2007年VOA标准英语-New Book Outlines Formula for Successful Peace

By Zulima Palacio
Washington, DC
27 February 2007
 
watch Peace Operations report

The United States Institute for Peace just released the book "Twenty-First-Century Peace Operations", the culmination¹ of a four-year project to examine the origins and outcomes of some of the key operations of our times.  Some of the most prominent experts on the subject were at the book release event, to discuss success and frustrations² of the peacekeeping forces around the world. 

 
UN peacekeeping forces are deployed³ in multiple troublespots worldwide
Peacekeeping operations around the world offer a political solution to conflicts and civil wars.  Today they are at their highest number ever, with 160,000 peacekeeping team members deployed by the United Nations, NATO, the European Union and the African Union.  Analysts⁴ have been studying those peace operations, to learn how to achieve success and avoid becoming bogged⁵ down in a political dilemma⁶. 

Paul Stares is with the U.S. Institute for Peace. He says, "At the time of the project's conception we were struck by a central paradox⁷ of U.N.-sponsored peacekeeping operations: despite widespread skepticism and even open disdain⁸ of the efficacy of such operations, the demand for U.N. peacekeeping continues to grow."

Regardless of growing security obstacles, Stares estimates a future increase of up to 50 percent in the number of peacekeepers sent to world trouble spots. 

The U.S. Institute of Peace is a nonpartisan study group financed by the U.S. Congress.  William Durch is the editor of its newly released study, "Twenty-First-Century Peace Operations," looking at six key regions: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Timor, Congo, Sierra Leone and Afghanistan. "So the lessons: first, what matters to peace most is power on the ground.  Who holds it, how it is wielded⁹ and for whose benefit.  Second, PSOs [peace security operations] must be strong enough to resist challenge from those who would tear the peace apart.  But third, no PSO, however strong, can just shoot its way to sustainable peace."

Durch says peace cannot be institutionalized if the conditions for it are not right.  Action to reinforce a government at risk of failure is preferable by far, he says, to rebuilding a government that has fallen apart.

Experts on peacekeeping operations gathered in Washington for release of the latest scholarly publication by the United States Institute for Peace. 

Lakhdar Brahimi, a senior United Nations official who led a key peacekeeping mission to Afghanistan, among other assignments, talked about lessons he has learned during his diplomatic career. "My advice for future practitioners¹¹ is, please don't rush into pushing a country to write a constitution before they are ready to do it.  The same thing is true about the elections."

Carlos Pascual, vice¹⁰ president and director of foreign policy studies at the Brookings Institution, said the use of force in peacekeeping operations will never be successful unless a political pre-agreement or some form of truce¹² is in place -- "the right conditions," as he put it: "You can't get peace support operations to shoot their way into a sustainable peace.  You have to have some form of a political solution."

The United Nations has a budget of nearly five and one-half billion dollars for worldwide peacekeeping operations.  But experts at the peace institute agree, even that sum will hardly be enough to keep up with the growing demand for international assistance to defuse regional conflict and unrest.

1 culmination   

n.顶点；最高潮

参考例句：

• The space race reached its culmination in the first moon walk.太空竞争以第一次在月球行走而达到顶峰。
• It may truly be regarded as the culmination of classical Greek geometry.这确实可以看成是古典希腊几何的登峰造级之作。

2 frustrations   

挫折( frustration的名词复数 )； 失败； 挫败； 失意

参考例句：

• The temptation would grow to take out our frustrations on Saigon. 由于我们遭到挫折而要同西贡算帐的引诱力会增加。
• Aspirations will be raised, but so will frustrations. 人们会产生种种憧憬，但是种种挫折也会随之而来。

3 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

4 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

5 bogged   

adj.陷于泥沼的v.（使）陷入泥沼， （使）陷入困境( bog的过去式和过去分词 )；妨碍，阻碍

参考例句：

• The professor bogged down in the middle of his speech. 教授的演讲只说了一半便讲不下去了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The tractor is bogged down in the mud. 拖拉机陷入了泥沼。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 dilemma   

n.困境，进退两难的局面

参考例句：

• I am on the horns of a dilemma about the matter.这件事使我进退两难。
• He was thrown into a dilemma.他陷入困境。

7 paradox   

n.似乎矛盾却正确的说法；自相矛盾的人(物)

参考例句：

• The story contains many levels of paradox.这个故事存在多重悖论。
• The paradox is that Japan does need serious education reform.矛盾的地方是日本确实需要教育改革。

8 disdain   

n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑

参考例句：

• Some people disdain labour.有些人轻视劳动。
• A great man should disdain flatterers.伟大的人物应鄙视献媚者。

9 wielded   

手持着使用（武器、工具等）( wield的过去式和过去分词 )； 具有； 运用（权力）； 施加（影响）

参考例句：

• The bad eggs wielded power, while the good people were oppressed. 坏人当道，好人受气
• He was nominally the leader, but others actually wielded the power. 名义上他是领导者，但实际上是别人掌握实权。

10 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

11 practitioners   

n.习艺者，实习者( practitioner的名词复数 )；从业者（尤指医师）

参考例句：

• one of the greatest practitioners of science fiction 最了不起的科幻小说家之一
• The technique is experimental, but the list of its practitioners is growing. 这种技术是试验性的，但是采用它的人正在增加。 来自辞典例句

12 truce   

n.休战，(争执，烦恼等的)缓和；v.以停战结束

参考例句：

• The hot weather gave the old man a truce from rheumatism.热天使这位老人暂时免受风湿病之苦。
• She had thought of flying out to breathe the fresh air in an interval of truce.她想跑出去呼吸一下休战期间的新鲜空气。