VOA常速英语2015--奥巴马即将发表国情咨文讲话

奥巴马即将发表国情咨文讲话

WHITE HOUSE— With his popularity ratings starting to improve as a result of an improving economy and lower unemployment, President Barack Obama is preparing to focus on his domestic accomplishments¹ in his upcoming State of the Union address. But analysts³ say the recent terrorist attacks in Paris and Americans’ uneasiness about threats by extremists will be reason for him to speak about his foreign policy as well.

In the days before the annual address, President Obama has been highlighting his domestic successes, flying around the United States and, in a largely unprecedented⁴ move, giving previews of the announcements he will make in the areas of jobs, housing, cyber security, and education.

就在全国讲话的几天前，奥巴马总统一直在强调其国内成就，他在美国各地飞来飞去，预演他将在就业、住房、互联网安全和教育方面的宣布，这在很大程度上是前所未有的举动。

But the terrorist attacks in France are a sobering reminder⁵ for the president that the fight against extremists is far from over and remains⁶ at the top of his global agenda.

但法国的恐怖袭击让总统清醒地认识到，针对极端分子的战斗远未结束，仍是他全球议程的头等大事。

“In the streets of Paris, the world has seen once again what terrorists stand for. They have nothing to offer but hatred⁷ and human suffering. And we stand for freedom and hope and the dignity of all human beings. And that is what the city of Paris represents to the world, and that spirit will endure forever, long after the scourge⁸ of terrorism is banished⁹ from this world," said Obama.

“在巴黎街头，全世界再次看到恐怖分子所象征的意义，他们除了仇恨和人类苦难外什么都拿不出来。而我们主张全人类的自由、希望和尊严，这也是巴黎市对全世界所代表的意义，这种精神经永存，在恐怖主义被从全世界铲除后仍长久存在。”

Obama in 2014 launched a bombing campaign and sent in U.S. troops to help combat Islamic State militants¹⁰. But that fight, he has said, will take years. The legacy¹¹ he will want to talk about is more likely to be his effort for a deal to prevent Iran from having nuclear weapons.

2014年奥巴马发起了轰炸运动，派美军前去与IS武装分子作战。但他已经表示，这场战斗将耗时数年。他将要谈论的一个成就可能是自己努力达成预防伊朗获得核武器的协议。

Analyst² Larry Korb, who served as Obama’s campaign foreign policy adviser¹², said the president sees more reason to focus on domestic issues than global matters.

分析家拉里·科博是奥巴马的活动外交政策顾问，他说总统有更多理由关注于国内事务而不是全球问题。

“He will talk about those issues, but I think he recognizes that we have got to get strong at home before we can be strong in the world," said Korb.

“他会谈到这些问题，但我想他承认我们必须先让国内强大起来，然后再让全世界强大。”

Relations with Russia have been at a low point since the invasion of Ukraine, but Korb does not expect too much focus on what the administration is finding to be an especially complex relationship. That complexity¹³ became apparent Wednesday, when the Russians assisted U.S. astronauts during an emergency aboard the International Space Station.

自从乌克兰被入侵以来，与俄罗斯的关系一直很糟，但科博认为奥巴马不会对此有太多关注，因为美国政府发现美俄关系非常复杂。这种复杂性在周三变得更加明显，当时俄罗斯帮助了国际太空站上遇到紧急状况的美国宇航员。

“Everybody is upset about the Russians in Ukraine. Who saved our astronauts today up in space? The Russians! We need the Russians. They helped us get stuff in and out of Afghanistan. So, yeah, you are not happy with them in Ukraine and so it is not like, 'We, gee¹⁴, we ought to have a strategy that is anti-Russian.' No, we need the Russians and we have worked with them in a couple of areas," said Korb.

“大家都对俄罗斯在乌克兰的行为感到不安，但今天是谁帮助了我们的宇航员的？俄罗斯人！我们需要俄罗斯人。他们帮助我们的人员进出阿富汗，所以，你对他们在乌克兰的行为不高兴，但并不是说，‘我们应该采取反俄战略。’现在我们需要俄罗斯人，我们在很多领域都与他们有合作。”

 

Among the foreign policy successes for Obama to highlight: a landmark¹⁵ climate change deal with China, and the deployment¹⁶ of hundreds of U.S. troops to fight Ebola in West Africa.

 

奥巴马将强调的外交政策成就包括：与中国达成的里程碑式的气候变化协议，派遣数百名美军到西非对付埃博拉。

1 accomplishments   

n.造诣；完成( accomplishment的名词复数 )；技能；成绩；成就

参考例句：

• It was one of the President's greatest accomplishments. 那是总统最伟大的成就之一。
• Among her accomplishments were sewing,cooking,playing the piano and dancing. 她的才能包括缝纫、烹调、弹钢琴和跳舞。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

2 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

3 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

4 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。

5 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

6 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。

7 hatred   

n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨

参考例句：

• He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
• The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。

8 scourge   

n.灾难，祸害；v.蹂躏

参考例句：

• Smallpox was once the scourge of the world.天花曾是世界的大患。
• The new boss was the scourge of the inefficient.新老板来了以后，不称职的人就遭殃了。

9 banished   

v.放逐，驱逐( banish的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was banished to Australia, where he died five years later. 他被流放到澳大利亚，五年后在那里去世。
• He was banished to an uninhabited island for a year. 他被放逐到一个无人居住的荒岛一年。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

11 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

12 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

13 complexity   

n.复杂(性)，复杂的事物

参考例句：

• Only now did he understand the full complexity of the problem.直到现在他才明白这一问题的全部复杂性。
• The complexity of the road map puzzled me.错综复杂的公路图把我搞糊涂了。

14 gee   

n.马；int.向右！前进！，惊讶时所发声音；v.向右转

参考例句：

• Their success last week will gee the team up.上星期的胜利将激励这支队伍继续前进。
• Gee,We're going to make a lot of money.哇！我们会赚好多钱啦！

15 landmark   

n.陆标，划时代的事，地界标

参考例句：

• The Russian Revolution represents a landmark in world history.俄国革命是世界历史上的一个里程碑。
• The tower was once a landmark for ships.这座塔曾是船只的陆标。

16 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。