2017 考博英语 阅读题源经济学人文章每日精析（二）

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The war in Syria: Grozny rules in Aleppo

叙利亚的战争：格罗兹尼控制着阿勒颇

Why the West must protect the people of Syria, and stand up to Vladimir Putin

为何西方国家坚持要保护叙利亚人民，而反对弗拉基米尔•普京

JUST when it seems that the war in Syria cannot get any worse, it does. On September 19th Syrian and Russian planes struck a convoy about to deliver aid to besieged parts of Aleppo. The attack wrecked the ceasefire brokered by America and Russia, and was followed by the worst bombardment that the ancient city has yet seen. Reports speak of bunker-buster,incendiary and white phosphorus bombs raining down.

正当叙利亚的战争局势看上去不能再糟时，它又进一步恶化。9月19日，叙利亚和俄罗斯的飞机空袭了一支救援队，他们正要给被困在阿勒颇包围圈内的难民提供帮助。这次袭击破坏了美俄两国协商的停火协议，随之而来的是在阿勒颇从未有过的猛烈轰炸。报道形容这次袭击为“火光四射的炸弹雨”。

Convoy: n.车队，船队Broker: n.协商Bombardment: n.轰击Incendiary: adj. 纵火的，能引起燃烧的Phosphorus: n.发光体

Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s president, is destroying his country to cling to power. And Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, is exporting the scorched-earth methods that he once used to terrify the Chechen capital, Grozny, into submission. Such savagery will not halt jihadism, but stoke it. And American inaction makes it all worse. The agony of Syria is the biggest moral stain on Barack Obama’s presidency. And the chaos rippling from Syria—where many now turn to al-Qaeda, not the West, for salvation—is his greatest geopolitical failure.

叙利亚总统巴沙尔·阿萨德为了保住政权，不惜牺牲其国家。俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京正在对叙利亚采取“焦土”政策，他曾利用该政策攻打并收复车臣共和国的首府格罗兹尼。但是这种野蛮的政策并不会打击到圣战主义，反而会激起其战斗欲。而美国的无作为又使情况变得更糟。布拉克·奥巴马总统生涯中最大的道德污点就是将叙利亚置于水深火热之中，而叙利亚难民们在乱战中求助的是基地组织而非西方国家是他在地缘政治上最大的败笔。

scorched-earth policy 焦土政策Agony: n极度痛苦Al-Qaeda: 基地组织

Obama thinks that resolutely keeping out of the Syrian quagmire is cold, rationalstatesmanship. He may be “haunted” by the atrocities, but is convinced there is nothing he can usefully do. “Was there some move that is beyond what was being presented to me that maybe a Churchill could have seen, or an Eisenhower might have figured out” Mr Obama mused in a recent interview with Vanity Fair. Mr Obama is right to think that the world’s problems cannot all be solved by American power, and that ill-considered intervention can make them worse, as when America invaded Iraq. But Syria’s agony shows that the absence of America can be just as damaging.

奥巴马认为坚决远离叙利亚乱局是冷静、理性的政治家应有的风范。他这样可能招致许多麻烦，但他坚信他做什么都无济于事。奥巴马在接受《名利场》采访的时候自言自语道：“我会不会忽略了一些端倪呢丘吉尔或森豪威尔都可能会注意到我却没有。”奥巴马认为有些世界性的问题仅仅靠美国是无法解决，而且任何欠缺考虑的干涉都只会让形势变得进一步恶化，就像当初美国攻打伊拉克一样。但是现在叙利亚身处困境，这表明即使美国不干涉，情况也一样糟。

Quagmire: n.泥沼，困境Statesmanship: n.政治才能Atrocities: n.暴行，凶恶

Cool, rational and wrong冷静，理性与过失As America has pulled back, others have stepped in—geopolitics abhors a vacuum. Islamic State (IS) has taken over swathes of Syria and Iraq. A new generation of jihadists has been inspired to fight in Syria or attack the West. Turkey, rocked by Kurdish and jihadist violence (and a failed coup), has joined the fight in Syria. Jordan and Lebanon, bursting with refugees, fear they will be sucked in. The exodus of Syrians strengthens Europe’s xenophobicpopulists and endangers the European Union. A belligerent Russia feels emboldened.

随着美国从叙利亚撤兵，其他国家便介入了地缘政治回避的空白地带。伊斯兰国已经控制了叙利亚和伊拉克的大部分地区。这鼓舞着新一批伊斯兰圣战分子去袭击叙利亚或西方国家。土耳其受到库尔德和伊斯兰圣战分子的暴力(以及一次失败的政变)影响，也加入到袭击叙利亚的战争中。许多难民涌入约旦和黎巴嫩，以致两国担心卷入这场战争。大批叙利亚难民逃亡到欧洲，这加剧了欧洲民粹主义者的排外心理，使欧盟面临危机，但却鼓舞了这场冲突中俄罗斯的势气。

abhor：vt. 憎恶, 厌恶, 讨厌vacuum：n. 真空;〈口〉真空吸尘器 空间; 空虚; 空白coup：n. 政变;妙计;出乎意料的行动;砰然的一击be sucked in：被卷入;吸入exodus：n. 大批的离去xenophobic：adj. 恐惧(或憎恨)外国人的,恐外的belligerent：adj. 交战的;卷入冲突的;好战的,挑起战争的;交战的一方(指国家、集团或个人)embolden：vt. 鼓励,使有胆量

By sending warplanes to Syria to prop up Mr Assad, Mr Putin has inflamed the struggle between Shia and Sunni Muslims. Mr Putin and Mr Assad now seem determined to take control of “useful Syria”—the line of cities from Damascus to Aleppo, and the territories to the west, forsaking the desert and the Euphrates valley—before a new American president takes office next year. Hence the ferocity of the assault on east Aleppo, the last major rebel-held urban area.

普京派遣战机到叙利亚以支持阿萨德的行为，已经激起了什叶派穆斯林与逊尼派穆斯林之间的斗争。目前，普京和阿萨德似乎决定，在明年新一届美国总统上任之前，控制住“有价值的叙利亚地区”，即从大马士革到阿勒颇沿线的城市以及西部的领土，而暂且放弃沙漠地区和幼发拉底河流域。因此，叙利亚政府对东阿勒坡——主叛军所占领的最后一个城区，发起了猛攻。

prop up：支持inflame：vt. 激怒;使燃烧;使发炎 vi. 燃烧;发炎;激动forsaking：vt. 放弃;断念Assault：n. 攻击;袭击 vt. 袭击;攻击 vi. 袭击;动武

None of this is in America’s interest. Being cool and calculating is not much use if everybody else thinks you are being weak. Even if America cannot fix Syria, it could have helped limit the damage, alleviate suffering and reduce the appeal of jihadism. This newspaper has long advocated safe areas and no-fly zones to protect civilians. The failure to strike Mr Assad’s regime after he crossed the “red line” on the use of chemical weapons damaged American credibility, as many around Mr Obama admit. Now it is Russia that sets the rules of the game. Western action that once carried little risk now brings the danger of a clash with Russia.

这一切并不会对美国的利益造成任何影响。如果所有人都认为你是弱者，冷静和精明并没有用。就算美国不能解决叙利亚问题，它也本可以帮助叙利亚减少损失，减轻难民的痛苦并降削弱圣战主义者们的气焰。这家报纸一直倡议建立安全区和禁飞区以保护当地百姓。正如奥巴马身边的官员表示的那样，奥巴马越过“红线”使用化学武器打击阿萨德政权的行动失败，导致美国的公信力大大降低。目前俄罗斯在这场斗争中处于主导地位。以前西方的行动鲜有触及俄方利益，但如今却有发生激烈冲突的可能。

Mr Obama says that Mr Assad eventually must go, but has never willed the means to achieve that end. (Some rebel groups receive CIA weapons, but that is about it.) Instead he has concentrated on destroying the caliphate: its Syrian capital, Raqqa, is under threat, and the assault on the Iraqi one, Mosul, is imminent. The president wants to avoid thankless state-building and focus on fighting terrorists. This is important, but jihadism is fed by war and state failure: without a broader power-sharing agreement in Syria and Iraq any victory against IS will be short-lived; other jihadists will take its place. To achieve a fair settlement, the West needs greater leverage.

奥巴马表示阿萨德最终一定会下台，但从未想过用什么手段来达成这一目的。(一些反叛组织收到中央情报局提供的武器，而这就是他运用的一种手段。相反，他集中力量毁灭伊斯兰国组织所占领的区域：威胁着叙利亚首都拉卡，也即将对伊拉克的摩苏尔发起攻击。这位总统不想做徒劳无功的国家建设，而是将注意力转移到打击恐怖分子的斗争上。但是有一点很重要，那就是圣战主义是在战争和国家政权失败的环境下中滋长出来的：在叙利亚和伊拉克还没有达成一个更加明确的权力分享协议之前，打败伊斯兰国所获得的胜利都是短暂的;其他圣战者又将取代它的位置。要合理解决这个问题，西方国家需要采取更加强有力的措施。

Caliphate：n. 伊斯兰教国王的职权或其领域Imminent：adj. 迫近的;即将来临的Leverage：n. 〈物〉杠杆作用, 杠杆的力量;力量, 影响

We still hope that Mr Obama will take tougher action. More likely, he will leave the Syrian mess in his successor’s in-tray. Any Western strategy must start from two realisations. First, the most important goal in the Middle East is to assuage Sunnis’ grievances enough to draw them away from the death-cult of jihadism and into more constructive politics. Second, Russia is not part of the solution, but of the problem.

我们仍然希望奥巴马会采取更加强有力的行动。不过，他更可能把叙利亚混乱的局势留给下一任美国总统处理。任何一个西方国家实施任何策略都必须先意识到两点：一，在中东最重要的任务是尽量缓和逊尼派的不满情绪，把他们从对伊斯兰圣战主义对死亡崇拜的歧途中拉回来，以做出更多有建设性的政治贡献;二，俄罗斯并不能解决问题，反而会引发问题。

The West must do more to protect Syrians, mostly Sunnis, who are still beyond the grip of Mr Assad. An undeclared no-fly zone over Aleppo may be feasible. America could retaliate against Mr Assad’s forces after particularly egregious actions. It could air-drop aid into besieged areas (see article). In zones freed from IS, America should establish a secure hinterland where an alternative government can take root.

西方国家必须尽可能地保护叙利亚人民，主要是保护未在阿萨德掌控下的逊尼派人士。在阿勒颇划分一个隐藏的禁飞区应该可行。美国还可以对发起过及其过激行动的阿萨德势力进行反击。美国还可在包围圈空投救助物资(见文章)读者试译句。

As a Dutch-led inquiry into the destruction of flight MH17 over Ukraine in 2014 makes clear (see article), the challenge of Russia is not only, and not mainly, in Syria. The West must keep talking to Mr Putin, but resist his adventurism—starting with the maintenance of EU sanctions. Mr Putin is a bully, but not irrational. He will keep gambling for advantage for as long as he thinks the West is unwilling to act. But he will, surely, retreat as soon as he feels it is serious about standing up to him.

正如2014年有荷兰发起的一项关于MH17飞机在乌克兰坠毁的调查清楚显示(见文章)，俄罗斯的野心并不只是，也不主要是在叙利亚。西方国家必须继续与普京谈判，要克制住他的冒险主义---让他维护欧盟的约束力是第一步。普京虽横行霸道，但他不是不理性。只要他认为西方国家不愿意采取行动时，他就会为自己的利益继续冒险。但可以肯定的是，他一旦感到反对势力十分强大的时候，他就会收手。