美国应更多介入中东地区冲突吗?

 

Should US Be More Involved in Mideast Conflict?

Ed Warner

Washington

9 Aug 2001 17:45 UTC

 

President Bush says the United States remains¹ involved in the Middle East 1)conflict, but 2)critics claim its role is minimal² while violence intensifies³.

Despite pleas for more U.S. involvement, President Bush says he will continue to exercise 3)restraint in the Middle East. The United States, he insists, cannot end the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. The two parties must do that.

With that in mind, the United States has been cool to a Palestinian request for international monitors on the grounds that would simply put more people in harm's way. Israel, which opposes any 4)intervening force, now allows its troops, if threatened, to shoot before they are fired on.

But former U.S. ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk says Israelis and Palestinians are not capable of ending the violence by themselves. Writing in The New York Times, he suggested establishing a small team of monitors 5)composed of Americans, Israelis, and Palestinians who would try to 6)preserve a cease-fire.

That might be acceptable to Israelis, says Steve Yetiv, professor of political science at Old Dominion⁴ University in Virginia and author of "America and the Persian Gulf⁵". He believes the Bush Administration is too 7)skittish about being drawn⁶ into the conflict. It should start offering some proposals. "I think a strategy needs to stay away from things that are totally unacceptable and try to look for those things where there may be an overlap⁷ in preferences that both sides might accept, even though they may accept them 8)grudgingly," he said.

The U.S. hands-off policy works to the advantage of Israel, says Naseer Aruri, professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts and author of several studies of the Middle East. Thanks in large part to all the U.S. weaponry it has received, Israel is the far greater military power, says Mr. Aruri, and thus master of the situation. "The Palestinians are under occupation. The United States is not really seeing this as an 9)occupation, but rather it is looking at it as a 10)confrontation between two armies, and that is not the case," he says.

This imbalance is recognized by most of the rest of the world, if not by the United States, says Mr. Aruri. In his opinion, the United States is now seen as an accomplice⁸ of Israel and is becoming dangerously 11)isolated. "It is standing⁹ against the global 12)consensus to send some sort of protective international force, despite the call for such protection by many people in world civil society and international organizations," said Mr. Aruri. "The United States actually takes the position, 'no, we cannot internationalize the conflict'."

That is the trouble with international opinion, says Professor Yetiv. It clearly sides with the Palestinians and is 13)prejudiced against Israel. "The international community, from Israel's perspective, is interested much more in what the Arab world can bring it than what Israel can bring it. So Israel is very 14)reluctant to have any internationalization of the question. Frankly¹⁰, it just does not trust the greater international community," he said.

As an illustration of hardening international opinion, Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit told Mr. Sharon that while he welcomes growing 15)ties with Israel, it should make more of an effort to end the conflict. Otherwise, Turkish-Israeli relations will suffer.

 

 

(1)      conflict[5kRnflIkt]n.斗争, 冲突vi.抵触, 冲突

(2)      critic[5krItIk]n.批评家, 评论家, 吹毛求疵者

(3)      restraint[rI5streInt]n.抑制, 制止, 克制

(4)      intervene[IntE5vi:n]vi.干涉, 干预, 插入v.干涉

(5)      compose[kEm5pEJz]v.组成, 写作, 排字, (使)安定, 调解

(6)      preserve[prI5z:v]vt.保护, 保持vi.做蜜饯, 禁猎n.蜜饯, 果酱,防护物

(7)      skittish[5skItIF]adj.易激动的, 轻佻的

(8)      grudgingly[5^rQdVINi]adv.不愿地, 勉强地

(9)      occupation[RkjJ5peIF(E)n]n.职业, 占有, 占有(房屋等)期间

(10)      confrontation[9kCnfrQn`teIFEn]n.面对, 面对面, 对质

(11)      isolated[`aIsEleItId]adj.隔离的,孤立的, 单独

(12)      consensus[kEn5sensEs]n.一致同意, 多数人的意见, 舆论

(13)      prejudice[5predVJdIs]n.偏见, 成见, 损害, 侵害v.损害

(14)      reluctant[rI5lQktEnt]adj.不顾的, 勉强的, 难得到的, 难处理的

(15)      ties n.结v.绑, 连结

 

 

1 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

2 minimal   

adj.尽可能少的，最小的

参考例句：

• They referred to this kind of art as minimal art.他们把这种艺术叫微型艺术。
• I stayed with friends, so my expenses were minimal.我住在朋友家，所以我的花费很小。

3 intensifies   

n.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的名词复数 )v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• A clear atmosphere intensifies the blue of the sky. 纯净的空气使天空变得更蓝。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Blowing on fire intensifies the heat. 吹火使热度加强。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 dominion   

n.统治，管辖，支配权；领土，版图

参考例句：

• Alexander held dominion over a vast area.亚历山大曾统治过辽阔的地域。
• In the affluent society,the authorities are hardly forced to justify their dominion.在富裕社会里，当局几乎无需证明其统治之合理。

5 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。

6 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

7 overlap   

v.重叠，与…交叠；n.重叠

参考例句：

• The overlap between the jacket and the trousers is not good.夹克和裤子重叠的部分不好看。
• Tiles overlap each other.屋瓦相互叠盖。

8 accomplice   

n.从犯，帮凶，同谋

参考例句：

• She was her husband's accomplice in murdering a rich old man.她是她丈夫谋杀一个老富翁的帮凶。
• He is suspected as an accomplice of the murder.他涉嫌为这次凶杀案的同谋。

9 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。

10 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。