say that, ‘If you’re trying to develop a closer relationship with us, why are you spying on us?’”

Mr. Meacham says the real issue is that the United States was caught spying. American computer specialist Edward Snowden told the press about the surveillance programs last May. But Mr. Meacham says America is not doing anything different than other countries, including Brazil.

“Compared to a lot of the countries that are being highlighted—Chinese, the Russians, countries where Mr. Snowden has taken asylum—these are countries that have far worse records with democracy and human rights than the United States.”

Mr. Meacham says he believes the tension and bad feelings will pass.

State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said this week that the American government will continue discussing the surveillance programs with foreign partners. But, she said, surveillance issues should not become more important than the work America and its partners are doing. 

I'm Christopher Cruise.

Here we are in Huntington Beach, California—also known as Surf City.

Surfers have been riding the waves at Huntington Beach for almost 100 years. In the 1950s, musicians like the Beach Boys and Jan and Dean¹⁰ helped make the sport especially popular.

Movies also helped, like the 1959 film “Gidget.” The movie told about a teenage girl’s introduction to surf culture.

“Gee, if I had one of those boards, I could be a surfer too. I would come down and surf any time I wanted to, just like the guys.”

The International Surfing Museum in Huntington Beach works to keep the history of surfing. It tells the story of Hawaiians George Freeth and Duke Kahanamoku, who brought surfing to California in the early 1900s. It also shows modern surfing champions, such as Kelly Slater.

The surf boards have changed over time. They are shorter and faster today.

One former competitor says the sport has also changed. Australian Pete Townend says today’s professionals can earn big prizes and marketing¹¹ agreements. Pete Townend was the world professional surfing champion in 1976.

“There's a lot of young surfers today making a million dollars a year. That is pretty good money to just go surfing in perfect waves with beautiful girls all around, right?”

The U.S. Open of Surfing was held recently in Huntington Beach. It brought together top surfers from as far away as Japan and Brazil. Spokeswoman Jennifer Lau says surfing is a worldwide sport today.

“Surfing is something that is appealing and it's a spiritual thing. You either have what we call the stoke, or you don't, and it's really about what keeps you alive.”

She says “the stoke” is the feeling you get when you are riding a great wave.

And that’s As It Is. I’m Kelly Jean Kelly.

1 diplomats   

n.外交官( diplomat的名词复数 )；有手腕的人，善于交际的人

参考例句：

• These events led to the expulsion of senior diplomats from the country. 这些事件导致一些高级外交官被驱逐出境。
• The court has no jurisdiction over foreign diplomats living in this country. 法院对驻本国的外交官无裁判权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 cruise   

v.巡航，航游，缓慢巡行；n.海上航游

参考例句：

• They went on a cruise to Tenerife.他们乘船去特纳利夫岛。
• She wants to cruise the canals of France in a barge.她想乘驳船游览法国的运河。

3 landmines   

潜在的冲突； 地雷，投伞水雷( landmine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The treaty bans the use production and trade of landmines. 该条约规定，禁止使用地雷相关产品及贸易。
• One of the weapon's of special concern was landmines. 在引起人们特别关注的武器中就有地雷。

4 ultimately   

adv.最后地，最终地，首要地，基本地

参考例句：

• It was a demeaning and ultimately frustrating experience.那是一次有失颜面并且令人沮丧至极的经历。
• Vitamin C deficiency can ultimately lead to scurvy.缺乏维生素C最终能道致坏血病。

5 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。

6 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

7 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。

8 strategic   

adj.战略（上）的，战略上重要的

参考例句：

• The army moved for strategic reasons.军队作了战略转移。
• The bridge is of strategic importance to us.这座桥对我们至关重要。

9 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。

10 Dean   

n.(大学)院长，系主任，教务长

参考例句：

• The students much like the new dean.学生们很喜欢这位新系主任。
• Who is the dean of the Foreign Languages Department?外语系主任是谁？

11 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。