VOA标准英语2011--Gorbachev's Foreign Policy Helps Bring Soviet Collapse

 Gorbachev's Foreign Policy Helps Bring Soviet¹ Collapse²

December marks the 20th anniversary of the collapse of the Soviet Union. In this second, of a two-part series, we examine how the foreign policy of the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, contributed to the demise³ of the Soviet Union.

Mikhail Gorbachev became Soviet president in early 1985 and represented a new, younger generation of leaders.

Former U.S. Ambassador to Moscow, Thomas Pickering said “There was the famous [British Prime Minister] Maggie Thatcher⁴ visit that took place fairly quickly in which apparently⁵ she reported back to President Reagan: “This is a man we can do business with.'"

Analysts⁶ say Gorbachev understood that the Soviet Union could no longer use its military force to increase its influence in the outside world. He realized the military would have to, in some areas, retrench⁷.

One of those areas was Afghanistan, where Soviet troops had been fighting mujahedeen guerilla forces since December 1979.

Ambassador Pickering says Gorbachev’s decision to withdraw Soviet troops sent a message to the world that Moscow had failed.

“I think it also indicated to us, it should have indicated to us, that military solutions to diplomatic problems don’t always work out the way you want," he said.

The last Soviet soldier left Afghanistan February 15th, 1989.

Foreign policy analysts say Mr. Gorbachev’s foreign policy also had dramatic effects in Eastern Europe, where people were clamoring for an end to communist party rule. Mr. Gorbachev made clear that he would not intervene militarily to stop demands for national independence.

Ambassador Pickering said “They [Soviet leaders] were loath⁸ to chance another large-scale deployment⁹ of military force to impose upon Eastern Europe the full-range of communist ideas and communist rule."

The Berlin Wall fell in November 1989 in large part due to Mr. Gorbachev’s non-interventionist policy.

And, says Ambassador Pickering, the events in Eastern Europe had other consequences.

“And it was remarkable¹⁰ how it led to the doors and the gates of the Soviet Union itself - and then helped, in effect, to liberate¹¹ the 15 republics, constituent¹² republics, that were one way or another ready to separate themselves," he said.

In October 1990, Gorbachev was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Fourteen months later he resigned as Soviet president - experts say a victim of forces he unleashed¹³, but could not control.

Former National Security Adviser¹⁴ General Brent Scowcroft says Gorbachev’s legacy¹⁵ is the disappearance¹⁶ of the Soviet Union and the communist system.

“Because if he had been a different kind of person, let’s say he had been another [Leonid] Brezhnev, the system could have gone on for some time," said Scowcroft. "I think it eventually would have collapsed¹⁷, but it didn’t have to collapse when it did.”

The irony¹⁸ is that Mr. Gorbachev is often criticized in his country for bringing down communism, but is regarded as a hero in the West.

1 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

2 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

3 demise   

n.死亡；v.让渡，遗赠，转让

参考例句：

• He praised the union's aims but predicted its early demise.他赞扬协会的目标，但预期这一协会很快会消亡。
• The war brought about the industry's sudden demise.战争道致这个行业就这么突然垮了。

4 thatcher   

n.茅屋匠

参考例句：

• Tom Sawyer was in the skiff that bore Judge Thatcher. 汤姆 - 索亚和撒切尔法官同乘一条小艇。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险
• Mrs. Thatcher was almost crazed; and Aunt Polly, also. 撒切尔夫人几乎神经失常，还有波莉姨妈也是。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险

5 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

6 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。

7 retrench   

v.节省，削减

参考例句：

• Shortly afterwards,cuts in defence spending forced the aerospace industry to retrench.不久之后，国防开支的削减迫使航空航天业紧缩开支。
• Inflation has forced us to retrench.因通货膨胀我们不得不紧缩开支。

8 loath   

adj.不愿意的；勉强的

参考例句：

• The little girl was loath to leave her mother.那小女孩不愿离开她的母亲。
• They react on this one problem very slow and very loath.他们在这一问题上反应很慢，很不情愿。

9 deployment   

n. 部署,展开

参考例句：

• He has inquired out the deployment of the enemy troops. 他已查出敌军的兵力部署情况。
• Quality function deployment (QFD) is a widely used customer-driven quality, design and manufacturing management tool. 质量功能展开(quality function deployment,QFD)是一个广泛应用的顾客需求驱动的设计、制造和质量管理工具。

10 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

11 liberate   

v.解放，使获得自由，释出，放出；vt.解放，使获自由

参考例句：

• They did their best to liberate slaves.他们尽最大能力去解放奴隶。
• This will liberate him from economic worry.这将消除他经济上的忧虑。

12 constituent   

n.选民；成分，组分；adj.组成的，构成的

参考例句：

• Sugar is the main constituent of candy.食糖是糖果的主要成分。
• Fibre is a natural constituent of a healthy diet.纤维是健康饮食的天然组成部分。

13 unleashed   

v.把（感情、力量等）释放出来，发泄( unleash的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The government's proposals unleashed a storm of protest in the press. 政府的提案引发了新闻界的抗议浪潮。
• The full force of his rage was unleashed against me. 他把所有的怒气都发泄在我身上。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

15 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

16 disappearance   

n.消失，消散，失踪

参考例句：

• He was hard put to it to explain her disappearance.他难以说明她为什么不见了。
• Her disappearance gave rise to the wildest rumours.她失踪一事引起了各种流言蜚语。

17 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

18 irony   

n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄

参考例句：

• She said to him with slight irony.她略带嘲讽地对他说。
• In her voice we could sense a certain tinge of irony.从她的声音里我们可以感到某种讥讽的意味。