VOA慢速英语2014 奥巴马称不会向伊拉克派遣地面部队

 

Obama Rules Out Ground Troops in Iraq

From VOA Learning English, this is In The News.

美国之音慢速学英语节目，这里是时事新闻。

Islamic militants¹ have been seizing territory in Iraq this week.

本周，伊斯兰极端分子不断在伊拉克攻城略地。

A group called the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant, or ISIL, has already captured most of the country's north.

一个叫做伊拉克与黎凡特伊斯兰国或者ISIL的组织已经占领了伊拉克北部大部分土地。

On Tuesday, ISIL fighters took control of Mosul, Iraq's second largest city.

周二，ISIL控制了伊拉克第二大城市摩苏尔。

A day later, the group captured Tikrit, the hometown of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

一天之后，该组织又占领了伊拉克前领袖萨达姆·侯赛因的家乡提克里特。

Officials said militants captured two towns in the eastern province of Diyala on Thursday.

官员们表示，周四，激进分子占领了东部省份迪亚拉两座城镇。

A spokesman for the ISIL said its supporters will push into Baghdad, the capital, and on to the Shi'ite Muslim holy city of Karbala.

ISIL一名发言人表示，其支持者将向首都巴格达推进，并袭击什叶派穆斯林圣城卡尔巴拉。

The group says it is seeking to establish an Islamic form of government.

该组织表示，他们寻求建立伊斯兰风格的政府。

Separately, the security forces of Iraq's Kurdish north took control of an airbase and other positions in oil-rich Kirkuk.

另外，伊拉克库尔德北方的安全力量控制了石油丰富的基尔库克一个空军基地和其他据点。

The security forces acted after Iraqi government troops left the posts.

这些安全力量在伊拉克政府军队离开据点后采取了行动。

Iraqi government forces have seemingly been powerless to stop the militants.

伊拉克政府力量似乎无力制止激进分子。

To the west of Mosul, the fighters have taken control of parts of eastern Syria.

在摩苏尔西部，战士们占领了叙利亚东部部分地区。

The recent developments are seen as cancelling 10 years of work by the United States.

最近的事态进展似乎让美国最近十年的工作化为乌有。

The U.S. has spent an estimated $25 billion on training and equipping the Iraqi military since 2003, when the war in Iraq began.

自2003年伊拉克战争开始以来，美国花费了大约250亿美元来训练和装备伊拉克军队。

President Barack Obama says he is considering a "range of options" in deciding how to deal with the crisis.

奥巴马总统表示，他正在考虑一系列选择来决定如何解决这场危机。

He spoke² on Thursday to reporters at the White House.

周四，他在白宫向记者发表讲话。

"I don't rule out anything because we do have a stake in making sure that these jihadists are not getting a permanent foothold in either Iraq or Syria for that matter."

“我不排除任何可能性，因为我们必须确保这些圣战分子不能在叙利亚或伊拉克建立永久性的据点。”

But his choices are limited. Just two and a half years ago, Mr. Obama brought home the last of the U.S. ground troops in Iraq.

但是他的选择非常有限。就在两年半以前，奥巴马总统撤回伊拉克最后一批美国地面部队。

And the president has rejected calls to send troops back to the country.

奥巴马拒绝了重新向伊拉克派遣部队的呼吁。

One idea is to use drone aircraft to target the ISIL fighters.

其中一个想法是使用无人机来袭击ISIL战士。

The U.S. has used drones to attack suspected militants in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia.

美国曾经使用无人机来袭击巴基斯坦，阿富汗，也门和索马里的可疑激进分子。

Drone strikes are often effective in killing³ small numbers of people.

无人机袭击在消灭少量敌人方面比较有效。

But they are not effective against an army and could endanger civilians⁴.

但是对于大规模部队来说效果不佳，而且容易危及平民。

Stephen Zunes is a Middle East expert at the University of San Francisco.

Stephen Zunes是旧金山大学一位中东问题专家。

"This is not a matter of getting a few bad guys and their various hideaways.

“这并不是消灭几个坏人，摧毁他们的藏身之处这么简单。

We're talking about a rebellion that has thousands of armed men that control a very large swath of territory, including some major urban areas."

我们说的是一项反叛活动，他们拥有成千上万的武装人员，控制着大量的领土，其中包括一些主要的城市地区。”

Another option for the U.S. is to provide more training, weapons and intelligence to the Iraqi army.

美国的另外一个选择就是为伊拉克军队提供更多训练，武器和情报。

Andreas Krieg is with King's College London.

Andreas Krieg是伦敦国王学院工作人员。

"The Iraqi military has, despite all the billions we invested in security sector⁵ reform, not really performed in the way we want it to perform.

“尽管我们已经为安全部门改革投入了数百亿美元，伊拉克军队现在的表现仍然没有达到我们希望的水平。

But the Iraqis will obviously be the first line of defense⁶ against [ISIL], so they will need to be propped⁷ up in one way or another."

但是很明显，伊拉克将是抵抗ISIL的前线，所以他们将需要某一方面的扶持。”

Few experts believe the militants can capture the heavily guarded city of Baghdad.

很少有专家认为极端分子可以占领保卫严密的巴格达。

But Andreas Krieg said it is important to stop the ISIL before it can set up an Islamic state in the heart of the Middle East.

但是Andreas Krieg表示，必须于ISIL在中东腹地建立伊斯兰国家之前制止他们，这非常重要。

"They don't have the fighting force to actually administer the vast territory that they have gained.

“他们没有战斗力来真正管理他们所占领的广阔土地。

So I think because they are weak right now, if we act quickly, I think something can be done.

所以我认为，他们现在比较疲弱，如果我们迅速采取行动的话，我认为是可以成功的。

But once they consolidate⁸ their power over months to come, I think we will face a much bigger problem that we will not be able to contain."

但是一旦他们在未来的几个月中巩固了力量，我们将面临更大的问题，到时或许难以控制。”

And that's In the News from VOA Learning English. I'm Steve Ember.

以上就是今天的美国之音慢速学英语时事新闻节目。我是Steve Ember。

1 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

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 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

6 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

7 propped   

支撑，支持，维持( prop的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He sat propped up in the bed by pillows. 他靠着枕头坐在床上。
• This fence should be propped up. 这栅栏该用东西支一支。

8 consolidate   

v.使加固，使加强；(把...)联为一体，合并

参考例句：

• The two banks will consolidate in July next year. 这两家银行明年7月将合并。
• The government hoped to consolidate ten states to form three new ones.政府希望把十个州合并成三个新的州。