NBC晚间新闻 谁会接任美国国防部长？

A national security team in chaos¹. Congress and the military worrying about the chain of command. Allies stunned² after James Mattis' bombshell resignation. We have never seen a secretary of defense³ not only resign and protests but resign with this ringing indictment⁴ of the president who appointed him. The fear adversaries⁵ like Vladimir Putin will seize on the turmoil⁶ after the Syria withdrawal⁷. You can expect your adversaries to try and take advantage of that and embarrass you as you're now preparing to pull up stakes and leave. The one thing you can probably count on is they can launch an attack when you're most vulnerable.

Mattis' friends say he quit after more than a year of frustrations⁸ both moral and military. The president's contempt for NATO. His response to the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville. His press conference with Putin and deploying⁹ nearly 6,000 troops to the border for a migrant caravan¹⁰ he did not think was a national security threat. At the end of the day General James mattis who won every battle for our nation finally hit a hill he could not conquer and that was the president of the United States. Finally the president's momentous¹¹ decision to withdraw from Syria against the advice of his cabinet after talking to Turkey's president Erdogan. With mattis now leaving, who will stand up to the president? Critics say the remaining top advisors¹² are mostly yes-men and who would want the defense job now? Serving a commander-in-chief who as a candidates said that I know more than the generals.

现在，美国国家安全团队陷入了混乱，国会和军方都担心现在的指挥系统。美国的同盟国对詹姆斯·马蒂斯的突然辞职感到大为震惊。我们从来没见过一个国防部长在抗议中辞职，而且是带着对任命他的总统的强烈控诉辞职。人们担心弗拉基米尔·普京等对手将利用美国从叙利亚撤军后的动荡局势。你会预料到你的对手会试图利用美方撤军的决定，他们会让你难堪，因为你现在正准备收掉筹码离开。你可以指望的一件事是，他们可以在你最脆弱的时候发动攻击。马蒂斯的朋友说，一年多以来，他在精神上和军事上接连受挫，然后就选择了辞职。特朗普总统对北约的轻视。特朗普总统对夏洛茨维尔白人至上主义集会的回应。特朗普总统与普京举行了新闻发布会，并在边境部署了近6000名士兵，为一个他认为不构成国家安全威胁的移民车队服务。詹姆斯·马蒂斯将军为我们的国家赢得了每一场战争，最后他终于遇到了一座他无法征服的山，那就是美国总统。最后，特朗普总统在与土耳其总统埃尔多安会谈后，没有采取内阁的建议，而是做出了从叙利亚撤军的重大决定。现在马蒂斯离开了，谁会站出来对抗总统呢?批评人士认为，剩下的高级顾问大多是唯唯诺诺的人，现在谁会想要这个国防工作?担任军队总司令的总统候选人特朗普说我比将军们懂得更多。

1 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

2 stunned   

adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The fall stunned me for a moment. 那一下摔得我昏迷了片刻。
• The leaders of the Kopper Company were then stunned speechless. 科伯公司的领导们当时被惊得目瞪口呆。

3 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。

4 indictment   

n.起诉；诉状

参考例句：

• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。
• They issued an indictment against them.他们起诉了他们。

5 adversaries   

n.对手，敌手( adversary的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• That would cause potential adversaries to recoil from a challenge. 这会迫使潜在的敌人在挑战面前退缩。 来自辞典例句
• Every adversaries are more comfortable with a predictable, coherent America. 就连敌人也会因有可以预料的，始终一致的美国而感到舒服得多。 来自辞典例句

6 turmoil   

n.骚乱，混乱，动乱

参考例句：

• His mind was in such a turmoil that he couldn't get to sleep.内心的纷扰使他无法入睡。
• The robbery put the village in a turmoil.抢劫使全村陷入混乱。

7 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。

8 frustrations   

挫折( frustration的名词复数 )； 失败； 挫败； 失意

参考例句：

• The temptation would grow to take out our frustrations on Saigon. 由于我们遭到挫折而要同西贡算帐的引诱力会增加。
• Aspirations will be raised, but so will frustrations. 人们会产生种种憧憬，但是种种挫折也会随之而来。

9 deploying   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
• Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。

10 caravan   

n.大蓬车；活动房屋

参考例句：

• The community adviser gave us a caravan to live in.社区顾问给了我们一间活动住房栖身。
• Geoff connected the caravan to the car.杰弗把旅行用的住屋拖车挂在汽车上。

11 momentous   

adj.重要的，重大的

参考例句：

• I am deeply honoured to be invited to this momentous occasion.能应邀出席如此重要的场合，我深感荣幸。
• The momentous news was that war had begun.重大的新闻是战争已经开始。

12 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

参考例句：

• The governors felt that they were being strung along by their advisors. 地方长官感到他们一直在受顾问们的愚弄。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• We will consult together with advisors about her education. 我们将一起和专家商议她的教育事宜。 来自互联网