VOA标准英语2013--Hagel Wraps Up World Trip Aimed at Reassuring Partners

 

Hagel Wraps Up World Trip Aimed at Reassuring¹ Partners

For Hagel, his round-the-world trip was largely about reassuring allies, first in Asia and later at a NATO defense² ministers' meeting in Europe, that Washington's budget problems are not eroding³ U.S. commitments.   

"I assured my fellow ministers that the United States is not considering any reductions that will affect NATO's ability to fulfill⁴ its core tasks of collective defense, crisis management, and cooperative security. Our commitment to NATO remains⁵ iron clad," Hagel said.

For the first time, there was a session on cyber security.

"We have already made important progress in protecting the NATO networks.  We must identify what more we need to do to identify cyber threats, which are evolving as we speak," said Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO Secretary-General.

Discussions on the way forward in Afghanistan were high on the agenda in Brussels. Most of the US and other international troops are due to pull out by the end of next year.

It's been an especially bloody⁶ fighting season with Afghan national forces losing more than 100 troops a week for the past two weeks.  

And that is delaying a decision on how many international troops should stay beyond 2014 to train, advise, and assist Afghan forces.

Absent from the formal agenda were discussions of any potential involvement in Syria despite claims by France that it has confirmed the use of sarin gas in the conflict, including at least once by the Assad regime.  

Hagel said he hasn't seen intelligence supporting the French accounts. He said NATO is not considering action on Syria.

"Our focus is on protecting our members and what we are doing to assure the defenses of Turkey and to assist our NATO member Turkey, but, beyond that, we didn't get into any additional war plans regarding Syria," Hagel said.

As NATO looks to wind down operations in Afghanistan and stay out of the Syrian conflict, the alliance is boosting its involvement in Libya. It has agreed to send a team of experts - but not troops - to help train the Libyan government in efforts to secure its borders and stem the flow of  militants entering from Mali. 

1 reassuring   

a.使人消除恐惧和疑虑的，使人放心的

参考例句：

• He gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. 他轻拍了一下她的肩膀让她放心。
• With a reassuring pat on her arm, he left. 他鼓励地拍了拍她的手臂就离开了。

2 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

3 eroding   

侵蚀，腐蚀( erode的现在分词 )； 逐渐毁坏，削弱，损害

参考例句：

• The coast is slowly eroding. 海岸正慢慢地被侵蚀。
• Another new development is eroding the age-old stereotype of the male warrior. 另一个新现象是，久已形成的男人皆武士的形象正逐渐消失。

4 fulfill   

vt.履行，实现，完成；满足，使满意

参考例句：

• If you make a promise you should fulfill it.如果你许诺了，你就要履行你的诺言。
• This company should be able to fulfill our requirements.这家公司应该能够满足我们的要求。

5 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

6 bloody   

adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染

参考例句：

• He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
• He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。