VOA常速英语2013--本周聚焦华盛顿:奥巴马为军事打击叙利亚四处游说

 

Washington Week: Obama to Lobby for Syria Strike 本周聚焦华盛顿:奥巴马为军事打击叙利亚四处游说

WASHINGTON  The coming week could determine whether the United States launches military strikes against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. President Barack Obama will make the case for action to a largely skeptical² nation with a nationally-televised address Tuesday.

Americans will hear arguments for armed intervention³ from a president who came to power pledging to wind down military engagements and avoid new ones absent a direct threat to the nations safety. Obama will argue that America is, indeed, threatened by Syrias deadly use of chemical weapons.

美国民众将会听到来自总统对于武装干涉的争论，而这位总统自上台后曾承诺要放缓军事活动及避免新的没有直接对于国家安全造成的威胁。奥巴马认为美国的确受到叙利亚化学武器使用的致命威胁。

Failing to respond to this outrageous⁴ attack would increase the risk that chemical weapons could be used again, that they would fall into the hands of terrorists who might use them against us.  And it would send a horrible signal to other nations that there would be no consequences for their use of these weapons, Obama said.

“对这些无耻的攻击不做出回应将会增加再次使用化学武器的风险,它们将落入可能用来对抗我们的恐怖分子之手。而且它将给其他国家发出可怕的信号,就是他们使用这些武器不会有后果,”奥巴马说道。

Republican Senator John McCain, who backs the use of force in Syria, heard from constituents⁵ who doubt Americas ability to have a positive impact in the Middle East.

支持对叙利亚动武的共和党参议员约翰·麦凯恩听取了怀疑美国在中东有积极影响能力选民们的意见。

These people are fanatics⁶ in their beliefs.  They will keep killing⁷ people when we leave, said Domenick Negri, a U.S. Air Force veteran.

“这些家伙都是自己信仰的狂热分子。当我们离开的时候他们会继续杀人,”美国空军老兵多米尼克·尼格里说道。

McCain says America must keep its word.

麦凯恩称美国必须信守诺言。

You can imagine the lesson that Iran and other countries take when the president of the most powerful nation in the world says he will take action and does not, said McCain.

“你可以想象当世界上最强大国家的总统表示他将采取行动然后食言时伊朗和其他国家的教训。”麦凯恩说道。

Whether resolutions authorizing⁸ the use of force in Syria will pass both houses of Congress is far from certain. President Obama says he wants legislative⁹ backing for military strikes, but does not need it to act.

国会两院是否通过对于叙利亚动武的决议授权还远未可知。奥巴马总统表示他希望立法支持军事打击,但不需要采取行动。

What we are talking about is not an open-ended intervention. This would not be another Iraq or Afghanistan. There would be no American boots on the ground. Any action we take would be limited, both in time and scope, designed to deter¹ the Syrian government from gassing its own people again and degrade its ability to do so, said Obama.

“我们在谈论的不是一种开放式的干预。这不会是另一个伊拉克或阿富汗。不会出现美国的地面部队。无论在时间和范围上，我们将会采取任何有限的行动阻止叙利亚政府再次对自己的人民进行毒气攻击并且削弱其这么做的能力,”奥巴马说道。

Last week, a Senate panel approved a resolution on the use of force in Syria. The full Congress returns to work Monday after a five-week recess¹⁰. 

上周,参议院一个委员会批准了一项对叙利亚使用武力的决议。经过5周休息后，完整的国会会在星期一回归到工作岗位。

1 deter   

vt.阻止，使不敢，吓住

参考例句：

• Failure did not deter us from trying it again.失败并没有能阻挡我们再次进行试验。
• Dogs can deter unwelcome intruders.狗能够阻拦不受欢迎的闯入者。

2 skeptical   

adj.怀疑的，多疑的

参考例句：

• Others here are more skeptical about the chances for justice being done.这里的其他人更为怀疑正义能否得到伸张。
• Her look was skeptical and resigned.她的表情是将信将疑而又无可奈何。

3 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

4 outrageous   

adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的

参考例句：

• Her outrageous behaviour at the party offended everyone.她在聚会上的无礼行为触怒了每一个人。
• Charges for local telephone calls are particularly outrageous.本地电话资费贵得出奇。

5 constituents   

n.选民( constituent的名词复数 )；成分；构成部分；要素

参考例句：

• She has the full support of her constituents. 她得到本区选民的全力支持。
• Hydrogen and oxygen are the constituents of water. 氢和氧是水的主要成分。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 fanatics   

狂热者，入迷者( fanatic的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The heathen temple was torn down by a crowd of religions fanatics. 异教徒的神殿被一群宗教狂热分子拆除了。
• Placing nukes in the hands of baby-faced fanatics? 把核弹交给一些宗教狂热者手里？

7 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。

8 authorizing   

授权，批准，委托( authorize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Letters of Marque: Take letters from a warning friendly power authorizing privateering. 私掠许可证：从某一个国家获得合法抢劫的证书。
• Formal phavee completion does not include authorizing the subsequent phavee. 阶段的正式完成不包括核准随后的阶段。

9 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。

10 recess   

n.短期休息，壁凹（墙上装架子，柜子等凹处）

参考例句：

• The chairman of the meeting announced a ten-minute recess.会议主席宣布休会10分钟。
• Parliament was hastily recalled from recess.休会的议员被匆匆召回开会。