PBS高端访谈:美国在非洲的活动进展缓慢

 　　GWEN IFILL: A small American team of military, law enforcement and hostage negotiators is arriving in Nigeria today to help the girls.

　　For more on that effort, I'm joined by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Linda Thomas-Greenfield.

　　Thank you for joining us.

　　LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs: And thank you for having me.

　　GWEN IFILL: Give me your best assessment¹ as of this evening of where the girls are.

　　LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD: Gwen, I wish I could tell you where the girls are. I don't think we have an answer to that. And I know the Nigerians don't have an answer to that.

　　They have been missing for more than 24 days. An I think the question that everyone has is where, where are the girls?

　　GWEN IFILL: There has been some speculation² that they have been split up in different locations?

　　LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD: We have heard that speculation, that some may have been taken across the border into neighboring countries or maybe in different locations inside of Nigeria in the forest, and also in some small villages.

　　But, again, this is all based on rumor³ and information that we have not been able to confirm.

　　GWEN IFILL: Everybody, from your boss, Secretary of State Kerry, this morning, to the president of the United States, has said the U.S. will do all it can do. What can the U.S. do?

　　LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD: We will do all we can do.

　　And the president has instructed us to do that. We are starting by sending a multidimensional team in that will include the military, civilians⁴, individuals that can work with the Nigerians on how to negotiate and how they can approach returning the girls without harming them.

　　GWEN IFILL: I know you are a diplomat⁵, rather than a military person, but does this mean we're not going have any kind of military intervention⁶ in this situation?

　　LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD: At this time, there are no plans that this is a military intervention. We are sending military advisers⁸ in to work besides the Nigerians and provide advice and support to the Nigerians in their efforts to retrieve⁹ these girls.

　　GWEN IFILL: What about satellite and drone imagery? That might help.

　　LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD: The Nigerians have asked. And this is something that we are considering — not drones, but satellite imagery.

　　There is commercial satellite imagery that could be available to assist in this effort and it is something that is being considered.

　　GWEN IFILL: You just mentioned that the Nigerians have asked for that help. There seemed to be some delay in the U.S. offer of help in this situation and Nigeria's willingness to accept it. What was that gap about?

　　LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD: We have not delayed an offering of the Nigerian assistance.

　　We started working with the Nigerian government on providing assistance several months ago. We have had conversations with military elements, as well as the national security adviser⁷. I was out in Nigeria in December with General Rodriguez and other team members from USAID. We had some very productive discussions with the Nigerians on how we might be able to assist.

　　Some of that assistance has already been provided to the Nigerians in terms of helping¹⁰ them coordinate¹¹ their own intelligence information, giving them advice based on our own experience in having dealt with counterinsurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan.

　　GWEN IFILL: So you are speaking specifically about cooperation on the part of the U.S. and the Nigerian government to Boko Haram?

　　LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD: Yes.

　　GWEN IFILL: Is that — Boko Haram has been a problem for some time, so what progress has been made in that joint¹² effort?

　　LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD: As you know, back in November, the U.S. government made a decision to sanction Boko Haram. And so they are on our terrorist list.

　　And that gives us the ability to look at what kind of financing there they have and also to look at flows of money that they maybe have — may have going in their direction. But this is a difficult task, as they are basically a group of bandits that are hiding among populations. And it's made it very difficult for the Nigerians to capture them.

　　GWEN IFILL: I think it's fair to say the U.S. and other nations knew all that about Boko Haram before November. So why did the designation not happen until then?

　　LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD: I think we started working on it long before November. It's a long process to make a designation.

　　And the efforts that went into getting that designation done finally was completed in November.

　　GWEN IFILL: You have to explain to people who don't know what you are talking about like me what is the long process. What takes so long when the actions are so obvious.

　　LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD: Yes.

　　We have to — one thing, we have to make sure that we have it right. The people we are making the decision put on the list, it has to go through a process with the Department of Treasury¹³, with the Department of Justice. And all of the work that needed to go into that process was done and led us to come to the decision to make the designation in November.

　　GWEN IFILL: We are now aware of al-Qaida affiliate¹⁴ cells, however you want to describe them, at work not only in Nigeria, but also in Sudan and Somalia.

　　Is there a coordinated¹⁵ regional effort to try to break that up?

　　LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD: I think, regionally, we have had a number of discussions with the African Union and with the regional players across the continent to address the scourge¹⁶ of terrorism that is taking place in a number of locations, whether it's in Somalia and Kenya with Al-Shabab, with the counter-LRA effort, and also with Boko Haram and AQIM and al-Qaida.

　　I think that it has to be a multiregional effort, and we're certainly working with our partners across Africa to address this issue.

　　GWEN IFILL: Do you feel that you're making progress?

　　LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD: I think we're making slow progress, but there's still a lot of work to be done.

　　GWEN IFILL: Linda Thomas-Greenfield, assistant secretary of state for African affairs, thank you so much for helping us out.

　　LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD: And thank you very much for having me.

1 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

2 speculation   

n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机

参考例句：

• Her mind is occupied with speculation.她的头脑忙于思考。
• There is widespread speculation that he is going to resign.人们普遍推测他要辞职。

3 rumor   

n.谣言，谣传，传说

参考例句：

• The rumor has been traced back to a bad man.那谣言经追查是个坏人造的。
• The rumor has taken air.谣言流传开了。

4 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。

5 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。

6 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。

7 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

8 advisers   

顾问，劝告者( adviser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：

• a member of the President's favoured circle of advisers 总统宠爱的顾问班子中的一员
• She withdrew to confer with her advisers before announcing a decision. 她先去请教顾问然后再宣布决定。

9 retrieve   

vt.重新得到，收回；挽回，补救；检索

参考例句：

• He was determined to retrieve his honor.他决心恢复名誉。
• The men were trying to retrieve weapons left when the army abandoned the island.士兵们正试图找回军队从该岛撤退时留下的武器。

10 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。

11 coordinate   

adj.同等的，协调的；n.同等者；vt.协作，协调

参考例句：

• You must coordinate what you said with what you did.你必须使你的言行一致。
• Maybe we can coordinate the relation of them.或许我们可以调和他们之间的关系。

12 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

13 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

14 affiliate   

vt.使隶(附)属于；n.附属机构，分公司

参考例句：

• Our New York company has an affiliate in Los Angeles.我们的纽约公司在洛杉矶有一个下属企业。
• What is the difference between affiliate and regular membership?固定会员和附属会员之间的区别是什么？

15 coordinated   

adj.协调的

参考例句：

• The sound has to be coordinated with the picture. 声音必须和画面协调一致。
• The numerous existing statutes are complicated and poorly coordinated. 目前繁多的法令既十分复杂又缺乏快调。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

16 scourge   

n.灾难，祸害；v.蹂躏

参考例句：

• Smallpox was once the scourge of the world.天花曾是世界的大患。
• The new boss was the scourge of the inefficient.新老板来了以后，不称职的人就遭殃了。