VOA常速英语2014--Cyber War for US, Syria? 美国,叙利亚存在网络战争？

 

Cyber War for US, Syria? 美国,叙利亚存在网络战争？

WASHINGTON — The Syrian government and its allies are widely believed to be using cyber attacks to target members of the opposition¹. Meanwhile, the Obama administration reportedly has been debating the use of cyber attacks to disrupt the Syrian government's military, but has been hesitant to do so.

华盛顿——叙利亚政府和它的同盟国被广泛认为会对敌对的目标成员国使用网络攻击。同时，据报道奥巴马政府已经在商讨使用网络攻击来破坏叙利亚政府的军事，但是还在犹豫是否这样做。

While violence rages in Syria, not all of the conflict is taking place in the streets. Some of it is happening in cyberspace².

当暴力活动在叙利亚肆虐的时候，并不是所有的冲突都是发生在大街上的，有一些冲突是在网络空间里发生的。

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has spent more than two years studying malware campaigns against Syrian dissidents and opposition members. 

电子前线基金会已经花了超过两年的时间来研究对抗与叙利亚持不同意见者及敌对者使用的恶意软件运动。

The government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and its supporters are to blame, says the Foundation's global policy analyst³ Eva Galperin.

基金会的全球政策分析员伊娃·加尔伯瑞说， 叙利亚总统巴沙尔·阿萨德和他的支持者受到了谴责。

"They are all being run by a very, very limited number of groups.  And the organizations with the strongest reason to spy on people in this fashion would be the Assad regime," says Galperin.

加尔伯瑞说，“他们都被一个成员非常少的组织管理着。而且组织用这种方式暗中监视人们的最有力的理由是阿萨德政权.”

At the Washington-based Syrian Emergency Task Force, Evan Barrett says social media sites are used to identify Syrians for detention⁴ or torture.

在总部位于华盛顿的叙利亚紧急任务小组中的埃文·巴雷特说，社会媒体网站被用于确定拘留或者折磨叙利亚人。

“Syrian activists⁵ are confident that the regime is doing this, and feel that there are people who have been sort of rounded up and detained, where there’s no way that the regime could have known about their activities except through online surveillance,” says Barrett.

巴雷特说，“叙利亚积极分子对这样的体制感到很自信，并且认为已经有人被围捕和刑拘了，这些都是体制除了通过网络监督本来是应该知道他们的活动的。”

News reports say the Obama administration is discussing using cyber attacks to disrupt Syrian military operations, especially the barrel bombing of civilians⁷.

新闻报导称，奥巴马政府正在商讨使用网络攻击来摧毁叙利亚军事行动，特别是对平民的轰炸。

Barrett says that would be a low-cost way to limit human suffering. 

·巴雷特说这将会是制止人们遭受苦难成本最低的一种方式。

“Even if we can only delay bombing of civilian⁶ areas for a week or two weeks, that seems like an important accomplishment⁸ to me,” says Barrett.

巴雷特说，“即使我们只可以延迟平民区域免受轰炸一周或者两周，但这对于我来说依然是一个很重要的成就。”

The U.S. has used cyber attacks in the past, against Iran's nuclear facilities, through the computer virus Stuxnet and other reported operations.

美国在过去使用过网络攻击通过电脑病毒超级工厂和其他报导的方式来对抗伊朗的核设备。

But some in the U.S. intelligence community say the effectiveness of the attacks is limited.

但是在美国的一些情报界说，攻击的效果是有限的。

Barrett says his group asked the National Security Council in 2012 to wage cyber warfare⁹ against Syria, and was rebuffed.

巴雷特说他的小组在2012年向国家安全委员会要求对叙利亚开展网络战，但是遭到断然拒绝。

“That doesn’t mean they’re not pursuing some cyber strategy, and they may have just viewed it as their prerogative¹⁰ to not let us know what they’re doing.  But we have had conversations with the State Department, with the NSC, and have been told that, you know, they’re not pursuing that at this time,” says Barrett.

巴雷特说，“这并不意味着他们没有寻求一些网络的策略，他们可能把这些当做是他们的特权并不希望让我们知道他们在做什么。然而我们已经和国务院，和NSC交谈过.但是却被告知，如你所知，他们现在并没有寻求那样的方法。”

On the problem of Syrian cyber attacks, Eva Galperin says there is no need for the U.S. government to get involved, since American Internet companies are motivated to fight the problem.

在叙利亚网络攻击的问题上，伊娃·加尔伯瑞说，美国政府没有必要介入这件事，因为美国的网络公司会有动机地对抗这个的问题。

"...the malware is being spread largely using platforms that are controlled by U.S. companies, such as Facebook or Skype, or by email such as Gmail.  We've really had the most luck in cooperating with U.S. companies," says Galperin.

加尔伯瑞说，“被广泛使用在各种平台的恶意软件是由美国公司控制的，例如，脸书或者是网络电话，或者是通过邮件的Gmail。 我们在美国公司的合作中已经很幸运了。”

And while the administration's strategy discussion continues, so does the fighting in Syria.

在美国政府的策略继续商讨的时候，叙利亚的斗争也依然在继续。

1 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

2 cyberspace   

n.虚拟信息空间，网络空间，计算机化世界

参考例句：

• She travels in cyberspace by sending messages to friends around the world.她利用电子空间给世界各地的朋友们发送信件。
• The teens spend more time in cyberspace than in the real world of friends and family.青少年花费在电脑上的时间比他们和真正的朋友及家人在一起的时间要多。

3 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

4 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。

5 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》

6 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

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 accomplishment   

n.完成，成就，（pl.）造诣，技能

参考例句：

• The series of paintings is quite an accomplishment.这一系列的绘画真是了不起的成就。
• Money will be crucial to the accomplishment of our objectives.要实现我们的目标，钱是至关重要的。

9 warfare   

n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突

参考例句：

• He addressed the audience on the subject of atomic warfare.他向听众演讲有关原子战争的问题。
• Their struggle consists mainly in peasant guerrilla warfare.他们的斗争主要是农民游击战。

10 prerogative   

n.特权

参考例句：

• It is within his prerogative to do so.他是有权这样做的。
• Making such decisions is not the sole prerogative of managers.作这类决定并不是管理者的专有特权。