VOA慢速英语2014 世界局势是否一片混乱

 

Is the World a Mess? 世界局势是否一片混乱

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。

The word "mess" can be used to describe something complex or very difficult to deal with.  A former United States official used the word last weekend when she spoke¹ about recent world events.  “To put it mildly,” Madeleine Albright said, “the world is a mess.” 

“混乱”这个次可以用来描述复杂或难以处理的事物。美国一名前官员上周末讲述关于最新的世界时事时用到了这个词。马德琳·欧布莱特(Madeleine Albright)表示，“说得委婉一些，整个世界一片混乱。”

Ms. Albright was the first woman to serve as Secretary of State.  She served as the country’s top diplomat² during the presidency³ of Bill Clinton. 

欧布莱特是美国首位女国务卿。她在比尔·克林顿总统时期担任高级外交官。

Ms. Albright appeared on the CBS News program Face the Nation.  Reporter Bob Schieffer asked her if she knew of “a time when there was so much trouble in so many different places?"

欧布莱特女士出席了CBS电视台新闻节目“面向全国”。记者Bob Schieffer问她是否知道“曾经有一段历史时期不同的地方陷入如此混乱的局面？”

She said two “huge game changers” have affected⁴ recent events.  One is the behavior of Russian Vladimir Putin toward Ukraine.  The other is what has been happening in the Middle East, starting with the political unrest known as the Arab Spring.  She also noted⁵ what she called “the artificiality of the borders that were established after World War I.”

她表示，两个“巨大的扭转乾坤者”影响了最近的时事。其中一个是俄罗斯总统普京对乌克兰的行为。另外一个就是中东地区的战事，从一场被称为“阿拉伯之春”的政治动荡开始。她还指出了“第一次世界大战后人为建造的边境”。

The conflict in Ukraine has been in the news almost daily since the shooting down of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 last month.  All 298 people on the airplane were killed.  The same day, the Israeli military launched a campaign against Hamas supporters in the Gaza Strip.  Since then, more than 1,000 people have died in the fighting.

自上月马来西亚航空MH17航班被击落以来，乌克兰冲突几乎每天都出现在新闻中。飞机上298人全部遇难。同一天，以色列军队发起了对加沙地带哈马斯支持者的攻击活动。自那时起，已有超过1,000人在冲突中遇难。

The war in nearby Syria has displaced millions of people.  Thousands of Central American children have entered the United States illegally and without their parents.  Add to that the religious violence in Iraq.  So some would say the world does appear to be a mess at the present time.

邻近的叙利亚战争导致数百万人流离失所。成千上万的中美洲儿童在无父母陪伴的情况下非法进入美国境内。伊拉克的宗教暴力使形势更加混乱。所以，有人会说，目前全世界似乎一片混乱。

Micah Zenko is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, D.C.  He says many people believe that the world is either on fire or “facing chaos⁶ or spinning out of control.”  He thinks technology and social media are driving news reports on the conflicts.  He notes the influence of broadcasters like CNN. 

Micah Zenko是华盛顿特区对外关系协会一名资深工作人员。他表示，许多人相信世界已经水深火热或者“面临混乱或失去控制。”他认为科技和社交媒体推动了新闻对冲突的报道。他指出了CNN等广播公司的影响。

"Part of this is because it is so vivid, the imagery and the concerns and the instability, and this is now translated in real time -- not just as they used to call 'the CNN effect' but it's sort of the CNN effect on steroids, which is to say journalists, activists⁷, researchers in conflict-prone countries can place images of suffering, of damage, and they can appear on your Twitter feed, on your Facebook posts sort of instantly. And so it's in not just real time but sort of immediacy that allows us to connect with suffering in a way that we don't see in terms of positive news stories."

“部分原因是非常生动，形象的描述，人们的担忧，时局的动荡，一切都实时播报出来，不像以前经常说的‘CNN效应’，而是CNN对激素的影响，冲突国家的记者，活动积极分子，研究人员可以立即将人们的遭遇，损坏等等的图像发布在推特，脸书等网站上。所以，现在已经不仅仅是实时，而是即时，让我们以不怎么积极的方式看待人们的遭遇。”

The Council of Foreign Relations lists 33 conflicts on a part of its website called the Global Conflict Tracker.  Reports about these conflicts have appeared in news media over the past six months.

对外关系协会在其网站一个叫做“全球冲突追踪器”的版块列出了33起冲突。关于这些冲突的报告过去六个月一直出现在新闻媒体上。

Micah Zenko says the world has experienced other periods of chaos or unrest.  The issue, he says, is that positive, or good, news does not get reported.  He notes the drop in the number of child deaths and progress in fighting diseases like polio.  He says people are living longer than their parents did and generally have better health.  He also notes the spread of democracy around the world. 

Micah Zenko表示，世界其他时期也曾遭遇混乱或动荡。他说，问题是，积极的或好的消息并未被报告。他指出幼童死亡数字下降以及抵抗小儿麻痹症等疾病的进步。他表示，人们的寿命已经超过父辈，总体来说更加健康。他还指出全世界民主制度不断推进。

1 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。

2 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。

3 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

4 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

5 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

6 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

7 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》