VOA常速英语2014--US Hails Afghan Elections 美国对阿富汗大选表示欢迎

 

US Hails Afghan Elections 美国对阿富汗大选表示欢迎

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry, and Defense¹ Secretary Chuck Hagel are hailing Saturday’s elections in Afghanistan, which are expected to produce the country’s first-ever democratic transfer of power. Although Afghanistan’s next president may not be known for weeks, the Obama administration hopes the new leader will finalize² a bilateral³ security agreement to keep a residual⁴ U.S. military presence in the country.

Ballot⁵ counting continues after Afghans braved threats of violence to go to the polls in record numbers. Presidential candidate Ashraf Ghani said the poll showed one thing.

阿富汗人不惧暴力威胁进行投票，投票率创下历史记录，目前点票工作仍在继续。总统候选人阿什拉夫·加尼：

"We have proven that we are people of the ballot, not of the bullets.  The Afghan public appreciates democracy, believes in it and is willing to make it work,” said Ghani.

“我们已经证明我们是愿意投票的人民，不是愿意挨子弹的人民。阿富汗民众珍惜民主，相信民主，愿意实现民主。”

Sporadic⁶ complaints of voting irregularities do not appear to have shaken Afghans’ faith in the democratic exercise, said presidential contender Abdullah Abdullah.

尽管不时有人指控出现选举违法现象，但这似乎并不能动摇阿富汗人对民主的信念，总统候选人阿卜杜拉说。

"We have registered our complaints, we have processed those complaints and referred it to the relevant commission, which is the Independent Election Complaints Commission, and hopefully those complaints will be dealt with duly," said Abdullah.

“我们登记了这些投诉并进行处理，将之提交给相关委员会，也就是独立选举投诉委员会，希望这些投诉能得到恰当解决。”

At more than 12 years, the Afghan war is America’s longest.  President Obama pledged to bring it to an end while preserving hard-fought gains in the country.  The administration views a successful transfer of power overseen⁷ by increasingly capable Afghan security forces as validation⁸ of their surge-and-withdraw strategy.  White House spokesman Josh Earnest spoke⁹ of the importance of continued support for Afghanistan.

历时12年的阿富汗战争是美国从事的最长战争，奥巴马总统承诺结束战争，同时在维护在该国来之不易的成果。奥巴马政府将希望能在日益强大的阿富汗军队监督下进行成功的权力交接，并视之为其战略生效的保障。白宫发言人厄尼思特。

“This is a little bit different than most elections that are conducted in the U.S. in which we find out the results that night or the next day.  But at the same time, we are hopeful that the elections will be peaceful and inclusive and broadly acceptable to the Afghan people.  A stable and acceptable political transition is critical to sustaining international support for Afghanistan,” said Earnest.

“这次选举和美国的大多数选举有点不同，在美国我们能在当天夜里或第二天就得出结果的。但同时，我们希望这次选举能和平进行，能兼收并蓄，为阿富汗人民所接受。稳定和可接受的政治过渡对维持国际上对阿富汗的支持来说至关重要。”

Unlike outgoing President Hamid Karzai, all Afghan presidential contenders have said they would sign a bilateral security agreement with the United States to keep several thousand military personnel in the country, primarily in a train-and-advise capacity.  Democratic Senator Tim Kaine backs the drawdown of U.S. forces, but says progress must not be squandered¹⁰.

与即将离任的总统哈米德·卡尔扎伊不同，所有阿富汗总统候选人都说将与美国签署双边安全协议，在该国保持几千的军事人员，主要用于加强培训和咨询能力。民主党议员蒂姆·凯恩支持美国军队撤出，但他说一定不能将浪费虚掷了。

"There have been nearly 2,300 [U.S.] servicemembers who have given their lives in Afghanistan.  And the United States has spent $600 billion in Afghanistan.  While we cannot gloss¹¹ over the challenges that remain in Afghanistan today and tomorrow, we should remember the progress that has been achieved in 13 years since the Taliban fell in October of 2001," said Kaine.

“有近2300美国军人在阿富汗献出了生命，美国在阿富汗耗资6000亿美元。我们要正视阿富汗目前和未来存在的挑战，应该记住自2001年10月塔利班倒台后13年来取得的进步。”

 

For now, from the White House to Capitol Hill, an almost audible sigh of relief can be heard that Afghanistan’s elections went forward with minimal¹² violence, and that the country appears on track to have a president-elect declared by next month.

目前，看到阿富汗选举在没有多少暴力下进行，从白宫到国会山都松了口气，这个国家似乎下月就要有当选总统上任了。

1 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。

2 finalize   

v.落实，定下来

参考例句：

• Let us finalize tonight.让我们今天晚上干完
• 。At the same time,industrial designers work with engineers to finalize components and assembly.同时，工业设计师和工程师一道来完成部件和组装部分的工作。

3 bilateral   

adj.双方的，两边的，两侧的

参考例句：

• They have been negotiating a bilateral trade deal.他们一直在商谈一项双边贸易协定。
• There was a wide gap between the views of the two statesmen on the bilateral cooperation.对双方合作的问题，两位政治家各自所持的看法差距甚大。

4 residual   

adj.复播复映追加时间；存留下来的，剩余的

参考例句：

• There are still a few residual problems with the computer program.电脑程序还有一些残留问题。
• The resulting residual chromatism is known as secondary spectrum.所得到的剩余色差叫做二次光谱。

5 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。

6 sporadic   

adj.偶尔发生的 [反]regular；分散的

参考例句：

• The sound of sporadic shooting could still be heard.仍能听见零星的枪声。
• You know this better than I.I received only sporadic news about it.你们比我更清楚，而我听到的只是零星消息。

7 overseen   

v.监督，监视( oversee的过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was overseen stealing the letters. 他被人撞见在偷信件。 来自辞典例句
• It will be overseen by ThomasLi, director of IBM China Research Laboratory. 该实验室由IBM中国研究院院长李实恭(ThomasLi)引导。 来自互联网

8 validation   

n.确认

参考例句：

• If the countdown timer ever hits zero, do your validation processing. 处理这种情况的方法是在输入的同时使用递减计时器，每次击键重新计时。如果递减计时器变为零，就开始验证。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Although the validation control is a very widespread idiom, most such controls can be improved. 虽然确认控件是非常广泛的习惯用法，但还有很多有待改进的地方。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

9 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。

10 squandered   

v.（指钱，财产等）浪费，乱花( squander的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He squandered all his money on gambling. 他把自己所有的钱都糟蹋在赌博上了。
• She felt as indignant as if her own money had been squandered. 她心里十分生气，好像是她自己的钱给浪费掉了似的。 来自飘（部分）

11 gloss   

n.光泽，光滑；虚饰；注释；vt.加光泽于；掩饰

参考例句：

• John tried in vain to gloss over his faults.约翰极力想掩饰自己的缺点，但是没有用。
• She rubbed up the silver plates to a high gloss.她把银盘擦得很亮。

12 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。