VOA常速英语2020--USAID帮助推进中东地区宗教自由（在线收听）

Next, an editorial reflecting the views of the United States government.“There are few things more difficult to see than when politicians use the divisions within a society to further divide people to pursue political ends,” said USAID’s Assistant Administrator for the Middle East Michael Harvey.“It’s terrible to watch politicians abuse people’s faith as a way of stimulating conflict and mobilizing people toward conflict, whether it’s ISIS or it’s the regime in Tehran.”One such conflict causing violence and upheaval in the region is the strife between the Sunni and the Shia world, said Assistant Administrator Harvey in a recent interview.Another is the terrible persecution of religious minorities:

接下来是一篇反映美国政府观点的社论。“我们很难看到政客们利用社会内部的分歧进一步分裂人们以实现政治目的，”美国国际开发署负责中东事务的助理署长迈克尔·哈维表示。“看到政客们滥用人们的信仰来刺激冲突并动员人们发动冲突，这是很可怕的，不管是伊斯兰国还是德黑兰政权。”引发该地区暴力和动荡的一个导火索是逊尼派和什叶派之间的冲突，助理署长哈维在最近的一次采访中表示。另一个导火索是对宗教少数群体的可怕迫害：

“To watch what was done by ISIS to the Christian and Yazidi minority communities in Syria and northern Iraq was one of the great tragedies of this century.”But “it is not something we have to stand back and passively watch when there are people in this region that do not want to see this happen,” Assistant Administrator Harvey said.USAID is there to give assistance: “A lot of what we are doing,” he said, “is helping come up alongside these communities to reknit those bonds,” whether it’s between Yazidis and their Sunni neighbors on the Syrian border or Christians and their neighbors in Iraq. USAID’s help, Assistant Administrator Harvey noted, is often practical: “We’ve been very actively involved in rebuilding schools, rebuilding towns, cleaning up rubble, helping to get water systems and electricity back, so these Christian and Yazidi communities can go back home. But a lot of it is not a physical problem. It’s getting the trust rebuilt between the Christian and Yazidi communities and their Muslim neighbors around them.”“So we’re spending a lot of time trying to help these communities work through this tragic history and try to reach a shared vision of how they’re going to go forward.”“What I have found,” he noted, “is that the people who want to stoke division are a minority, and the people who want to build on what they share are in the majority. And giving a voice to those people is what we will spend our time and energies doing as we go forward.”That was an editorial reflecting the views of the United States government.

“我们目睹到伊斯兰国对叙利亚和伊拉克北部的基督教和雅兹迪少数群体的所作所为是本世纪的一大悲剧。”助理署长哈维表示，但是“当这个地区的人们不希望看到这场悲剧发生的时候，我们绝不能作壁上观，”美国国际开发署在那里提供援助：他表示，“我们做的很多事情都是在帮助这些群体重建联系，”不管是修复雅兹迪人和他们在叙利亚边境的逊尼派邻居之间的关系，还是基督徒与他们在伊拉克的邻居之间的关系。助理署长哈维指出，美国国际开发署的帮助通常是切实可行的：“我们一直非常积极地参与重建学校、重建城镇、清理废墟、帮助恢复供水系统和电力，这样基督徒和雅兹迪群体就能够重返家园。但其中存在的很多问题并非实际问题。而是要使基督徒和雅兹迪群体及其周围的穆斯林邻居重新建立信任。”“因此，我们花了大量时间试图帮助这些群体渡过这段悲惨的历史，并试图就他们将如何前进达成共同的愿景。”“我发现，”他说，“只有少数人想要推动分裂，大多数人都想在共享的基础上进行发展。在我们前进的过程中，我们将花时间和精力为这些人发声。”这是一篇反映美国政府观点的社论。