VOA标准英语2009年-Obama Urges Patience on Afghan Troop Decis

By Kent Klein
Washington
16 September 2009

 
US President Barack Obama (R) meets with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper (L) in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., 16 Sep 2009
U.S. President Barack Obama is urging patience as his administration considers whether to commit more troops to the conflict in Afghanistan. The president spoke¹ after discussing Afghanistan and other issues with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper at the White House.

President Obama says he will take his time in deciding whether to deploy² more troops for the Afghan war.

"There is no immediate³ decision pending⁴ on resources," he said. "Because one of the things that I am absolutely clear about is, you have to get the strategy right and then make determinations about resources."

The president spoke one day after the top U.S. military officer, Navy Admiral Michael Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint⁵ Chiefs of Staff, said more U.S. troops probably would be needed in Afghanistan.

The U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, Army General Stanley McChrystal, has said conditions in Afghanistan are deteriorating⁶. He is expected to request thousands of additional troops.

After meeting with the Canadian leader in the Oval Office, Mr. Obama said he is continuing to discuss the issue with U.S. allies.

"My determination is to get this right," he said. "That means broad consultation⁷, not only inside the U.S. government, but also with our ISAF partners and our NATO allies. And I am going to take a very deliberate process in making those decisions."

In the Oval Office, Prime Minister Harper said he does not worry that the Taliban could form an alternative government in Afghanistan, but that he is concerned about the Afghan government's ability to maintain security.

"Our emphasis in Canada for some time now, particularly since we extended our mission, has been the necessity of seeing the Afghan government accept and be able to handle greater responsibility for the day-to-day security of that country," he said.

And the Canadian leader again emphasized his country's commitment to helping⁸ stabilize⁹ and rebuild Afghanistan.

"Canada is not leaving Afghanistan," he said. "Canada will be transitioning from a predominately military mission to a mission that will be a civilian¹⁰ humanitarian¹¹ development mission after 2011. That transition is already in place."

This was the seventh meeting of the two leaders since Mr. Obama took office in January. They also discussed the world economy, Iran's nuclear ambitions and bilateral¹² trade issues.

1 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。

2 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。

3 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

4 pending   

prep.直到，等待…期间；adj.待定的；迫近的

参考例句：

• The lawsuit is still pending in the state court.这案子仍在州法庭等待定夺。
• He knew my examination was pending.他知道我就要考试了。

5 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。

6 deteriorating   

恶化，变坏( deteriorate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The weather conditions are deteriorating. 天气变得越来越糟。
• I was well aware of the bad morale and the deteriorating factories. 我很清楚，大家情绪低落，各个工厂越搞越坏。

7 consultation   

n.咨询；商量；商议；会议

参考例句：

• The company has promised wide consultation on its expansion plans.该公司允诺就其扩展计划广泛征求意见。
• The scheme was developed in close consultation with the local community.该计划是在同当地社区密切磋商中逐渐形成的。

8 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

9 stabilize   

vt.（使）稳定，使稳固，使稳定平衡；vi.稳定

参考例句：

• They are eager to stabilize currencies.他们急于稳定货币。
• His blood pressure tended to stabilize.他的血压趋向稳定。

10 civilian   

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。

11 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

12 bilateral   

adj.双方的，两边的，两侧的

参考例句：

• They have been negotiating a bilateral trade deal.他们一直在商谈一项双边贸易协定。
• There was a wide gap between the views of the two statesmen on the bilateral cooperation.对双方合作的问题，两位政治家各自所持的看法差距甚大。