VOA常速英语2018--美国帮助利比亚保护文物古迹

Helping¹ Libya Protect its Antiquities²

If there is one thing all armed conflicts have in common, it's that chaos³ and strife⁴ create opportunities for society's less scrupulous⁵ citizens, crooks⁶ and thieves to enrich themselves by looting.

接下来，是一篇反映美国政府观点的社论。 

If there is one thing all armed conflicts have in common, it’s that chaos and strife create opportunities for society’s less scrupulous citizens, crooks and thieves to enrich themselves by looting.

如果说所有的武装冲突都有一个共同点，那就是混乱和纷争会为社会上那些道德缺失的公民、骗子和小偷创造趁火打劫的机会。

This has been the case in Libya. Since the beginning of the Libyan civil war in 2011,looters made off with, among other priceless treasures, ancient statuary and collections of old coins, as well as a hoard⁷ of Hellenistic and Roman objects called the Benghazi Treasure.They stole from bank vaults⁸ and museums, pillaged¹⁰ antiquity¹¹ displays and archeological sites, keeping the profits for themselves, or using them to finance terrorist activities.

这就是利比亚如今面临的情况。自2011年利比亚内战开始以来，抢掠者偷走了利比亚大量的无价珍宝，其中包括古代雕像、大量古币、以及名为“班加西宝藏”的古希腊罗马秘藏文物等。他们偷盗银行金库和博物馆，掠夺文物展品和考古遗址，或据为己有，或为恐怖活动提供资金。

The United States is one of the destination countries for such loot.And that is why the United States and Libya signed in late February, a landmark¹² bilateral¹³ Memorandum¹⁴ of Understanding on cultural property protection. The Memorandum will impose import restrictions¹⁵ on categories of archaeological material representing Libya’s cultural heritage dating from 12,000 B.C. through 1750 A.D. and Ottoman ethnological material from Libya dating from 1551 to 1911 A.D.

美国是这些抢掠者企图销赃的目的国之一。因此，美国和利比亚在2月底签署了一项具有里程碑意义的双边文化财产保护谅解备忘录。备忘录将对一些类别的考古学材料实行进口限制，包括代表公元前12000年到公元1751年的利比亚文化遗产、以及公元1551年到1911年的奥斯曼民族学相关材料。

“Heritage sites that are hundreds and thousands of years old, a record of civilization over time, are rapidly being destroyed for financial gain. In the spirit of our close security partnership,the United States and Libya are committed to denying terrorists and transnational criminal groups access to this funding stream,” said Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy¹⁶ and Public Affairs Steven Goldstein at the signing ceremony:

“那些成百上千、上万年的文化遗址，随着时间的流逝，记载着人类社会的文明史，然而，却因一些贪图利益者而正在遭到迅速的破坏。本着两国密切的安全伙伴关系，美国和利比亚正一道努力，致力于打击恐怖分子和跨国犯罪集团获得这种资金的渠道，”美国负责公共外交与公共事务的副国务卿史蒂文·戈德斯坦在备忘录签订仪式上如是说：

“The United States has been unwavering in its commitment to protect and preserve cultural heritage around the world to prevent trafficking in cultural property that funds criminal and terrorism networks. Our policy is clear: the unlawful destruction of cultural heritage and the trafficking of cultural property are unacceptable.”

“美国一直毫不动摇地致力于保护世界各地的文化遗产，以阻止以资助犯罪和恐怖主义团伙为目的的文化财产贩运活动。以阻止以资助犯罪和恐怖主义团伙为目的的文化财产贩运活动。

“The goals of cultural property agreements are to reduce the incentive¹⁸ to pillage⁹, to help countries protect their cultural heritage,and increase lawful¹⁷ access to cultural objects and awareness¹⁹ of world heritage by encouraging interchange of materials for scientific, cultural, and educational purposes,” said Under Secretary Goldstein.

“文化财产协议的目标是减少掠夺动机、帮助各国保护其文化遗产、增加合法获取文物的途径和提升保护世界遗产的意识，这要通过鼓励科学、文化和教育目的的材料的交流与互换。” 戈德斯坦说。

The new agreement “demonstrates the joint²⁰ commitment of the United States and Libya to ensuring that Libya’s heritage – of which Libyans are justifiably²¹ proud – will be protected and accessible for future generations to enjoy and appreciate.”

新协议“表明美国和利比亚共同致力于保护利比亚人民引以为傲的文化遗产，使之能够供后代欣赏瞻仰。”

1 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。

2 antiquities   

n.古老( antiquity的名词复数 )；古迹；古人们；古代的风俗习惯

参考例句：

• There is rest and healing in the contemplation of antiquities. 欣赏古物有休息和疗养之功。 来自辞典例句
• Bertha developed a fine enthusiasm for the antiquities of London. 伯沙对伦敦的古迹产生了很大的热情。 来自辞典例句

3 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

4 strife   

n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争

参考例句：

• We do not intend to be drawn into the internal strife.我们不想卷入内乱之中。
• Money is a major cause of strife in many marriages.金钱是造成很多婚姻不和的一个主要原因。

5 scrupulous   

adj.审慎的，小心翼翼的，完全的，纯粹的

参考例句：

• She is scrupulous to a degree.她非常谨慎。
• Poets are not so scrupulous as you are.诗人并不像你那样顾虑多。

6 crooks   

n.骗子( crook的名词复数 )；罪犯；弯曲部分；（牧羊人或主教用的）弯拐杖v.弯成钩形( crook的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The police are getting after the crooks in the city. 警察在城里追捕小偷。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The cops got the crooks. 警察捉到了那些罪犯。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 hoard   

n./v.窖藏，贮存，囤积

参考例句：

• They have a hoard of food in the basement.地下室里有他们贮藏的食物。
• How many curios do you hoard in your study?你在你书房里聚藏了多少古玩？

8 vaults   

n.拱顶( vault的名词复数 )；地下室；撑物跳高；墓穴

参考例句：

• It was deposited in the vaults of a bank. 它存在一家银行的保险库里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They think of viruses that infect an organization from the outside.They envision hackers breaking into their information vaults. 他们考虑来自外部的感染公司的病毒，他们设想黑客侵入到信息宝库中。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 pillage   

v.抢劫；掠夺；n.抢劫，掠夺；掠夺物

参考例句：

• The invading troops were guilty of rape and pillage.侵略军犯了抢劫和强奸的罪。
• It was almost pillage.这简直是一场洗劫。

10 pillaged   

v.抢劫，掠夺( pillage的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They are to be pillaged and terrorised in Hitler's fury and revenge. 在希特勒的狂怒和报复下，他们还遭到掠夺和恐怖统治。 来自辞典例句
• They villages were pillaged and their crops destroyed. 他们的村子被抢，他们的庄稼被毁。 来自辞典例句

11 antiquity   

n.古老；高龄；古物，古迹

参考例句：

• The museum contains the remains of Chinese antiquity.博物馆藏有中国古代的遗物。
• There are many legends about the heroes of antiquity.有许多关于古代英雄的传说。

12 landmark   

n.陆标，划时代的事，地界标

参考例句：

• The Russian Revolution represents a landmark in world history.俄国革命是世界历史上的一个里程碑。
• The tower was once a landmark for ships.这座塔曾是船只的陆标。

13 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。

14 memorandum   

n.备忘录，便笺

参考例句：

• The memorandum was dated 23 August,2008.备忘录上注明的日期是2008年8月23日。
• The Secretary notes down the date of the meeting in her memorandum book.秘书把会议日期都写在记事本上。

15 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

16 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。

17 lawful   

adj.法律许可的，守法的，合法的

参考例句：

• It is not lawful to park in front of a hydrant.在消火栓前停车是不合法的。
• We don't recognised him to be the lawful heir.我们不承认他为合法继承人。

18 incentive   

n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机

参考例句：

• Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中，钱仍是主要的鼓励因素。
• He hasn't much incentive to work hard.他没有努力工作的动机。

19 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

20 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。

21 justifiably   

adv.无可非议地

参考例句：

• There General Walters would come aboard to greet me, justifiably beaming with pride at his arrangement. 在那儿沃尔特斯将军会登上飞机来接我，理所当然为他们的安排感到洋洋得意。 来自辞典例句
• The Chinese seemed justifiably proud of their economic achievements. 中国人似乎为他们的经济成就感到自豪，这是无可非议的。 来自互联网