VOA慢速英语2015 在关闭关塔那摩监狱问题上总统面对困难

 

AS IT IS 2015-01-14 President Faces Difficulties Closing Guantanamo Prison 在关闭关塔那摩监狱问题上总统面对困难

In 2014, the United States removed 28 detainees from its military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It marks the largest number of prisoners moved out of Guantanamo since 2009, the year Barack Obama was sworn-in as president.

On December 30, the Obama administration announced that five Guantanamo prisoners were sent to Kazakhstan. Presidential spokesman Josh Earnest says getting all the detainees out of Guantanamo remains² a goal for President Obama.

“I can tell you that it continues to be an important priority of this administration to ultimately transfer all of the detainees out of Guantanamo. “

The president has long said he wants to close down the detention³ center. He spoke¹ about this goal in a May 2013 speech at the National Defense⁴ University. Mr. Obama said there is “no justification⁵” for the prison.

“Given my administration’s relentless⁶ pursuit of al-Qaida’s leadership, there is no justification beyond politics for Congress to prevent us from closing a facility that should have never have been opened.”

Nearly half of the more than 120 prisoners still held at Guantanamo have been approved for release. But, a 2010 law that bans the transfer of prisoners to the United States makes the center’s closure more difficult.

Mathew Levitt is an expert on terrorism at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He says politics is one reason why Guantanamo prisoners are not being tried in U.S. courts.

“I think the court system is capable. I think that our prison system is capable. I don’t think it would put Americans at any more risk than we are now. It has become a political football.”

Right now, the cost of keeping the detention center open is rising. With the number of prisoners decreasing, it now costs the United States nearly $3 million a year per prisoner.

But Matthew Levitt says lawmakers should not use cost as the reason for closing the prison. They should close Guantanamo, he says, because it is the right thing to do.

Words in This Story

priority – n. something that is more important than other things and that needs to be done or be dealt with first

justification – n. an acceptable reason for doing something

political football – idiomatic a problem that politicians from different political parties argue about and try to use in order to get an advantage for themselves

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 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

3 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

4 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。

5 justification   

n.正当的理由；辩解的理由

参考例句：

• There's no justification for dividing the company into smaller units. 没有理由把公司划分成小单位。
• In the young there is a justification for this feeling. 在年轻人中有这种感觉是有理由的。

6 relentless   

adj.残酷的，不留情的，无怜悯心的

参考例句：

• The traffic noise is relentless.交通车辆的噪音一刻也不停止。
• Their training has to be relentless.他们的训练必须是无情的。