VOA慢速英语--Close to Finland, NATO Troops Train for Battle

 

The drive from the Russian border to the Tapa military base in Estonia is only three hours by tank. And that concerns the North Atlantic Treaty Organization or NATO.

The military base once belonged to the Soviet¹ Union. Now, it has 1,000 NATO soldiers as well as millions of dollars’ worth of military equipment.

The soldiers are officially part of NATO’s Enhanced Forward Presence program, which began in 2016. It was set up to stop any Russian intervention² in the Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia or Lithuania. The three countries joined the Atlantic alliance in 2004.

The NATO troops are considered a tripwire force. That means any military action by Russia into the Baltic States would lead to a NATO reaction. The alliance has promised to defend its members.

Two times in the past week Russian aircraft violated Estonian airspace in the Gulf³ of Finland, said an official for the Estonian defense⁴ forces. Each time, he said, a Russian airplane entered the airspace for less than one minute and failed to answer radio calls from Estonia’s Air Navigation Services. The Estonian Foreign Ministry⁵ requested talks with the Russian Ambassador and gave him a diplomatic note each time, The Baltic Times reported.

VOA joined troops from Britain’s 1st Battalion⁶ Yorkshire Regiment⁷ as they began a six month deployment⁸ at the Tapa military base in early July.

“We’re here defensively, but we’re here to fight and defend should the need arise,” said Lieutenant⁹ Colonel Jim Kennedy.

Russia’s 2014 takeover of the Crimean peninsula and invasion of eastern Ukraine worried the Baltic States, especially Estonia. Just 10 years ago, Russian forces invaded Georgia, which is not a full member of the alliance. The Russian government continues to support two breakaway provinces there.

The Estonian government has spent a lot of money to enable the NATO deployment and welcomed the troops.

In Tallinn, Estonia’s capital, all eyes are on the July 16 Helsinki meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump¹⁰.

“NATO’s strategy when dealing¹¹ with Russia…it’s showing strength and being prepared to enact¹² our collective defense, but it is dialogue at the same time. We…await the outcome of Helsinki,” said Kennedy.

Kalev Stoicescu is with Estonia’s International Center for Defense and Security. He says Trump adds a new unpredictability to the talks in Helsinki, but the Russians know what they want from the meeting.

“The Russian expectations could be higher than from the American side. Surely, they are expecting a propaganda victory,” he said.

President Trump said the Helsinki summit could reset¹³ relations with Russia. But the NATO message from Estonia is clear: we are prepared for Russian aggression¹⁴.

I’m Susan Shand.

Words in This Story

enhance – v. to improve something

tripwire – n. a wire placed close to the ground which trips people, sets off an alarm

navigation – n. the act, activity, or process of finding the way to get to a place when you are traveling in a ship, airplane

dialogue – n. discussions; contacts

strategy – n. a plan of action

1 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

2 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。

3 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。

4 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

5 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

6 battalion   

n.营；部队；大队(的人)

参考例句：

• The town was garrisoned by a battalion.该镇由一营士兵驻守。
• At the end of the drill parade,the battalion fell out.操练之后，队伍解散了。

7 regiment   

n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制

参考例句：

• As he hated army life,he decide to desert his regiment.因为他嫌恶军队生活，所以他决心背弃自己所在的那个团。
• They reformed a division into a regiment.他们将一个师整编成为一个团。

8 deployment   

n. 部署,展开

参考例句：

• He has inquired out the deployment of the enemy troops. 他已查出敌军的兵力部署情况。
• Quality function deployment (QFD) is a widely used customer-driven quality, design and manufacturing management tool. 质量功能展开(quality function deployment,QFD)是一个广泛应用的顾客需求驱动的设计、制造和质量管理工具。

9 lieutenant   

n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员

参考例句：

• He was promoted to be a lieutenant in the army.他被提升为陆军中尉。
• He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官，递上了一张简短的便条进去。

10 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。

11 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。

12 enact   

vt.制定(法律)；上演，扮演

参考例句：

• The U.S. Congress has exclusive authority to enact federal legislation.美国国会是唯一有权颁布联邦法律的。
• For example,a country can enact laws and economic policies to attract foreign investment fairly quickly.例如一个国家可以很快颁布吸引外资的法令和经济政策。

13 reset   

v.重新安排，复位；n.重新放置；重放之物

参考例句：

• As soon as you arrive at your destination,step out of the aircraft and reset your wristwatch.你一到达目的地，就走出飞机并重新设置手表时间。
• He is recovering from an operation to reset his arm.他做了一个手臂复位手术，正在恢复。

14 aggression   

n.进攻，侵略，侵犯，侵害

参考例句：

• So long as we are firmly united, we need fear no aggression.只要我们紧密地团结，就不必惧怕外来侵略。
• Her view is that aggression is part of human nature.她认为攻击性是人类本性的一部份。