英国卫报：美国如何创造了一个无尽战争的世界(2)

搜索

复制

Obama had run as a kind of anti-war candidate in his fairytale 2008 campaign, and when it turned out that he was a hard-bitten pragmatist, in this and other areas, many of his supporters were surprised.

在2008年童话般的竞选中，奥巴马曾作为一名反战候选人参选，但事实证明他在战争领域和其他方面是一个强硬的实用主义者，他的很多支持者都很意外。

Obama expanded the “war on terror” to an awesome¹ extent, while making it sustainable for a domestic audience in a way his predecessor² never did – in part because Obama understood the political uses of transforming American warfare³ in a humane⁴ direction.

奥巴马将 "反恐战争 "扩大到令人敬畏的程度，同时以其前任从未有过的方式让国内民众能长期接受--部分原因是奥巴马了解将美国的战争向人性化方向转变所带来的政治利好。

In just the first few months of 2009, after Obama took the oath of office, the initial metamorphosis of American war into humane form was achieved.

在2009年宣誓就职后的头几个月，奥巴马就实现了美国战争向人性化的初步蜕变。

As the worst sins of the prior administration were disowned, Obama’s lawyers claimed authority to continue war indefinitely across space and time, devising formal legal frameworks for targeted killings⁵.

随着前任政府最严重的罪行被否定，奥巴马的律师声称有权无限期地跨越空间和时间继续战争，为定向清除制定了正式的法律框架。

The rise of the armed drone empire under Obama’s watch was merely the symbol of the extension and expansion of endless war.

在奥巴马的眼皮底下，武装无人机帝国的崛起仅象征着无休止的战争的延伸和扩张。

“Lawyerliness suffused⁶ the Obama administration,” observed Charlie Savage⁷, the New York Times reporter who broke many explosive national security stories during the Obama years.

《纽约时报》记者查理-萨维奇（Charlie Savage）说："律师精神充斥着奥巴马的政府。”他在奥巴马时期爆出了许多爆炸性的国家安全新闻。

But that lawyerliness often served as an elaborate rationalisation process.

但这种律师精神往往是一种精心设计的合理化过程。

The president’s men and women, Savage has written, “were trying to fight al-Qaida while adhering to what they saw as the rule of law”.

萨维奇写道，总统的爪牙们"试图打击基地组织，同时坚持他们认为的法治"。

Though what they saw as the rule of law meant little more than self-regulation, their commitment to humane standards of fighting war –

尽管他们眼中的法治只是意味着自我约束，但他们对人道的战争标准的承诺--

while by no means perfect in legal theory or military practice – had rhetorical power for some Americans, significant effects on the fighting itself, and helped produce endless war.

尽管在法律理论或军事实践中并不完美--对一些美国人来说具有言辞上的力量，对战斗本身有重大影响，并有助于产生无休止的战争。

Obama continued a process begun in the later Bush years, but he more credibly⁸ advertised the country’s uprightness as steward⁹ of the least-brutal form of war possible.

奥巴马继续着布什执政后期开始的这一进程，但他更可信地宣传了国家作为最不残暴的战争的管理者的正直性。

And he transformed the “war on terror” itself.

他还改变了 "反恐战争 "本身。

Expansion and humanisation went together, branding Obama’s wars with an ominous¹⁰ trademark¹¹.

扩张和人性化同时进行，给奥巴马的战争打上了一个不祥的烙印。

Beyond its other shortcomings, the transformation¹² of American war incurred¹³ a gargantuan¹⁴ risk that its defenders¹⁵ and its opponents largely failed to notice before it was too late.

除了其他缺点之外，美国战争的转型还带来了巨大的风险，其捍卫者和反对者在为时已晚之前基本上没有注意到这一点。

1 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.

2 predecessor   

n.前辈，前任

参考例句：

• It will share the fate of its predecessor.它将遭受与前者同样的命运。
• The new ambassador is more mature than his predecessor.新大使比他的前任更成熟一些。

3 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。

4 humane   

adj.人道的，富有同情心的

参考例句：

• Is it humane to kill animals for food?宰杀牲畜来吃合乎人道吗？
• Their aim is for a more just and humane society.他们的目标是建立一个更加公正、博爱的社会。

5 killings   

谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发

参考例句：

• His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。

6 suffused   

v.（指颜色、水气等）弥漫于，布满( suffuse的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Her face was suffused with colour. 她满脸通红。
• Her eyes were suffused with warm, excited tears. 她激动地热泪盈眶。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

7 savage   

adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人

参考例句：

• The poor man received a savage beating from the thugs.那可怜的人遭到暴徒的痛打。
• He has a savage temper.他脾气粗暴。

8 credibly   

ad.可信地；可靠地

参考例句：

• I am credibly informed that. 由可靠方面听说。
• An effective management software ensures network to run credibly. 一个高效的网管软件是网络运行的可靠保证。

9 steward   

n.乘务员，服务员；看管人；膳食管理员

参考例句：

• He's the steward of the club.他是这家俱乐部的管理员。
• He went around the world as a ship's steward.他当客船服务员，到过世界各地。

10 ominous   

adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的

参考例句：

• Those black clouds look ominous for our picnic.那些乌云对我们的野餐来说是个不祥之兆。
• There was an ominous silence at the other end of the phone.电话那头出现了不祥的沉默。

11 trademark   

n.商标；特征；vt.注册的…商标

参考例句：

• The trademark is registered on the book of the Patent Office.该商标已在专利局登记注册。
• The trademark of the pen was changed.这钢笔的商标改了。

12 transformation   

n.变化；改造；转变

参考例句：

• Going to college brought about a dramatic transformation in her outlook.上大学使她的观念发生了巨大的变化。
• He was struggling to make the transformation from single man to responsible husband.他正在努力使自己由单身汉变为可靠的丈夫。

13 incurred   

[医]招致的，遭受的； incur的过去式

参考例句：

• She had incurred the wrath of her father by marrying without his consent 她未经父亲同意就结婚，使父亲震怒。
• We will reimburse any expenses incurred. 我们将付还所有相关费用。

14 gargantuan   

adj.巨大的，庞大的

参考例句：

• My gargantuan,pristine machine was good for writing papers and playing solitaire,and that was all.我那庞大的、早期的计算机只适合写文章和玩纸牌游戏，就这些。
• Right away,I realized this was a mistake of gargantuan proportions.我立刻意识到这是一个巨大的错误。

15 defenders   

n.防御者( defender的名词复数 )；守卫者；保护者；辩护者

参考例句：

• The defenders were outnumbered and had to give in. 抵抗者寡不敌众，只能投降。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• After hard fighting,the defenders were still masters of the city. 守军经过奋战仍然控制着城市。 来自《简明英汉词典》