经济学人:亲密邻国彻底翻脸 誓言恶战到底

 　　Turkey and Syria

　　土耳其和叙利亚

　　Bad blood bubbles

　　恶战到底

　　Relations between the two neighbours are getting worse than ever两邻国之间的关系到达历史冰点

　　A dangerous spat¹

　　一场危险的争执

　　After a series of mortar² bombs fired from Syria landed in the south-eastern Turkish town of Akcakale, killing³ five people on October 3rd, Turkey’s government ordered its forces to fire on Syrian military targets. The Turkish shelling, which continued into Thursday, reportedly killed several Syrian soldiers, raising the spectre of a tit-for-tat that could get out of hand. Turkey has repeatedly called on the UN to impose a buffer⁴ zone in Syria to protect civilians⁵ and, by implication, to give rebels trying to overthrow⁶ the Syrian regime of Bashar Assad a haven⁷. This latest escalation⁸ of hostilities⁹ between the two neighbours makes the prospect¹⁰ of a wider intervention¹¹ a notch¹² likelier. But as The Economist¹³ went to press, both sides seemed loth to let the spat slide into a bigger punch-up straight away.

　　10月3日，当叙利亚炮弹对准土耳其东南部小镇Akcakale进行一系列炮轰并杀害了其5名国民后，土耳其政府对部队下达命令以叙利亚为军事目标进行打击。炮火一直持续到周四，据报道一些叙利亚士兵在此次炮击中丧生，而两国这种针锋相对的形式有可能失控。土耳其一再呼吁联合国在叙利亚建立一个免战区来保护平民,言下之意,就是给试图推翻阿萨德的叙利亚政权的叛军分子一个避风港。而近期，两国之间不断升级的敌对事件，使得国外干预的可能性更高。就在《经济学人》付梓之际，双方似乎都不愿意引起更大规模的纷争之中。

　　土耳其和叙利亚恶战到底.jpg

　　After the Syrian attack, Turkey’s mildly Islamist prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, convened¹⁴ his top generals for emergency talks, while Ahmet Davutoglu, his foreign minister, called on the heads of NATO and the UN, among others, to back Turkey’s appeals for a buffer zone in S yria. In Akcakale residents chanting slogans took to the streets to protest. The town has been prey¹⁵ to stray bullets from Syria in the past fortnight, as clashes intensified¹⁶ between rebels and troops loyal to Mr Assad.

　　在叙利亚的袭击之后，土耳其外交部长呼吁北约和联合国的首脑，支持其在叙利亚建立一个安全区，与此同时，土耳其温和的伊斯兰总理雷杰普·塔伊普·埃尔多安(Recep Tayyip Erdogan)立即召集了高级军官进行了紧急会议。但是Akcakale小镇的居民上街喊着口号表示抗议。在过去的两周里，随着忠于叙利亚总统阿萨德和叛军之间矛盾的加剧，小镇犹如猎物般深陷流弹的囹圄。

　　Despite Turkey’s retaliatory¹⁷ strikes, which many Turks hope are a face-saving ploy¹⁸ rather than a prelude¹⁹ to war, it remained unclear whether the Syrian shells had been fired deliberately²⁰. Some Turks even speculated that the rebels’ Free Syrian Army, which Turkey has been helping²¹ by providing it with bases and probably arms and training, may have orchestrated the attack in a bid to lure²² Turkey into the conflict.

　　尽管土耳其进行报复性打击，而土耳其居民们希望这仅仅只是表面功夫而非战争前奏，但是到现在为止，仍不能确认叙利亚的炮击是否属于故意行为。一些土耳其公民甚至推测是那些叙利亚叛军的所做作为（土耳其一直通过提供与基地和武器和训练帮助他们），这起袭击也许是精心策划的，以将土耳其引入冲突。

　　A military confrontation²³ between Turkey and Syria has been mooted²⁴ ever since Syria downed a Turkish air force reconnaissance jet on June 22nd near the Syrian port city of Latakia. Turkey growled²⁵ about possible retaliation²⁶, massing its troops along the border and declaring that it had revised its rules of engagement with Syria.

　　早在今年6月22日叙利亚在其港口城市拉塔基亚击落一架土耳其空军侦察起，两国之间的军事对峙就开始了。土耳其愤怒宣称将会进行可能的报复，沿着边境集结军队,并单方面对外称,已修改与叙利亚的交战规则。

　　Syria is now Mr Erdogan’s biggest headache, with opinion polls suggesting that most Turks are unhappy with his government’s so far fruitless attempts to change the regime in Damascus. The slaughter²⁷ of Syrian civilians continues unabated. About 80,000 of them, at last count, had sought refuge in Turkey.

　　然而现在叙利亚仍然是Erdogan总理最头疼的问题，而民意调查显示众多的土耳其人对当局政府在大马士革政权更替问题到目前为止的都没有任何结果表示了不满。叙利亚对平民的屠杀一直在持续进行着。在最近的一次统计中,约有80000在土耳其寻求庇护。

　　Mr Erdogan’s support for Syria’s rebels has complicated and soured Turkey’s other relations in the region, particularly with Iran, Syria’s main local ally. Iraq’s prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, a Shia, has also turned against Mr Erdogan for coddling his Sunni rivals. Meanwhile, Mr Assad has resumed the backing his father Hafez, who was president before him, used to give to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Turkey, ceding²⁸ control of a string of towns along the Turkish border to the PKK’s allies in the Democratic Union Party, a group of Syrian Kurds better known as the PYD. Turkey’s enthusiasm for a buffer zone may well be boosted as much by its fear of these newly emboldened²⁹ Kurds as by its concern for Syria’s beleaguered³⁰ people.

　　Erdogan总理因为支持叙利亚反对派使得土耳其与邻国的关系变得更加恶劣，这其中尤其是叙利亚的盟友伊朗。伊拉克总理努里·马利基（Nuri al-Maliki）是位什叶派,也因为土耳其总理背弃他转而支持逊尼派对手而与其决裂。在此之前，阿萨德总统的父亲，前叙利亚总统哈菲兹（Hafez）一直支持土耳其的库尔德工人党（PKK）。而今，阿萨德总统也开始支持该党，并将土耳其边境一系列小镇的掌控权交由PKK在民主联盟党（Democratic Union Party）内的盟友。民主联盟党是有叙利亚库尔德人所组成，又称PYD。土耳其对受怂恿的库尔德人的恐惧和对陷入困境的叙利亚人的担忧使得加强了其对缓冲区的热情大大增加。

 

1 spat   

n.口角，掌击；v.发出呼噜呼噜声

参考例句：

• Her parents always have spats.她的父母经常有些小的口角。
• There is only a spat between the brother and sister.那只是兄妹间的小吵小闹。

2 mortar   

n.灰浆，灰泥；迫击炮；v.把…用灰浆涂接合

参考例句：

• The mason flushed the joint with mortar.泥工用灰浆把接缝处嵌平。
• The sound of mortar fire seemed to be closing in.迫击炮的吼声似乎正在逼近。

3 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。

4 buffer   

n.起缓冲作用的人(或物)，缓冲器；vt.缓冲

参考例句：

• A little money can be a useful buffer in time of need.在急需时，很少一点钱就能解燃眉之急。
• Romantic love will buffer you against life's hardships.浪漫的爱会减轻生活的艰辛。

5 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

6 overthrow   

v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆

参考例句：

• After the overthrow of the government,the country was in chaos.政府被推翻后，这个国家处于混乱中。
• The overthrow of his plans left him much discouraged.他的计划的失败使得他很气馁。

7 haven   

n.安全的地方，避难所，庇护所

参考例句：

• It's a real haven at the end of a busy working day.忙碌了一整天后，这真是一个安乐窝。
• The school library is a little haven of peace and quiet.学校的图书馆是一个和平且安静的小避风港。

8 escalation   

n.扩大，增加

参考例句：

• The threat of nuclear escalation remains. 核升级的威胁仍旧存在。 来自辞典例句
• Escalation is thus an aspect of deterrence and of crisis management. 因此逐步升级是威慑和危机处理的一个方面。 来自辞典例句

9 hostilities   

n.战争；敌意(hostility的复数)；敌对状态；战事

参考例句：

• Mexico called for an immediate cessation of hostilities. 墨西哥要求立即停止敌对行动。
• All the old hostilities resurfaced when they met again. 他们再次碰面时，过去的种种敌意又都冒了出来。

10 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

11 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。

12 notch   

n.(V字形)槽口，缺口，等级

参考例句：

• The peanuts they grow are top-notch.他们种的花生是拔尖的。
• He cut a notch in the stick with a sharp knife.他用利刃在棒上刻了一个凹痕。

13 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

14 convened   

召开( convene的过去式 )； 召集； （为正式会议而）聚集； 集合

参考例句：

• The chairman convened the committee to put the issue to a vote. 主席召集委员们开会对这个问题进行表决。
• The governor convened his troops to put down the revolt. 总督召集他的部队去镇压叛乱。

15 prey   

n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨

参考例句：

• Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
• The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。

16 intensified   

v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Violence intensified during the night. 在夜间暴力活动加剧了。
• The drought has intensified. 旱情加剧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 retaliatory   

adj.报复的

参考例句：

• The process can take years before the WTO approves retaliatory action. 在WTO通过此行动之前，这个程序恐怕要等上一阵子了。 来自互联网
• Retaliatory tariffs on China are tantamount to taxing ourselves as a punishment. 将惩罚性关税强加于中国相当于对我们自己实施课税惩罚。 来自互联网

18 ploy   

n.花招，手段

参考例句：

• I think this is just a government ploy to deceive the public.我认为这只是政府欺骗公众的手段。
• Christmas should be a time of excitement and wonder,not a cynical marketing ploy.圣诞节应该是兴奋和美妙的时刻，而不该是一种肆无忌惮的营销策略。

19 prelude   

n.序言，前兆，序曲

参考例句：

• The prelude to the musical composition is very long.这首乐曲的序曲很长。
• The German invasion of Poland was a prelude to World War II.德国入侵波兰是第二次世界大战的序幕。

20 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

21 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

22 lure   

n.吸引人的东西，诱惑物；vt.引诱，吸引

参考例句：

• Life in big cities is a lure for many country boys.大城市的生活吸引着许多乡下小伙子。
• He couldn't resist the lure of money.他不能抵制金钱的诱惑。

23 confrontation   

n.对抗，对峙，冲突

参考例句：

• We can't risk another confrontation with the union.我们不能冒再次同工会对抗的危险。
• After years of confrontation,they finally have achieved a modus vivendi.在对抗很长时间后，他们最后达成安宁生存的非正式协议。

24 mooted   

adj.未决定的，有争议的，有疑问的v.提出…供讨论( moot的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The is sue was mooted on the Senate floor. 该问题在参院被提出讨论。 来自辞典例句
• The question mooted in the board meeting is still a moot point. 那个在董事会上（提出讨论）的问题仍（未决的）。 来自互联网

25 growled   

v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说

参考例句：

• \"They ought to be birched, \" growled the old man. 老人咆哮道：“他们应受到鞭打。” 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He growled out an answer. 他低声威胁着回答。 来自《简明英汉词典》

26 retaliation   

n.报复，反击

参考例句：

• retaliation against UN workers 对联合国工作人员的报复
• He never said a single word in retaliation. 他从未说过一句反击的话。 来自《简明英汉词典》

27 slaughter   

n.屠杀，屠宰；vt.屠杀，宰杀

参考例句：

• I couldn't stand to watch them slaughter the cattle.我不忍看他们宰牛。
• Wholesale slaughter was carried out in the name of progress.大规模的屠杀在维护进步的名义下进行。

28 ceding   

v.让给，割让，放弃( cede的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He was ceding line but more slowly all the time. 他正在放出钓索，然而越来越慢了。 来自英汉文学 - 老人与海
• Settlement would require ceding some Egyptian territory. 解决办法将要求埃及让出一些领土。 来自辞典例句

29 emboldened   

v.鼓励，使有胆量( embolden的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Emboldened by the wine, he went over to introduce himself to her. 他借酒壮胆，走上前去向她作自我介绍。
• His success emboldened him to expand his business. 他有了成就因而激发他进一步扩展业务。 来自《简明英汉词典》

30 beleaguered   

adj.受到围困[围攻]的；包围的v.围攻( beleaguer的过去式和过去分词)；困扰；骚扰

参考例句：

• The beleaguered party leader was forced to resign. 那位饱受指责的政党领导人被迫辞职。
• We are beleaguered by problems. 我们被许多困难所困扰。 来自《简明英汉词典》