新闻纵贯线 Today updated 20:00 2018/01/05

各国政要各有各忙，2018年政治前瞻

Welcome to 'Today' - an hour of world news and analysis -- from a different perspective. I'm Suyi

Coming up：

Based on what happened in the first few days of the New Year, 2018 seems to be another eventful year. 40 years have passed since China embarked¹ on reform and opening-up, now the reform of the world's second largest economy is entering as what officials say uncharted water. Trump² will be tested in the midterm election while the Russian-ties drama is far from over. The two Koreas have sent out a slew³ of conciliatory messages yet whether there will be any real breakthrough remains⁴ unclear. Russia continues to consolidate⁵ its military gains in Syria but is worried about another round of proxy⁶ war. Geopolitical games are more obvious in the Middle East spearheaded by Saudi Arabia and Iran, though these two countries are faced by their own issues. Macron is pushing forward his ambitious reform and to unite the EU at a turbulent time amid Brexit in which many difficulties are still waiting ahead. And German Chancellor⁷ Merkel is trying to survive her most serious political crisis, which could be an indication for a more exclusive and right-leaning Europe.

So today we will look ahead and talk about some major trends in 2018.

For more on this, we are joining in the studio by Dr. He Wenping, senior research fellow of the Institute of West Asia and African studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Dr. Yahia H. ZOUBIR, Professor of International Studies & International Management, Director of Research in Geopolitics at KEDGE Business School

If you have any questions or want to leave comments, simply follow us on Weibo, we're 今日_CRI_TODAY. To listen to this episode again or catch up on previous episodes, you can download our podcast by searching for world news analysis.

1 embarked   

乘船( embark的过去式和过去分词 )； 装载； 从事

参考例句：

• We stood on the pier and watched as they embarked. 我们站在突码头上目送他们登船。
• She embarked on a discourse about the town's origins. 她开始讲本市的起源。

2 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

3 slew   

v.（使）旋转；n.大量，许多

参考例句：

• He slewed the car against the side of the building.他的车滑到了大楼的一侧，抵住了。
• They dealt with a slew of other issues.他们处理了大量的其他问题。

4 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。

5 consolidate   

v.使加固，使加强；(把...)联为一体，合并

参考例句：

• The two banks will consolidate in July next year. 这两家银行明年7月将合并。
• The government hoped to consolidate ten states to form three new ones.政府希望把十个州合并成三个新的州。

6 proxy   

n.代理权，代表权；（对代理人的）委托书；代理人

参考例句：

• You may appoint a proxy to vote for you.你可以委托他人代你投票。
• We enclose a form of proxy for use at the Annual General Meeting.我们附上委任年度大会代表的表格。

7 chancellor   

n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长

参考例句：

• They submitted their reports to the Chancellor yesterday.他们昨天向财政大臣递交了报告。
• He was regarded as the most successful Chancellor of modern times.他被认为是现代最成功的财政大臣。