VOA常速英语2018--美国帮助利比亚保护文物古迹（在线收听）

Helping Libya Protect its Antiquities

If there is one thing all armed conflicts have in common, it's that chaos and strife create opportunities for society's less scrupulous citizens, crooks and thieves to enrich themselves by looting.

接下来，是一篇反映美国政府观点的社论。 

If there is one thing all armed conflicts have in common, it’s that chaos and strife create opportunities for society’s less scrupulous citizens, crooks and thieves to enrich themselves by looting.

如果说所有的武装冲突都有一个共同点，那就是混乱和纷争会为社会上那些道德缺失的公民、骗子和小偷创造趁火打劫的机会。

This has been the case in Libya. Since the beginning of the Libyan civil war in 2011,looters made off with, among other priceless treasures, ancient statuary and collections of old coins, as well as a hoard of Hellenistic and Roman objects called the Benghazi Treasure.They stole from bank vaults and museums, pillaged antiquity displays and archeological sites, keeping the profits for themselves, or using them to finance terrorist activities.

这就是利比亚如今面临的情况。自2011年利比亚内战开始以来，抢掠者偷走了利比亚大量的无价珍宝，其中包括古代雕像、大量古币、以及名为“班加西宝藏”的古希腊罗马秘藏文物等。他们偷盗银行金库和博物馆，掠夺文物展品和考古遗址，或据为己有，或为恐怖活动提供资金。

The United States is one of the destination countries for such loot.And that is why the United States and Libya signed in late February, a landmark bilateral Memorandum of Understanding on cultural property protection. The Memorandum will impose import restrictions on categories of archaeological material representing Libya’s cultural heritage dating from 12,000 B.C. through 1750 A.D. and Ottoman ethnological material from Libya dating from 1551 to 1911 A.D.

美国是这些抢掠者企图销赃的目的国之一。因此，美国和利比亚在2月底签署了一项具有里程碑意义的双边文化财产保护谅解备忘录。备忘录将对一些类别的考古学材料实行进口限制，包括代表公元前12000年到公元1751年的利比亚文化遗产、以及公元1551年到1911年的奥斯曼民族学相关材料。

“Heritage sites that are hundreds and thousands of years old, a record of civilization over time, are rapidly being destroyed for financial gain. In the spirit of our close security partnership,the United States and Libya are committed to denying terrorists and transnational criminal groups access to this funding stream,” said Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Steven Goldstein at the signing ceremony:

“那些成百上千、上万年的文化遗址，随着时间的流逝，记载着人类社会的文明史，然而，却因一些贪图利益者而正在遭到迅速的破坏。本着两国密切的安全伙伴关系，美国和利比亚正一道努力，致力于打击恐怖分子和跨国犯罪集团获得这种资金的渠道，”美国负责公共外交与公共事务的副国务卿史蒂文·戈德斯坦在备忘录签订仪式上如是说：

“The United States has been unwavering in its commitment to protect and preserve cultural heritage around the world to prevent trafficking in cultural property that funds criminal and terrorism networks. Our policy is clear: the unlawful destruction of cultural heritage and the trafficking of cultural property are unacceptable.”

“美国一直毫不动摇地致力于保护世界各地的文化遗产，以阻止以资助犯罪和恐怖主义团伙为目的的文化财产贩运活动。以阻止以资助犯罪和恐怖主义团伙为目的的文化财产贩运活动。

“The goals of cultural property agreements are to reduce the incentive to pillage, to help countries protect their cultural heritage,and increase lawful access to cultural objects and awareness of world heritage by encouraging interchange of materials for scientific, cultural, and educational purposes,” said Under Secretary Goldstein.

“文化财产协议的目标是减少掠夺动机、帮助各国保护其文化遗产、增加合法获取文物的途径和提升保护世界遗产的意识，这要通过鼓励科学、文化和教育目的的材料的交流与互换。” 戈德斯坦说。

The new agreement “demonstrates the joint commitment of the United States and Libya to ensuring that Libya’s heritage – of which Libyans are justifiably proud – will be protected and accessible for future generations to enjoy and appreciate.”

新协议“表明美国和利比亚共同致力于保护利比亚人民引以为傲的文化遗产，使之能够供后代欣赏瞻仰。”