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2006年VOA标准英语-Guam's Strategic US Importance in Pacific Growi

时间:2007-04-17 02:37来源:互联网 提供网友:枭神羊   字体: [ ]
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By Al Pessin
Pentagon
24 August 2006

The U.S. military is planning to increase its operations on the U.S. Pacific Territory of Guam, and senior civilian1 and military officials plan to meet on the island next month to discuss the details.  In this second of two reports, VOA Pentagon Correspondent Al Pessin looks at the military presence on the island, and how the local people feel about the plan to expand operations there.

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US fighter planes on Guam  
  
The view from the control tower at Andersen Air Force Base on Guam is striking.  The clear blue water of the Pacific is on three sides, with rest of the island to the south.  Within its modest 550 square kilometers, Guam boasts beautiful beaches, mountains and forests.  But when you ask the commander of the U.S. Air Force in the Pacific, General Paul Hester, about Guam, he talks about the nearer part of the view from the control tower. 

"You see that magnificent concrete and the infrastructure2 that we already have?  There's much more than can be built, should we choose to build," he says.

That "magnificent concrete" is the base's two huge runways, each more than three kilometers long, and 700,000 square meters of taxiways and parking areas for aircraft, that have barely been used since the Vietnam War.  The infrastructure includes typhoon-proof bunkers for fighter jets and state-of-the art maintenance facilities for strategic bombers3.  And although the island is small, the base has plenty of room to build more facilities for the expanded operations the military would like to bring to Guam. 

Already, in recent years, the Air Force has increased its operations at the base, sending in squadrons of strategic bombers that fly long-range patrols for tens of thousands of kilometers in all directions, and can even cross the North Pole into Europe.  That kind of reach, and Guam's location in the western Pacific not far north of the equator, have made the island a key element in what the U.S. military calls the Pacific Strategic Triangle.

"Strategic deterrence4 is always our number one job," says Colonel Bob Wheeler, commander of the Air Force operations group now on duty on Guam.  

  
A B-52 takes off over airfield5 at Andersen AFB, Guam (file photo)
  
Bob Wheeler's team flies some of the world's most advanced strategic bombers, stealthy and highly capable B2s.  Each aircraft can carry 80 large bombs with sophisticated guidance systems.

"Our number two is strategic influence, to influence folks in this particular region that may go down the wrong road to do the right thing," he adds.  "And the third piece is, if both A and B work it's 'warheads on foreheads' per the direction of the president.  And that's exactly what we do."

Although the Air Force would like to station more planes on Guam, the colonel says he already has the ability to strike anywhere in the region very quickly.  Asked whether he has been focusing more lately on North Korea, following its missile tests, he says that is not necessary.

"North Korea in specific is under the same timelines as any other set of targets out there that would be," he notes.  "So that doesn't require us to do any changes for it.  We're ready because we never know where things are going to pop up throughout the world, and when we're going to be needed.  Our job is to be ready.  So that's why we come out here and we do the things that we do, so that we're closer to the fight wherever that fight may be.  We don't have any specific target sets that we go after.  We prepare to be able to handle anything that's given to us by the national command authorities."

Colonel Wheeler says an exercise earlier this year brought in extra planes and two aircraft carriers, demonstrating that the base's control tower, refueling operation and other capabilities6 can handle nearly three hundred aircraft in the area at the same time.

But that kind of operation, combined with the plan to move eight thousand U.S. marines to Guam from bases that are closing in Japan, will have an unavoidable impact on the island's 170,000 people. 

"The people of Guam basically are looking forward to this.  Traditionally, we are a military island," explains Madeleine Bordallo, Guam's non-voting delegate in the U.S. Congress. 

She notes that the island has a long tradition not only as a base for U.S. forces, but as a place where a large percentage of the people volunteer for U.S. military service.  She says some islanders have voiced opposition7 to the military's expansion plan, but she says they do not represent the majority.

"Basically, the majority of people are very, very pleased with this movement," she notes.  "They want to see it happen.  But they also want to see, are they going to improve some of our infrastructure."

Delegate Bordallo and U.S. military officials agree that Guam's roads and supplies of power and water need to be improved to support any expansion of U.S. military operations on the island.  Already, some parts of the island suffer frequent power outages.  Such issues are expected to be main topics of next month's meetings.  The delegate says the main concern of island's people is to ensure that some of the improvements the military will pay for improve their lives, not just the lives of the troops.


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 civilian uqbzl     
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。
2 infrastructure UbBz5     
n.下部构造,下部组织,基础结构,基础设施
参考例句:
  • We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
  • We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设,发展各类群众文化。
3 bombers 38202cf84a1722d1f7273ea32117f60d     
n.轰炸机( bomber的名词复数 );投弹手;安非他明胶囊;大麻叶香烟
参考例句:
  • Enemy bombers carried out a blitz on the city. 敌军轰炸机对这座城市进行了突袭。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The Royal Airforce sill remained dangerously short of bombers. 英国皇家空军仍未脱离极为缺乏轰炸机的危境。 来自《简明英汉词典》
4 deterrence d230b01f8463627e6282c5e0e4f1c166     
威慑,制止; 制止物,制止因素; 挽留的事物; 核威慑
参考例句:
  • An extreme school of "disarmers" pronounced stable deterrence was a dangerous deception. “裁军论者”中的极端派声称,稳定的威摄是一种危险的骗局。
  • Escalation is thus an aspect of deterrence and of crisis management. 因此逐步升级是威慑和危机处理的一个方面。
5 airfield cz9z9Z     
n.飞机场
参考例句:
  • The foreign guests were motored from the airfield to the hotel.用车把外宾从机场送到旅馆。
  • The airfield was seized by enemy troops.机场被敌军占领。
6 capabilities f7b11037f2050959293aafb493b7653c     
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
7 opposition eIUxU     
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。
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TAG标签:   VOA标准英语  Strategic  US  Pa  Guam's  Strategic  US  Pa
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