VOA标准英语2012--US Presidential Candidates Fire Verbal Assaults at Iran

US Presidential Candidates Fire Verbal Assaults at Iran

 

Republican candidates competing for their party’s U.S. presidential nomination¹ are firing verbal assaults at Iran, amid new tensions in the Persian Gulf².

Iran’s military has sharply escalated³ its tone toward the United States, as new economic sanctions appear to be taking a major toll⁴ on the country’s economy.

Iran recently completed naval⁵ exercises near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a key transport route for Persian Gulf oil.

Tehran is threatening to disrupt naval traffic through the strait if Western powers impose sanctions on Iran’s oil exports.

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt⁶ Romney is critical of the Obama administration’s policies on Iran.

“He failed to put in place crippling sanctions. He failed to stand with the dissidents in Iran when they took to the streets. And he’s failed to put in place credible⁷ plans, military options to prevent Iran from having a nuclear weapon,“ Romney said.

Western nations accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of its civilian⁸ energy program, a charge Tehran denies.

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney shakes hands as he campaigns during a town hall style meeting in Manchester, N.H., Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2012. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)

“And I would be saying to the Iranians: you either open up those facilities, you begin to dismantle⁹ them and make them available to inspectors¹⁰ or we will degrade those facilities through air strikes and make it very public that we are doing that,” said Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum.

Analysts¹¹ say that despite the Republicans’ tough rhetoric¹² on Iran, their positions are not much different from current U.S. policy.

“So there’s a lot of pounding the table and identifying the threat. There’s very little discussion about what exactly will be done,” said James Lindsay of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Not all the Republican candidates favor military action against Iran.

“I think if we overreact and participate in bombing Iran, we’re looking for a lot more trouble,” said Congressman¹³ and anti-war advocate Ron Paul.

Analysts say presidential candidates frequently use foreign policy issues to demonstrate strength by saying they are willing to use America’s military might to accomplish goals overseas.

“Iran is an unknown and we don’t know what their nuclear capacity is. We don’t know what they are actually going to do and we don’t know what the future will hold. So it provides a good opportunity for the Republican candidates to stake out hypothetical positions and try to convince voters,” said Jennifer Lawless, who teaches politics at American University.

Still, some Iranian-Americans say the Republicans’ sharp remarks are reckless.

“What bellicosity¹⁴, what sabre rattling¹⁵ gets you is this self-fulfilling prophecy where we are talking about military options, we are talking about war,” said Jamal Abdi, the policy director for the National Iranian American Council.

Abdi hopes American policy on Iran will turn away from tougher sanctions and toward negotiations¹⁶, a move he concedes is unlikely in an election year.

1 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

2 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

3 escalated   

v.（使）逐步升级( escalate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）逐步扩大；（使）更高；（使）更大

参考例句：

• The fighting escalated into a full-scale war. 这场交战逐步扩大为全面战争。
• The demonstration escalated into a pitched battle with the police. 示威逐步升级，演变成了一场同警察的混战。

4 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

5 naval   

adj.海军的，军舰的，船的

参考例句：

• He took part in a great naval battle.他参加了一次大海战。
• The harbour is an important naval base.该港是一个重要的海军基地。

6 mitt   

n.棒球手套，拳击手套，无指手套；vt.铐住，握手

参考例句：

• I gave him a baseball mitt for his birthday.为祝贺他的生日，我送给他一只棒球手套。
• Tom squeezed a mitt and a glove into the bag.汤姆把棒球手套和手套都塞进袋子里。

7 credible   

adj.可信任的，可靠的

参考例句：

• The news report is hardly credible.这则新闻报道令人难以置信。
• Is there a credible alternative to the nuclear deterrent?是否有可以取代核威慑力量的可靠办法？

8 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。

9 dismantle   

vt.拆开，拆卸；废除，取消

参考例句：

• He asked for immediate help from the United States to dismantle the warheads.他请求美国立即提供援助，拆除这批弹头。
• The mower firmly refused to mow,so I decided to dismantle it.修完后割草机还是纹丝不动，于是，我决定把它拆开。

10 inspectors   

n.检查员( inspector的名词复数 )；（英国公共汽车或火车上的）查票员；（警察）巡官；检阅官

参考例句：

• They got into the school in the guise of inspectors. 他们假装成视察员进了学校。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Inspectors checked that there was adequate ventilation. 检查员已检查过，通风良好。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 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。

12 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

13 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

14 bellicosity   

n.好战，好打架

参考例句：

• We had gone from good humor to bellicosity back to joviality in five hours. 在五个小时中，双方一会儿从谈笑风生变成剑拔弩张，一会儿又恢复谈笑风生。 来自辞典例句
• Wakefulness, watchfulness, and bellicosity make a good hunter. 不眠、保持警觉和好斗可以造就一个好猎手。 来自互联网

15 rattling   

adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常 动词rattle的现在分词

参考例句：

• This book is a rattling good read. 这是一本非常好的读物。
• At that same instant,a deafening explosion set the windows rattling. 正在这时，一声震耳欲聋的爆炸突然袭来，把窗玻璃震得当当地响。

16 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。