VOA慢速英语2012--Obama Sets Plan for 'Leaner' Military

IN THE NEWS - Obama Sets Plan for 'Leaner' Military

 

时事新闻 - 奥巴马制定国防新战略

This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

这里是美国之音慢速英语时事新闻节目。

This week, President Obama announced a new defense¹ plan based on budget cuts in the coming years.

本周，奥巴马总统基于未来数年的预算削减，宣布了一项新的防御计划。

BARACK OBAMA: "Our military will be leaner, but the world must know the United States is going to maintain our military superiority."

奥巴马：“我们的军队将会有所倾斜，但全世界必须知道，美国将继续维持我们的军事优势。”

Mr. Obama said details of the defense budget will be announced in the coming weeks. But he said Asia and the Middle East will get greater attention.

奥巴马先生表示，国防预算细节将在未来几周内公布。但他表示，亚洲和中东地区将获得更大关注。

BARACK OBAMA: "As I made clear in Australia, we'll be strengthening our presence in the Asia Pacific, and budget reductions will not come at the expense of this critical region. We're going to continue investing in our critical partnerships² and alliances, including NATO, which has demonstrated time and again -- most recently in Libya -- that it's a force multiplier. We will stay vigilant³, especially in the Middle East."

奥巴马：“正如我在澳大利亚明确指出的，我们将加强我们在亚太地区的军事存在，预算削减不能以削弱这一关键地区力量为代价。我们将继续投资于包括北约在内的我们的重要伙伴和盟友，这已经无数次被证明，最近在利比亚就是一次多方军力合作。此外，我们将继续保持警惕，尤其是中东地区。”

Mr. Obama spoke⁴ Thursday in a rare presidential appearance in the press briefing room at the Pentagon -- the Defense Department headquarters. He said the nation is at a "moment of transition" after ten years of war.

周四，奥巴马先生在国防部总部五角大楼新闻简报室罕见出席并发言。他表示，经过十多年的战争后，美国正处于一个“过渡时期。”

With President Obama, from left: Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and generals Ray Odierno, Army chief of staff; James Amos, Marine5 commandant; and Martin Dempsey, Joint6 Chiefs of Staff chairman

BARACK OBAMA: "As we look beyond the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the end of long-term, nation-building with large military footprints, we will be able to ensure our security with smaller conventional ground forces. We’ll continue to get rid of outdated⁷ Cold War-era systems so that we can invest in the capabilities⁸ we need for the future, including intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; counterterrorism; countering weapons of mass destruction; and the ability to operate in environments where adversaries⁹ try to deny us access."

奥巴马：“当我们将眼光转移到伊拉克和阿富汗战争之外，以及长期带有大量军事印记的国家建设时代宣告结束。我们将能够以更小规模的常规地面部队保卫国家安全。我们将继续摆脱过时的冷战时期的体系，这样我们就能在未来所需的战斗力上投入更多，包括情报、侦查和巡逻、反恐、打击大规模杀伤性武器，以及在敌人力图阻止我们进入的环境中进行作战的能力。”

Joining Mr. Obama were Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army General Martin Dempsey.

与奥巴马一同出席的还有国防部长利昂·帕内塔（Leon Panetta）和参谋长联席会议主席，陆军上将马丁·登普西将军（Martin Dempsey）。

The president ordered a strategic review last year to help guide decision-making by the Defense Department. American military policy is currently designed to be prepared to fight and win two wars at once. Secretary Panetta said that idea was a "residual¹⁰ of the Cold War." He said this, in some ways, restricted thinking about the future.

奥巴马去年下令进行一项战略评估以帮助指导国防部决策。美国军事政策当前设计的是同时做好参加和打赢两场战争的准备。国防部长帕内塔表示，这一理念是“冷战残留。”他称这一理念在某些方面限制了对未来的思维。

LEON PANETTA: "Our strategy review concluded that the United States must have the capability¹¹ to fight several conflicts at the same time. We are not confronting obviously the threats of the past, we are confronting the threats of the twenty-first century, and that demands greater flexibility¹² to shift and deploy¹³ forces to be able to fight and defeat any enemy anywhere."

帕内塔：“战略评估得出的结论是，美国必须有能力同时应对数场冲突。我们面临的显然不是过去的威胁，而是二十一世纪的威胁，这就要求美军在转移和部署军事力量上具备更大灵活性，以打败任何地方的任何敌人。”

The defense secretary said troop numbers would be cut. But he said the United States will protect and in some cases increase its investments in areas such as special operations and cyberspace¹⁴.

帕内塔说，美国军队人数将被削减。但他表示，美国将会保持，在某些情况下还会增加其在一些领域的投资，例如特种作战和网络空间。

For some defense experts, including Michael O'Hanlon at the Brookings Institution in Washington, the new strategic plan makes sense.

对包括华盛顿布鲁金斯学会的迈克尔·奥汉隆（Michael O'Hanlon）在内的防务专家来说，这一新的战略计划极具意义。

MICHAEL O'HANLON: "It's been in discussion for twenty years, and it's even more feasible now with Saddam Hussein gone from Iraq, and I think it's also responsive to the set of threats we face today where more of them are likely to be at sea or in the air -- from Iran, for example."

奥汉隆：“二十多年来一直在讨论战略计划，随着萨达姆在伊拉克下台它现在甚至变得更为可行。我认为它对我们当前面临的威胁也能做出反应，当前面临的这种威胁可能是在海上或空中，例如来自伊朗的威胁。”

But former defense official Frank Gaffney, now president of the Center for Security Policy, says the new strategy has many problems.

但前国防部官员，现任安全政策中心主席弗兰克·加夫尼（Frank Gaffney）表示，这一新战略存在诸多问题。

FRANK GAFFNEY: "It may not be up to us how many wars we have to fight. Enemies who perceive us unable to deal with more than one problem at a time may decide to collaborate¹⁵ and work in a simultaneous fashion that will simply overtax us. And worse, the perception that we are so weak as to be unable to deal with that sort of danger invites it."

加夫尼：“必须打多少场战争可能不取决于我们自己。敌人察觉到我们无法同时处理多个问题，可能就会决定相互勾结并同时出手，这样就会使我们承受不住。更糟糕的是，我们如此薄弱以至于无法处理这类威胁的这样一种观感，更会引发这类威胁。”

The defense budget for this year is about five hundred thirty billion dollars. Mr. Panetta said the new strategy aims to cut about four hundred eighty-seven billion dollars over ten years. However, the military may face more than five hundred billion dollars in additional cuts as Congress and the president seek to reduce the federal deficit¹⁶.

今年国防预算约为5300亿美元。帕内塔先生说，新战略旨在未来十年内削减大约4870亿美元。但由于国会和奥巴马总统寻求降低联邦赤字，军方可能会面临超过5000亿美元的额外削减。

And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember.

1 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

2 partnerships   

n.伙伴关系( partnership的名词复数 )；合伙人身份；合作关系

参考例句：

• Partnerships suffer another major disadvantage: decision-making is shared. 合伙企业的另一主要缺点是决定要由大家来作。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• It involved selling off limited partnerships. 它涉及到售出有限的合伙权。 来自辞典例句

3 vigilant   

adj.警觉的，警戒的，警惕的

参考例句：

• He has to learn how to remain vigilant through these long nights.他得学会如何在这漫长的黑夜里保持警觉。
• The dog kept a vigilant guard over the house.这只狗警醒地守护着这所房屋。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

6 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。

7 outdated   

adj.旧式的，落伍的，过时的；v.使过时

参考例句：

• That list of addresses is outdated,many have changed.那个通讯录已经没用了，许多地址已经改了。
• Many of us conform to the outdated customs laid down by our forebears.我们许多人都遵循祖先立下的过时习俗。

8 capabilities   

n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力

参考例句：

• He was somewhat pompous and had a high opinion of his own capabilities. 他有点自大，自视甚高。 来自辞典例句
• Some programmers use tabs to break complex product capabilities into smaller chunks. 一些程序员认为，标签可以将复杂的功能分为每个窗格一组简单的功能。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

9 adversaries   

n.对手，敌手( adversary的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• That would cause potential adversaries to recoil from a challenge. 这会迫使潜在的敌人在挑战面前退缩。 来自辞典例句
• Every adversaries are more comfortable with a predictable, coherent America. 就连敌人也会因有可以预料的，始终一致的美国而感到舒服得多。 来自辞典例句

10 residual   

adj.复播复映追加时间；存留下来的，剩余的

参考例句：

• There are still a few residual problems with the computer program.电脑程序还有一些残留问题。
• The resulting residual chromatism is known as secondary spectrum.所得到的剩余色差叫做二次光谱。

11 capability   

n.能力；才能；(pl)可发展的能力或特性等

参考例句：

• She has the capability to become a very fine actress.她有潜力成为杰出演员。
• Organizing a whole department is beyond his capability.组织整个部门是他能力以外的事。

12 flexibility   

n.柔韧性，弹性，（光的）折射性，灵活性

参考例句：

• Her great strength lies in her flexibility.她的优势在于她灵活变通。
• The flexibility of a man's muscles will lessen as he becomes old.人老了肌肉的柔韧性将降低。

13 deploy   

v.（军）散开成战斗队形，布置，展开

参考例句：

• The infantry began to deploy at dawn.步兵黎明时开始进入战斗位置。
• The president said he had no intention of deploying ground troops.总统称并不打算部署地面部队。

14 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。

15 collaborate   

vi.协作，合作；协调

参考例句：

• The work gets done more quickly when we collaborate.我们一旦合作，工作做起来就更快了。
• I would ask you to collaborate with us in this work.我们愿意请你们在这项工作中和我们合作。

16 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。