VOA常速英语2014--计划进一步推迟使叙利亚化学武器销毁受挫

 

Further Delays Hit Syria Chemical Weapons Disarmament 计划进一步推迟使叙利亚化学武器销毁受挫

LONDON — The operation to remove and destroy Syria’s chemical weapons continues to be delayed by security problems and bad weather. Several countries have sent  warships to escort the weapons offshore² - but the shipments have yet to reach the Syrian coast. However, officials involved in the operation insist the overall  operation is still on track.

伦敦——由于安全问题和糟糕的天气，叙利亚化学武器转移和销毁的计划仍将被推迟。一些国家已经派出军舰为这些离岸的武器护航，但是这些船只目前还没有到达叙利亚港口。然而，参与  这项计划的官员坚称所有计划“仍在正轨”。

The Norwegian frigate³ Helge Ingstad is currently waiting in international waters for the order to enter Syria.

挪威海尔格·英斯塔号（Helge Ingstad）护卫舰目前正停留在国际水域等待进入叙利亚的命令。

Nearby lies the Taiko, one of the world’s largest container ships, which will transport the chemical weapons to a specially-adapted U.S. ship, where they will be  destroyed. 停留在附近的Taiko是世界上最大的集装箱船之一，将会把这些化学武器运送到一艘特殊改造的美国船只上，并在那里销毁。

“As to military threat," explains Per Rostad, commander of the Helge Ingstad, "I perceive the threat level to be very manageable, but there might be other issues,  problems with the containers, problems getting alongside, machinery⁴ breakdown⁵, that kind of stuff.”

海尔格·英斯塔号指挥官Per Rostad解释到，就军事威胁而言，我认为威胁水平将很容易控制，但是这里可能会有其他的问题：集装箱的问题、（各国间的）协作问题、机器故障这一类的问  题。计划进一步推迟使叙利亚化学武器销毁受挫First, the weapons must be transported to the port of Latakia. Last month Syrian government forces re-captured two key rebel-held towns on the route from Damascus to  Latakia. But continuing security problems and poor weather meant a December 31 deadline was missed.

首先，这些武器必须运送到拉塔基亚港。上个月，叙利亚政府军重新占领了反对派武装控制的从大马士革到拉塔基亚途经的两处重镇，但是持续的安全问题和糟糕的天气意味着这个12月31日  的最后期限是不可能了。

“If one looks at all the progress that has been made, and a couple of months ago who would have thought that Syria would have declared all of its chemical weapons,  that all of its chemical weapons abilities would have been destroyed, that this many countries would be cooperating together - Russia and the United States and China  and other countries, hand in hand,” said Mark Fitzpatrick, director of the disarmament program at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

国际战略研究所裁军计划主任马克·费茨帕特里克（Mark Fitzpatrick）说道：“如果我们关注已经做到的所有计划，几个月前谁能想到叙利亚将会说明它所有的化学武器，还有它所有的制  造化学武器的能力将被摧毁，还有这么多的国家将联手一起协作——俄罗斯、美国、中国以及其他的国家。”

Alongside Norway and Denmark, China is also deploying⁶ a warship¹ to join the convoy⁷ escorting the weapons. 除了挪威和丹麦，中国也调配了一艘军舰加入到护送押运这些武器中来。

"The reason for China to do this is to push forward the political resolution of the Syrian issue," said Li Baodong, China's vice⁸ foreign minister. "This fully⁹ attests¹⁰  to China's responsibility for maintaining world peace and security as one of the U.N. Security Council permanent members."外交部副部长李保东强调：“中国这样做的原因是力求推动政治方式解决叙利亚问题。作为联合国安理会常任理事国，这充分体现了中国在维护世界和平和安全上的责任。”

The willingness of the international community to cooperate on the operation is unprecedented¹¹, says Fitzpatrick.

马克·费茨帕特里克说道，国际社会合作运作的意愿是前所未有的。

“Very few of them wanted to get involved in a conflict, an intervention¹²… in fact nobody wanted to get involved in the intervention.  But when it comes to a peace  effort, destroying the chemical weapons, everybody’s on board,” he said.

他说，“很少有国家想卷入冲突，介入调停......事实上，没人想卷入调停。但是当为了和平努力，销毁化学武器，各国都有责任。”

A chemical attack on an area called Ghouta in August last year prompted international outrage¹³. The Syrian government denies it was responsible - but under  international pressure, agreed to give up its chemical stockpile. 去年8月，在一个叫做Ghouta地区的化学袭击激起了国际社会的愤怒。叙利亚政府否认对此负有责任——但是在国际压力下，同意放弃它的化学武器库存。

Mahmoud al-Hamza of the Syrian National Council, a coalition¹⁴ of opposition¹⁵ groups, welcomed progress towards destroying the weapons.

叙利亚反对派团体“叙利亚全国委员会”代表穆罕穆德·阿里·哈扎姆（Mahmoud al-Hamza）对销毁化武表示欢迎。

"The liquidation¹⁶ of these weapons would be a big success for the international community at large and not just a victory of the Syrian nation," he said. "Of course, we  are speaking against these weapons but, for us, the real life conditions which Syrians face and care about are more important."他说，“清除这些化武不仅对叙利亚民族是个胜利，对整个国际社会将是一个巨大的胜利。当然，我们说反对这些武器，但是，对我们而言，叙利亚人所面对和关心的真实的生存现状是更重  要的。”

Those conditions are getting more desperate. Footage posted on the Internet Tuesday purports¹⁷ to show the shelling of residential¹⁸ districts in Homs and Damascus. The  Syrian Observatory¹⁹ for Human Rights says 130,000 people have now been killed in the conflict. 生活现状正变得越发令人绝望。周二上传到互联网上的画面显示炮击大马士革市和霍姆斯市的居民区。叙利亚人权观察组织(Syrian Observatory for Human Rights)表示目前已经有13万人在 冲突中丧生。

1 warship   

n.军舰，战舰

参考例句：

• He is serving on a warship in the Pacific.他在太平洋海域的一艘军舰上服役。
• The warship was making towards the pier.军舰正驶向码头。

2 offshore   

adj.海面的，吹向海面的；adv.向海面

参考例句：

• A big program of oil exploration has begun offshore.一个大规模的石油勘探计划正在近海展开。
• A gentle current carried them slowly offshore.和缓的潮流慢慢地把他们带离了海岸。

3 frigate   

n.护航舰，大型驱逐舰

参考例句：

• An enemy frigate bore down on the sloop.一艘敌驱逐舰向这只护航舰逼过来。
• I declare we could fight frigate.我敢说我们简直可以和一艘战舰交战。

4 machinery   

n.(总称)机械，机器；机构

参考例句：

• Has the machinery been put up ready for the broadcast?广播器材安装完毕了吗？
• Machinery ought to be well maintained all the time.机器应该随时注意维护。

5 breakdown   

n.垮，衰竭；损坏，故障，倒塌

参考例句：

• She suffered a nervous breakdown.她患神经衰弱。
• The plane had a breakdown in the air,but it was fortunately removed by the ace pilot.飞机在空中发生了故障，但幸运的是被王牌驾驶员排除了。

6 deploying   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
• Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。

7 convoy   

vt.护送，护卫，护航；n.护送；护送队

参考例句：

• The convoy was snowed up on the main road.护送队被大雪困在干路上了。
• Warships will accompany the convoy across the Atlantic.战舰将护送该船队过大西洋。

8 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

9 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

10 attests   

v.证明( attest的第三人称单数 )；证实；声称…属实；使宣誓

参考例句：

• The child's good health attests his mother's care. 这孩子健康的身体证实他母亲照料周到。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The boy's good health attests to his mother's care. 这个男孩的良好健康就是他母亲细心照顾的明证。 来自辞典例句

11 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

12 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。

13 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。

14 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

15 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

16 liquidation   

n.清算，停止营业

参考例句：

• The bankrupt company went into liquidation.这家破产公司停业清盘。
• He lost all he possessed when his company was put into liquidation.当公司被清算结业时他失去了拥有的一切。

17 purports   

v.声称是…，（装得）像是…的样子( purport的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She purports to represent the whole group. 她自称代表整个团体。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The document purports to be official but is really private. 那份文件据称是官方的，但实际上是私人的。 来自辞典例句

18 residential   

adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的

参考例句：

• The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
• The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。

19 observatory   

n.天文台，气象台，瞭望台，观测台

参考例句：

• Guy's house was close to the observatory.盖伊的房子离天文台很近。
• Officials from Greenwich Observatory have the clock checked twice a day.格林威治天文台的职员们每天对大钟检查两次。