美国国家公共电台 NPR When It Comes To Russia, So Far Donald Trump Mostly Stands Alone

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST: 

All right. Tomorrow, Donald Trump¹ will be briefed by intelligence officials on Russia's alleged² cyberattacks. Now, Trump has dismissed the agency's conclusions, even questioning their competence³. And as NPR's Mara Liasson reports, there's also a big split between Trump and his own party on this issue.

MARA LIASSON, BYLINE⁴: The Republican Party has embraced Trump's positions on immigration, trade, the deficit⁵ and conflicts of interest. But when it comes to Russia, Trump and the GOP are not on the same page. Trump has repeatedly and consistently expressed admiration⁶ for Vladimir Putin. And he's refused to accept the intelligence community's findings that Russia hacked⁸ Democratic Party emails during the campaign. That puts him at odds⁹ with almost every other Republican in Washington. South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham said on CNN that he's mystified.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

LINDSEY GRAHAM: When it comes to Russia, he seems to have a blind spot. And I'm completely perplexed¹⁰ because the Russians are undermining democracy throughout the entire world. They're taking land owned by others by force. They did hack⁷ into our political system, and they need to pay a price.

LIASSON: Tomorrow, Trump will hear from the intelligence community directly. And yesterday, Vice¹¹ President-elect Mike Pence seemed to reinforce Trump's effort to undermine confidence in the agency's work.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MIKE PENCE: I think, given some of the intelligence failures of recent years, the president-elect's made it clear to the American people that he's skeptical¹² about conclusions from the bureaucracy. And I think the American people hear him loud and clear.

LIASSON: But Trump has gone way beyond skepticism. Yesterday, he sided openly with WikiLeaks' Julian Assange and against the CIA. Assange is a fugitive¹³ from justice and someone most Republicans consider a traitor¹⁴. Paul Ryan, the Republican speaker of the House, told radio host Hugh Hewitt that he didn't share Trump's approval of Assange.

(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO SHOW, "THE HUGH HEWITT SHOW")

PAUL RYAN: I think the guy is a sycophant¹⁵ for Russia. He leaks. He steals data and compromises national security.

LIASSON: Got that?

Molly McKew, an expert on information warfare¹⁶ and a foreign policy consultant¹⁷, says the national security community can't figure out Trump's unwavering devotion to the Russian line. Experts are asking if this is something more than just Trump's sincere admiration for populist strongmen like Putin. Theories abound¹⁸.

MOLLY MCKEW: The discussion in the region, certainly in intelligence services that deal with Russia, is that his behavior looks like someone who may be compromised or may be concerned about something. And nobody knows what that is. If it's financial ties or financial leverage¹⁹, if it's something more than that - I don't know.

LIASSON: Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton is a Trump supporter and a harsh critic of Putin. He says give the president-elect a chance.

JOHN BOLTON: I don't think the rubber's met the road on this yet. And it's one thing to exchange niceties and compliments before a president actually takes office. It's another when you confront concrete Russian behavior, such as extending their influence throughout the Middle East, such as further military action in the eastern Ukraine, such as threatening the Baltic republics. That's the real test.

I mean, he will now have the full briefing by the top leaders of the intelligence community. And they'll bring the evidence that they have, and he'll draw his conclusions at that point.

LIASSON: What those conclusions are will send an important signal to Republicans on Capitol Hill and to the Russians who, says Molly McKew, are also mystified about the new, disruptive president-elect.

MCKEW: I think they're as nervous about Trump as the rest of us. And I think that's potentially a very big opportunity for Trump if he chooses to use it. I don't know what happened in the election. I don't know what his relationship with Russian financial interests or others are. None of us know any of that. What we do know is he will be the American president very soon. And if he wants to operate as a man defending our country's interests, he needs to have a smart, aggressive Russia policy that limits what Russia is doing to us and exposes what that is.

LIASSON: That's why Friday's private briefing for Trump is so important. His reaction to what he hears will be the first clue about how the new president plans to deal with Vladimir Putin.

Mara Liasson, NPR News, Washington.

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

3 competence   

n.能力，胜任，称职

参考例句：

• This mess is a poor reflection on his competence.这种混乱情况说明他难当此任。
• These are matters within the competence of the court.这些是法院权限以内的事。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

6 admiration   

n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕

参考例句：

• He was lost in admiration of the beauty of the scene.他对风景之美赞不绝口。
• We have a great admiration for the gold medalists.我们对金牌获得者极为敬佩。

7 hack   

n.劈，砍，出租马车；v.劈，砍，干咳

参考例句：

• He made a hack at the log.他朝圆木上砍了一下。
• Early settlers had to hack out a clearing in the forest where they could grow crops.早期移民不得不在森林里劈出空地种庄稼。

8 hacked   

生气

参考例句：

• I hacked the dead branches off. 我把枯树枝砍掉了。
• I'm really hacked off. 我真是很恼火。

9 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

10 perplexed   

adj.不知所措的

参考例句：

• The farmer felt the cow,went away,returned,sorely perplexed,always afraid of being cheated.那农民摸摸那头牛，走了又回来，犹豫不决，总怕上当受骗。
• The child was perplexed by the intricate plot of the story.这孩子被那头绪纷繁的故事弄得迷惑不解。

11 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

12 skeptical   

adj.怀疑的，多疑的

参考例句：

• Others here are more skeptical about the chances for justice being done.这里的其他人更为怀疑正义能否得到伸张。
• Her look was skeptical and resigned.她的表情是将信将疑而又无可奈何。

13 fugitive   

adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者

参考例句：

• The police were able to deduce where the fugitive was hiding.警方成功地推断出那逃亡者躲藏的地方。
• The fugitive is believed to be headed for the border.逃犯被认为在向国境线逃窜。

14 traitor   

n.叛徒，卖国贼

参考例句：

• The traitor was finally found out and put in prison.那个卖国贼终于被人发现并被监禁了起来。
• He was sold out by a traitor and arrested.他被叛徒出卖而被捕了。

15 sycophant   

n.马屁精

参考例句：

• The dictator is surrounded by sycophants who are frightened to tell him what he may not like.独裁者被一群不敢谏言的佞臣簇拥着。
• Bestowing favor on a dubious sycophant often leads to the downfall of dynasties.宠用奸佞是历代王朝亡国的重要原因。

16 warfare   

n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突

参考例句：

• He addressed the audience on the subject of atomic warfare.他向听众演讲有关原子战争的问题。
• Their struggle consists mainly in peasant guerrilla warfare.他们的斗争主要是农民游击战。

17 consultant   

n.顾问；会诊医师，专科医生

参考例句：

• He is a consultant on law affairs to the mayor.他是市长的一个法律顾问。
• Originally,Gar had agreed to come up as a consultant.原来，加尔只答应来充当我们的顾问。

18 abound   

vi.大量存在；(in，with)充满，富于

参考例句：

• Oranges abound here all the year round.这里一年到头都有很多橙子。
• But problems abound in the management of State-owned companies.但是在国有企业的管理中仍然存在不少问题。

19 leverage   

n.力量，影响；杠杆作用，杠杆的力量

参考例句：

• We'll have to use leverage to move this huge rock.我们不得不借助杠杆之力来移动这块巨石。
• He failed in the project because he could gain no leverage. 因为他没有影响力，他的计划失败了。