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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
U.S. President Donald Trump1 made a primetime address last night. It was his first one of those since the address he gave to a joint2 session of Congress in February. The focus: his administration's strategy concerning U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan.
The war there began in 2001 under U.S. President George W. Bush. At that time, Afghanistan was controlled by a militant3 group called the Taliban.
They refused a U.S. demand to hand over the terrorist responsible for the September 11th attacks against America. So, an international coalition4, a group of countries led by the U.S. launched attacks on Taliban and terrorist targets.
The conflict continued into the presidency5 of Barack Obama. He initially6 promised a temporary surge, an increase in a number of U.S. troops there, as well as an end to the war by 2014. But two years after that, at the end of Mr. Obama's presidency, more than 8,000 American troops were still there and the Taliban remained a powerful force in the South Asian country.
Like his predecessor7, Donald Trump initially criticized U.S. involvement in Afghanistan as expensive. And leading up to his presidential run, Mr. Trump said it wasn't in America's national interest. But after becoming president and discussing Afghanistan with his military advisors8, Mr. Trump said that he took over a mess and was going to make it, quote, a lot less messy. He used his address last night to explain his strategy for how to do that.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A core pillar of our new strategy is a shift from a time-based approach to one based on conditions.
I've said it many times how counterproductive it is for the United States to announce in advance the dates we intend to begin or end military options.
We will not talk about numbers of troops or our plans for further military activities. Conditions on the ground, not arbitrary timetables, will guide our strategy from now on. America's enemies must never know our plans, or believe they can wait us out. I will not say when we are going to attack, but attack we will.
1 trump | |
n.王牌,法宝;v.打出王牌,吹喇叭 | |
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2 joint | |
adj.联合的,共同的;n.关节,接合处;v.连接,贴合 | |
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3 militant | |
adj.激进的,好斗的;n.激进分子,斗士 | |
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4 coalition | |
n.结合体,同盟,结合,联合 | |
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5 presidency | |
n.总统(校长,总经理)的职位(任期) | |
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6 initially | |
adv.最初,开始 | |
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7 predecessor | |
n.前辈,前任 | |
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8 advisors | |
n.顾问,劝告者( advisor的名词复数 );(指导大学新生学科问题等的)指导教授 | |
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