VOA常速英语2013--奥巴马在埃及问题上遭遇困境

 

Obama Caught in Dilemma¹ on Egypt 奥巴马在埃及问题上遭遇困境

WHITE HOUSE — As the Egyptian military continues its bloody² crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood³ and other protesters, U.S. President Barack Obama is facing a dwindling⁴ range of options for dealing⁵ with the crisis. Obama has, so far, refused to cut off U.S. aid to Egypt's interim⁶ government.

The president has made it clear that his administration is rethinking its dealings with Egypt's military.

总统明确表示，其政府正重新考虑与埃及的军事演习。

“While we want to sustain our relationship with Egypt, our traditional cooperation cannot continue as usual when civilians⁷ are being killed in the streets and rights are being rolled back,” he said during a Thursday announcement that the U.S. had cancelled upcoming, biannual⁸ joint⁹ military exercises.

“尽管我们希望维持与埃及的关系，我们的传统合作却不能继续下去，因为平民在街头被杀，人民的权利被压制。”

Obama has avoided labeling the military's overthrow¹⁰ of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi last month as a "coup¹¹." Such a statement would automatically halt $1.3 billion of U.S. aid each year to Egypt's military. The White House is worried that doing so would diminish U.S. influence with the military leaders.

奥巴马一直回避将上月军方推翻埃及总统穆罕默德·穆尔西的事件列为“政变”，这样的声明将自动终止美国每年向埃及提供的13亿美元的援助。白宫担心这将削弱美国对埃及军方领导人的影响力。

Some prominent American Muslims, including Mahdi Bray¹², were hoping for tougher action.

一些有声望的美国穆斯林，如Mahdi Bray都希望能采取更强硬的措施。

“We, the American Muslim Alliance, we want to make it very clear that we will continue a vigorous campaign of what we call 'no cash for coup' — calling for the immediate¹³ suspension of U.S. assistance [and] financial aid to Egypt as the result of, indeed, the coup,” said Bray.

“我们美国穆斯林同盟希望明确表示，因为出现这场政变，我们将继续进行‘不给政变提供现金’的声势浩大的运动，呼吁立即停止美国向埃及提供的财政援助。”

Tarek Radwan, associate director for research at Washington’s Rafik Hariri Center, calls that a positive step. But he said the United States' ability to affect the behavior of Egypt's armed forces was fading.

Tarek Radwan是华盛顿拉菲克·哈里里研究中心的副主任，他称这是积极的措施。但他说美国影响埃及武装部队的能力正在减弱。然而，总统已取消与埃及的联合军演，“因此，今天早上我通知埃及政府，我们将取消原定于下月的一年两度的联合军演。”

“Because the engagement with Egypt has been so limited and so narrowly focused, we have very few options, and thereby¹⁴ have very little influence over what is going to happen now. The last semblance¹⁵ of assertive¹⁶ action that we can take is to, in fact, suspend military aid,” said Radwan.

“因为与埃及的关联已经很有限很狭窄，我们的选择余地不多，因此对未来的时态影响力很小。我们最不能采取的貌似果断的行动就是终止军事援助。”

Egypt's military leader, General Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, was probably willing to risk losing the U.S. aid, according to Daniel Serwer, a scholar at Washington’s Middle East Institute, because Egypt's neighbors were making much bigger donations.

美国中东研究所学者丹尼尔·瑟沃尔说，因为埃及的邻国将提供更多捐赠，埃及军事领袖西塞将军可能愿意冒失去美国援助的风险。

“I think General Sissi, before this crackdown, must have calculated, ‘I lose the American assistance.’ What he calculated [was] that this was an existential struggle between him and the Muslim Brotherhood, and that he had to do this in order to survive,” Serwer said.

“我想西塞将军在这次镇压之前一定考虑过，‘我失去了美国的援助。’他权衡的是，他自己和穆斯林兄弟会之间存在着斗争，为了存活下去他必须这么做。”

But Radwan said a stoppage of aid could have some impact. He did not believe the Egyptian military wanted to jeopardize¹⁷ relations with Washington.

但Radwan说，停止援助会产生一定影响。他认为埃及军方不希望破坏与美国的关系。

“The aid is not only about the money. It is about the relationship itself. It is about the ability to engage with the United States, and cutting that off would begin a sense of isolation¹⁸ that I do not think even the Egyptian military would be very comfortable with,” said Radwan.

“援助不仅与资金有关，还与两国关系本身有关。涉及与美国交往的能力问题，切断与美国的关系意味着开始孤立的状态，我认为埃及军方是不愿意这么做的。”

As the crisis continues in Egypt, Obama's policies are likely to evolve further. 

随着埃及危机的继续，奥巴马的政策可能还会继续改变。

1 dilemma   

n.困境，进退两难的局面

参考例句：

• I am on the horns of a dilemma about the matter.这件事使我进退两难。
• He was thrown into a dilemma.他陷入困境。

2 bloody   

adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染

参考例句：

• He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
• He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。

3 brotherhood   

n.兄弟般的关系，手中情谊

参考例句：

• They broke up the brotherhood.他们断绝了兄弟关系。
• They live and work together in complete equality and brotherhood.他们完全平等和兄弟般地在一起生活和工作。

4 dwindling   

adj.逐渐减少的v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The number of wild animals on the earth is dwindling. 地球上野生动物的数量正日渐减少。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He is struggling to come to terms with his dwindling authority. 他正努力适应自己权力被削弱这一局面。 来自辞典例句

5 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

6 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。

7 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。

8 biannual   

adj.一年两次的

参考例句：

• I have to make a biannual report next Monday.下周一我得作半年度报告。
• Our school doctor recommends a biannual visit to the dentist.我们校医建议一年去看牙医两次。

9 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

10 overthrow   

v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆

参考例句：

• After the overthrow of the government,the country was in chaos.政府被推翻后，这个国家处于混乱中。
• The overthrow of his plans left him much discouraged.他的计划的失败使得他很气馁。

11 coup   

n.政变；突然而成功的行动

参考例句：

• The monarch was ousted by a military coup.那君主被军事政变者废黜了。
• That government was overthrown in a military coup three years ago.那个政府在3年前的军事政变中被推翻。

12 bray   

n.驴叫声, 喇叭声；v.驴叫

参考例句：

• She cut him off with a wild bray of laughter.她用刺耳的狂笑打断了他的讲话。
• The donkey brayed and tried to bolt.这头驴嘶叫着试图脱缰而逃。

13 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

14 thereby   

adv.因此，从而

参考例句：

• I have never been to that city,,ereby I don't know much about it.我从未去过那座城市，因此对它不怎么熟悉。
• He became a British citizen,thereby gaining the right to vote.他成了英国公民，因而得到了投票权。

15 semblance   

n.外貌，外表

参考例句：

• Her semblance of anger frightened the children.她生气的样子使孩子们感到害怕。
• Those clouds have the semblance of a large head.那些云的形状像一个巨大的人头。

16 assertive   

adj.果断的，自信的，有冲劲的

参考例句：

• She always speaks an assertive tone.她总是以果断的语气说话。
• China appears to have become more assertive in the waters off its coastline over recent years.在近些年，中国显示出对远方海洋的自信。

17 jeopardize   

vt.危及，损害

参考例句：

• Overworking can jeopardize your health.工作过量可能会危及你的健康。
• If you are rude to the boss it may jeopardize your chances of success.如果你对上司无礼，那就可能断送你成功的机会。

18 isolation   

n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离

参考例句：

• The millionaire lived in complete isolation from the outside world.这位富翁过着与世隔绝的生活。
• He retired and lived in relative isolation.他退休后，生活比较孤寂。