2016年经济学人 本周政治要闻 美大法官去世继任人选引纷争 救援物资抵达叙利亚

 

The world this week-Politics

本周政治要闻

Tributes were paid to Antonin Scalia, one of the justices on America's Supreme¹ Court, who unexpectedly died while holidaying in Texas.

前美国最高法院大法官安东宁·斯卡利亚（Antonin Scalia）在德克萨斯度假时意外身亡。

The political bickering² over replacing him was less dignified³.

葬礼上，他受到很多人的追悼，但关于其继任者的政治争吵却没有那么体面。

Barack Obama said he would nominate a successor to the conservative Mr Scalia.

巴拉克·奥巴马表示将选出保守派斯卡利亚的继任者，该人选需要获得参议院的认可。

That person would need to be confirmed by the Senate.

共和党人却主张把此任命推迟至新总统上任即十一个月后再进行。

Republicans argued for a delay until the next president takes office in 11 months' time, undoubtedly⁴ in the hope that he will be one of their own.

毫无疑问，共和党此举意在希望能有一名共和党人出任该职位。

A federal judge in California ordered Apple to help unlock the iPhone used by one of the Islamists who attacked an office party in San Bernardino last December, killing⁵ 14 people.

加利福尼亚的一名联邦法官要求苹果公司破解一名伊斯兰教徒的手机。该教徒于去年十二月袭击了圣贝纳迪诺（San Bernardino）的一个办公室聚会，致使14人丧生。

The FBI wants Apple to disable the password feature.

联邦调查局希望苹果能够破坏密码系统，但该公司并未服从。

But the company is not complying, arguing that building the software to unlock the phone “would undeniably create a backdoor” to its encryption protocols⁶ and give the government “power to reach into anyone's device to capture their data”.

苹果认为编译解锁手机的软件“将无疑给加密协议开了后门”，同时还将给政府“进入个人设备获取数据的权力”。

Trucks carrying aid entered several besieged⁷ towns in Syria, including the rebel-held town of Muadhamiya, near the Syrian capital, Damascus.

载有救援物资的车辆驶入数个被围困的叙利亚小镇，其中包括叙利亚首都大马士革（Damascus）附近被反对派控制的穆阿达米亚（Muadhamiya）镇。

This came ahead of a planned “cessation of hostilities” in Syria's war, thrashed out by America and Russia in Munich.

此次救援发生在叙利亚内战的“休战”之前，这场有计划的休战由美国和俄罗斯在慕尼黑举行的会议上经研究后共同提出。

No one expects the ceasefire to take hold.

无人料到此次停火的出现。

Members of opposition⁸ parties in the Democratic Republic of Congo went on strike to protest against efforts by Joseph Kabila, the president, to run for a third term in office.

刚果民主共和国（Democratic Republic of Congo ）的反对党通过罢工来抗议总统约瑟夫·卡比拉（Joseph Kabila）竞选第三任期。

Britain was on the brink⁹ of agreeing on new terms for its membership of the EU at a summit on February 18th and 19th, clearing the way for a referendum in June.

在二月十八日和十九日举行的峰会上，英国即将同意有关其在欧盟的成员地位的新条款，这为将在六月份举行的全民公投扫清了道路。

David Cameron, the prime minister, was confident of securing a deal in Brussels, but Eurosceptics back home were poised¹⁰ to criticise¹¹ whatever emerged from the talks.

英国首相戴维·卡梅伦对于在布鲁塞尔达成协议十分自信，但国内的疑欧派却随时准备对会谈中发生的任何事情都进行批评。

The European summit would also tackle the refugee crisis.

欧盟峰会还将对难民危机进行处理。

Austria set a daily cap of 3,200 migrants whom it will allow to cross its borders.

奥地利把过境的难民人数上限设定在每天3200人，

It also tightened¹² border controls with countries in the Balkans that migrants cross to reach Austria.

同时还加紧了对与巴尔干国家接壤的边境的控制。

Many then travel on to Germany and Sweden.

难民通过巴尔干国家进入奥地利后，很多人继续去往德国和瑞典。

Turkey's prime minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, cancelled a visit to Brussels after a bomb in Ankara, the Turkish capital, killed at least 28 people.

土耳其首都安卡拉（Ankara）发生爆炸，造成至少28人死亡，总理艾哈迈德·达武特奥卢（Ahmet Davutoglu）取消对布鲁塞尔的访问。

The device was detonated close to the defence ministry¹³ as an army bus was passing by.

一辆军车驶过时，爆炸装置在国防部附近被引爆。

Turkey blamed Kurdish rebels.

土耳其对库尔德武装分子提出谴责。

Russia filed a lawsuit¹⁴ in a court in London to try to get Ukraine to repay a $3 billion bond.

俄罗斯在伦敦的一个法院对乌克兰提起诉讼，要求偿还价值30亿美元的债券。

Ukraine says that Russia has refused to take part in negotiations¹⁵ over restructuring the debt.

乌克兰表示俄罗斯此前拒绝了参与重组债务的和谈。

Meanwhile Ukraine's prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, survived a vote of no confidence in parliament after the country's president, Petro Poroshenko, called on him to step down, ostensibly over the slow pace of reforms.

与此同时，乌克兰总理阿尔塞·雅琴尼克（Arseniy Yatsenyuk）在一场议会不信任投票中险险保住职位，此前该国总统佩特罗·波罗申科（Petro Poroshenko）表面上以改革进程缓慢为由要求他辞职。

The economy minister recently resigned and blamed Mr Poroshenko for hindering reform.

最近，经济部长辞职并谴责波罗申科阻碍了改革的进行。

1 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

2 bickering   

v.争吵( bicker的现在分词 )；口角；（水等）作潺潺声；闪烁

参考例句：

• The children are always bickering about something or other. 孩子们有事没事总是在争吵。
• The two children were always bickering with each other over small matters. 这两个孩子总是为些小事斗嘴。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 dignified   

a.可敬的，高贵的

参考例句：

• Throughout his trial he maintained a dignified silence. 在整个审讯过程中，他始终沉默以保持尊严。
• He always strikes such a dignified pose before his girlfriend. 他总是在女友面前摆出这种庄严的姿态。

4 undoubtedly   

adv.确实地，无疑地

参考例句：

• It is undoubtedly she who has said that.这话明明是她说的。
• He is undoubtedly the pride of China.毫无疑问他是中国的骄傲。

5 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

6 protocols   

n.礼仪( protocol的名词复数 )；（外交条约的）草案；（数据传递的）协议；科学实验报告（或计划）

参考例句：

• There are also protocols on the testing of nuclear weapons. 也有关于核武器试验的协议。 来自辞典例句
• Hardware components and software design of network transport protocols are separately introduced. 介绍系统硬件组成及网络传输协议的软件设计。 来自互联网

7 besieged   

包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Paris was besieged for four months and forced to surrender. 巴黎被围困了四个月后被迫投降。
• The community besieged the newspaper with letters about its recent editorial. 公众纷纷来信对报社新近发表的社论提出诘问，弄得报社应接不暇。

8 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。

9 brink   

n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿

参考例句：

• The tree grew on the brink of the cliff.那棵树生长在峭壁的边缘。
• The two countries were poised on the brink of war.这两个国家处于交战的边缘。

10 poised   

a.摆好姿势不动的

参考例句：

• The hawk poised in mid-air ready to swoop. 老鹰在半空中盘旋，准备俯冲。
• Tina was tense, her hand poised over the telephone. 蒂娜心情紧张，手悬在电话机上。

11 criticise   

v.批评，评论；非难

参考例句：

• Right and left have much cause to criticise government.左翼和右翼有很多理由批评政府。
• It is not your place to criticise or suggest improvements!提出批评或给予改进建议并不是你的责任！

12 tightened   

收紧( tighten的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）变紧； （使）绷紧； 加紧

参考例句：

• The rope holding the boat suddenly tightened and broke. 系船的绳子突然绷断了。
• His index finger tightened on the trigger but then relaxed again. 他的食指扣住扳机，然后又松开了。

13 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。

14 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

15 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。