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　　The United States will send two senior officials to Syria within the next few days, possibly signaling a new direction in Middle East diplomacy¹ by the Obama administration.
美国将派遣两名高级官员在未来几天内前往叙利亚，这可能预示奥巴马政府中东外交努力的新方向。
The initial announcement of the decision to dispatch two senior envoys² to Damascus came from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during a visit to Jerusalem.
向大马士革派遣两名高级代表的决定是首先由希拉里.克林顿国务卿在访问耶路撒冷时宣布的。
The officials are Jeffrey Feltman, the acting³ assistant secretary of state for Near East affairs and Daniel Shapiro, who oversees⁴ Middle East issues at the National Security Council.
这两名官员是国务院负责近东事务的代理助理国务卿杰弗里.费特曼和国家安全委员会负责中东问题的丹尼尔.夏皮罗。
The trip will follow recent visits to Syria by U.S. lawmakers, including the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, John Kerry.
两位高级代表启程前，参议院外交关系委员会主席约翰.克里等美国国会议员都访问过叙利亚。
It also follows meetings between State Department officials and Syria's ambassador Imad Mustafa to the United States.
美国国务院官员跟叙利亚驻美国大使穆斯塔法也在此前举行过会谈。
State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid says the Obama administration is ready for talks with the Syrian government.
国务院发言人杜吉德说，奥巴马政府已经为与叙利亚政府会谈做好准备。
"This is one effort on our part to engage with the Syrians on what productive roles they could play, not only for Middle East peace, but also on Iraq," he said. "Do we want to engage with the Syrians? Yes we do."
杜吉德说：“这是我方跟叙利亚接触的努力之一，我们希望叙利亚不仅要在促进中东和平方面发挥富有成效的作用，而且在伊拉克问题上也要这样做。要想知道我们是否希望跟叙利亚进行接触？答案是肯定的。”
The Bush administration recalled its ambassador to Syria in 2005, following the assassination⁵ of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
黎巴嫩前总理哈里里遇刺身亡之后，布什政府2005年召回了美国驻叙利亚大使。
Duguid says the time is not yet ripe to send a new ambassador to Damascus.
杜吉德说，现在向大马士革派遣新大使的时机还不成熟。
"It would in a normal relationship be unusual to not have an ambassador in place," he said. "We have not had a normal relationship for some time. We are working with the other foreign policy agencies in the U.S. government to develop a better relationship or the means for a better relationship with Syria, but this cannot be unreciprocated."
杜吉德说：“如果美国和叙利亚的关系正常，而美国不向叙利亚派驻大使，这是不正常的。但是一段时间以来，我们两国的关系并不正常。我们正在跟美国政府内其它负责对外政策的机构共同研究争取改善跟叙利亚的关系，或者找出改善两国关系的措施，不过，我们的努力不应该是没有回报的。”
The United States has criticized Syria for supporting militant⁶ groups like Hamas and Hezbollah and for not doing enough to prevent foreign fighters from crossing its border into Iraq.
美国指责叙利亚政府支持哈马斯和真主党等激进组织，还指责叙利亚政府没有尽力阻止外国武装人员越过叙利亚边境进入伊拉克。
U.S. officials have also expressed concern that Syria had a secret North Korea-designed nuclear reactor⁷ in a remote desert, until it was bombed by Israeli jets in 2007.
以色列战机2007年轰炸了叙利亚一处核设施，在那之前，美国官员对叙利亚在边远沙漠地区拥有一个由北韩设计的秘密核反应堆一直表示关注。
Spokesman Duguid says the Obama administration is currently reviewing its policy toward Damascus.
国务院发言人杜吉德说，奥巴马政府目前正在重新审议美国对大马士革的政策。
"We are looking at our Syria policy right now," he said. "We are discussing our relationship with the Syrians. I do not have to go down for you the list of things that are differences that we have with them at the moment. We will see where these meetings go before we go to the next step."
杜吉德说：“我们目前正在审议我们对叙利亚采取的政策。我们正在讨论美国跟叙利亚人的关系。我不必对大家一一列举我们目前跟叙利亚政府在一系列问题上的分歧。在我们迈出下一步之前，我们先要看看这些会谈效果如何。”
Secretary Clinton says it is too early to predict the future of U.S.-Syria relations or whether the troubled relationship will improve.
克林顿国务卿说，现在预测美叙两国关系的发展或预测两国麻烦不断的关系是否会得到改善都还为时过早。