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　　Senator Joe Biden of Delaware, newly announced running mate of Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama, is a respected foreign policy expert. Senator Biden, who himself had waged an unsuccessful bid for the Democratic Party's nomination² for president this year.
美国民主党总统候选人奥巴马刚刚宣布的副总统候选人、来自德拉瓦州的拜登参议员是一位很受尊重的外交政策专家。拜登今年早些时候也曾经争取过民主党总统候选人提名。
Senator Biden is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and one of the most influential³ voices in foreign policy in the Democratic Party. His expertise⁴ could help counter Republican arguments that an Obama administration would be inexperienced on foreign policy.
拜登参议员是参议院外交关系委员会的主席，也是民主党内在外交政策方面最有影响力的人物之一。他的专长可能有助于回击共和党方面有关奥巴马缺少外交经验的说法。
Biden has been a vocal⁵ critic of Bush administration foreign policy, including the way it waged the war on terrorism. Although he voted in 2002 to authorize⁶ the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, which Obama had opposed from the beginning, Biden became a critic of the conflict.
拜登一直公开批评布什政府的外交政策，包括布什政府在反恐战争中的做法。虽然他2002年投票赞成美国领导的对伊拉克之战，但是他后来成为这一冲突的批评者。奥巴马则从一开始就反对出兵伊拉克。
"The administration's basic approach to foreign policy and national security I think has been bankrupted by reality: the fixation on pre-emption, regime change and the simplistic slogans that encompass⁷ the war on terror I think literally⁸, not figuratively, made us less secure, made us less secure as a nation, rather than more secure," he said.
拜登说：“我认为，布什政府在外交政策和国家安全问题上的基本方式经不起现实的考验；一味强调先发制人、改换政府、围绕著反恐战争的那些简单化的口号，所有这些，我认为，都让我们国家的处境更加不安全，而不是更加安全。”
Biden told reporters earlier this year that President Bush's decisions on foreign policy will leave a more complicated situation for the next occupant of the White House.
今年早些时候，拜登对媒体表示，布什总统的外交决策将留给下一任总统很多麻烦。
"The next president, Democratic or Republican, hopefully from my perspective a Democrat¹, will face an almost unprecedented⁹ series of challenges with very little margin¹⁰ for error," he said.
他说：“下一任总统，不管是民主党还是共和党，都必须面对一系列严峻的挑战，不会有多少周旋的余地。当然，我希望下一任总统是民主党人。”
Biden will soon have a personal connection to the war in Iraq. His eldest¹¹ son, Beau, a captain in the Delaware National Guard, is scheduled to leave for a tour of duty in Iraq in October.
拜登本人很快就将与美国的对伊战争联系在一起，因为他的长子是德拉瓦州国民警卫队的一名上尉， 将于今年10月被派往伊拉克。
Biden himself has traveled widely, including making numerous trips to Iraq. He recently returned from a visit to the former Soviet¹² republic of Georgia, made at the invitation of the embattled country's president - a trip political experts say helped raise his profile as a potential running mate for Obama.
拜登去过很多地方，包括多次访问伊拉克。他最近刚刚应格鲁吉亚总统之邀前往访问。一些专家认为，这次访问增加了他被提名为奥巴马竞选夥伴的可能性。
Senator Biden is known as an outspoken¹³ politician.
拜登参议员一向以直言不讳而著称。
Before he dropped out of the presidential campaign after a poor showing in the Iowa caucuses¹⁴ in January, Biden said he did not think Senator Obama was ready for the White House. He said the presidency¹⁵ is "not something that lends itself to on-the-job training."
在今年于爱奥华州举行的党内初选当中，拜登表现不佳，于是他决定退出选举。在宣布退选之前，拜登表示，他不认为奥巴马已经做好入主白宫的准备。他说，总统一职不是可以“边干边学”的。
Biden also generated controversy¹⁶ when he described Obama, in a newspaper interview, as "the first mainstream¹⁷ African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice looking guy." He apologized for the remarks, which he said were meant to be complimentary¹⁸ to Obama.
另外，拜登在一次接受媒体采访时把奥巴马说成是“第一位能言善辩、聪明、干净、长相不错的主流社会非洲裔美国人”。他后来对这些讲话表示道歉，说自己的本意是要赞扬奥巴马。
Obama said he did not take the remarks personally, but called them "historically inaccurate¹⁹", citing past African American presidential candidates like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.
奥巴马表示，他并没有把拜登的这些话太往心里去，但表示，形容他的那些言辞是极其不准确的，因为过去杰克逊和沙普顿等非洲裔美国人都竞选过总统。
Political experts believe Biden's outspokenness²⁰ could be an asset for the Obama campaign, and predict he will not hesitate to challenge Republican contender John McCain's positions on the issues. Some Democratic activists²¹ believe Obama has not been tough enough on his Republican rival.
一些政治分析人士指出，拜登的直言不讳对奥巴马的竞选是个有利因素。他们预测说，拜登会毫不犹豫地在各种问题上挑战共和党总统候选人麦凯恩。一些民主党人认为奥巴马对麦凯恩不够强硬。
Biden ran another brief and unsuccessful campaign for president in 1988, dropping out of the race amid accusations²² he plagiarized²³ a speech from British Labor²⁴ Leader Neal Kinnock.
拜登参议员1988年也曾经竞选总统，不过很快就宣布退出，一个原因是他被指控嫖窃了英国工党领袖金诺克的演讲内容。
The 65-year-old Delaware Democrat was first elected to the Senate in 1972.
拜登今年65岁，1972年当选参议员。