PBS高端访谈:俄罗斯声称美国空袭叙利亚军队

 　　HARI SREENIVASAN: In Syria, where a five-day-old cease fire brokered¹ by Russia and the United States is on shaky ground. Russia claimed today U.S.-led air strikes on a government military base surrounded by Islamic State militants² killed at least 62 Syrian soldiers.

　　In a written statement, U.S. Central Command acknowledged it halted the air strike in eastern Syria, near the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa, immediately after being told by Russian officials that Syrian forces were being targeted by accident. CentCom said its coalition³ forces, quote, "would not intentionally⁴ strike a known Syrian military unit."

　　Meanwhile, convoys⁵ of aid supplies for Aleppo and other besieged⁶ areas remain stalled, with United Nations officials blaming the Syrian government for blocking access.

　　For more on the situation, I'm joined via Skype from Beirut by "Washington Post" correspondent Liz Sly.

　　Liz, given the information that's coming out this afternoon, what does this do to the truce⁷ that's been in place for the last week?

　　俄罗斯声称美国空袭叙利亚军队

　　LIZ SLY: Well, it doesn't do very much for it at all. We know that the truce was already not going very well at all. Lot of things that were supposed to happen, didn't happen, such as delivery of aid to needy⁸ civilians⁹. There has been lots of fighting along the front lines.

　　And now, we have this allegation that the Americans have bombed and killed 60 Syrian soldiers, and they're kind of admitting that they probably did do it. So, this is going to send tensions sky high and make things only much more complicated than they already were.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: At this point, does President Bashar al-Assad, accept the U.S.' contention¹⁰ that this was an accident, that this inadvertent, or does he go forward and say, this is an act of war?

　　LIZ SLY: Well, I'm not sure that President Assad was very keen on this truce to begin with. I don't think he was too keen on the Americans and Russians teaming up to do military activity in Syria at all. So, this definitely bolsters¹¹ his position that this was not a good truce, this is not a good cease-fire, it's not a good time for ceasefire.

　　Now, the Russians are taking a different tact¹². The Russians are saying this proves that the Americans have to coordinate¹³ with us.

　　Now, the Americans do say they did coordinate with the Russians. They said they did happen to tell the Russians that they did plan to bomb this position, and that the Russians knew they were going to bomb this position. But — so we don't really know what happened here, but whatever it was, it's a giant mess.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: You mentioned this earlier — the humanitarian¹⁴ aid that was supposed to get through. That was one of first phases of the truce. What was the — what was the progress on that this week?

　　LIZ SLY: There's been no progress at all. The aid hasn't gone into any of the communities at all because the Syrian government has refused to give permission for it to cross the border to enter the city it's supposed to enter.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: And there was also supposed to be military cooperation by the U.S. and the Russians. Unfortunately, we're seeing that that was not the case, that these two clearly hadn't coordinated¹⁵, at least in the site of this incident this afternoon.

　　LIZ SLY: Well, the military coordination¹⁶ was supposed to follow seven days of calm during which aid flowed unimpeded to the neediest civilians. Now, there has been relative calm, although fighting has continued on the front lines, but the aid has not flowed. So Americans are saying the truce hasn't worked yet. The Russians are accusing the Americans of not having disentangled the fighters they wanted to disentangle, and now as we see we have this new situation where it does look like some kind of ghastly accident, or whatever you want to call it — act of war– which is what the other side will almost certainly say — has occurred to just blow it all up before it really began.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: "Washington Post" correspondent Liz Sly joining us from Beirut tonight — thanks so much.

　　LIZ SLY: Thank you.

1 brokered   

adj.由权力经纪人安排（或控制）的v.做掮客（或中人等）( broker的过去式和过去分词 )；作为权力经纪人进行谈判；以中间人等身份安排…

参考例句：

• a peace plan brokered by the UN 由联合国出面协商的和平计划
• Your husband brokered the deal to go in, transfrer the assets and get our man out. 你丈夫后来插了一脚，把生意都抢了过去，我们的人也被挤了出来。 来自电影对白

2 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

3 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

4 intentionally   

ad.故意地，有意地

参考例句：

• I didn't say it intentionally. 我是无心说的。
• The local authority ruled that he had made himself intentionally homeless and was therefore not entitled to be rehoused. 当地政府裁定他是有意居无定所，因此没有资格再获得提供住房。

5 convoys   

n.（有护航的）船队( convoy的名词复数 )；车队；护航（队）；护送队

参考例句：

• Truck convoys often stop over for lunch here. 车队经常在这里停下来吃午饭。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A UN official said aid programs will be suspended until there's adequate protection for relief convoys. 一名联合国官员说将会暂停援助项目，直到援助车队能够得到充分的保护为止。 来自辞典例句

6 besieged   

包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Paris was besieged for four months and forced to surrender. 巴黎被围困了四个月后被迫投降。
• The community besieged the newspaper with letters about its recent editorial. 公众纷纷来信对报社新近发表的社论提出诘问，弄得报社应接不暇。

7 truce   

n.休战，(争执，烦恼等的)缓和；v.以停战结束

参考例句：

• The hot weather gave the old man a truce from rheumatism.热天使这位老人暂时免受风湿病之苦。
• She had thought of flying out to breathe the fresh air in an interval of truce.她想跑出去呼吸一下休战期间的新鲜空气。

8 needy   

adj.贫穷的，贫困的，生活艰苦的

参考例句：

• Although he was poor,he was quite generous to his needy friends.他虽穷，但对贫苦的朋友很慷慨。
• They awarded scholarships to needy students.他们给贫苦学生颁发奖学金。

9 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

10 contention   

n.争论，争辩，论战；论点，主张

参考例句：

• The pay increase is the key point of contention. 加薪是争论的焦点。
• The real bone of contention,as you know,is money.你知道，争论的真正焦点是钱的问题。

11 bolsters   

n.长枕( bolster的名词复数 )；垫子；衬垫；支持物v.支持( bolster的第三人称单数 )；支撑；给予必要的支持；援助

参考例句：

• He used a couple of bolsters to elevate his head. 他用两个垫枕垫头。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The double-row piles with both inclined and horizontal bolsters also analyzed in consideration of staged excavation. 本文亦分析了考虑开挖过程的安置斜撑与带支撑的双排桩支护结构。 来自互联网

12 tact   

n.机敏，圆滑，得体

参考例句：

• She showed great tact in dealing with a tricky situation.她处理棘手的局面表现得十分老练。
• Tact is a valuable commodity.圆滑老练是很有用处的。

13 coordinate   

adj.同等的，协调的；n.同等者；vt.协作，协调

参考例句：

• You must coordinate what you said with what you did.你必须使你的言行一致。
• Maybe we can coordinate the relation of them.或许我们可以调和他们之间的关系。

14 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。

15 coordinated   

adj.协调的

参考例句：

• The sound has to be coordinated with the picture. 声音必须和画面协调一致。
• The numerous existing statutes are complicated and poorly coordinated. 目前繁多的法令既十分复杂又缺乏快调。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

16 coordination   

n.协调，协作

参考例句：

• Gymnastics is a sport that requires a considerable level of coordination.体操是一项需要高协调性的运动。
• The perfect coordination of the dancers and singers added a rhythmic charm to the performance.舞蹈演员和歌手们配合得很好，使演出更具魅力。