VOA标准英语2009年-Mexico Drug War Threatens Civil Rule
时间:2019-02-02 作者:英语课 分类:VOA标准英语2009年(三月)
A recent Pentagon document suggested that Mexico could become a failed state as drug trafficking cartels continue to challenge government authority with widespread violence. Authorities in towns on the U.S. side of the 3,000 kilometer border are expressing concern that the Mexican war could spill over into their communities.
Texas state officials are developing contingency 1 plans for the border region in case Mexico's violent drug war surges over the border. Local police in many Texas border towns say they need more state and federal help. What is happening in Mexico is a three-way war, carried out between two competing drug cartels and between them and the government of Mexican President Felipe Calderon, who took on the cartels after he took office in December, 2006.
The Austin-based Stratfor company, which provides government and private sector 2 clients with analysis on a wide variety of international issues, has been keeping close watch on Mexico. Stratfor analyst 3 Marco Papic says there is a chance the Mexican government may pull back from the war on drugs in order to address the overall breakdown 4 in law and order in the border region.
"We are watching for signs that the Mexican government decides, 'It is much more important to solve the violence, so let us negotiate with the cartels to have some sort of truce 5 so that we can clean up all this other ancillary 6 crime that is going on, especially the spike 7 in kidnapping and so on,' " Papic said.
Marco Papic
Marco Papic says Mexican government forces may have had little luck in curbing 8 cartel murders, but they have had some impact on smuggling 9 operations.
"We are seeing the drug flow actually divert from the border and into the Caribbean again," Papic said. "We are even seeing strange drug flows from the Galapagos Islands up to the United States, trying to avoid Mexico because the Mexican government efforts have, at times, been actually effective."
So far very little of the violence in Mexico has spilled over into the United States and Papic says he does not expect that to change, since it would not be in the drug traffickers' interest to provoke a U.S. clampdown on the border.
"Drug cartels need commercial traffic to continue," Papic said. "Any sort of disruption of commercial traffic across the border, any sort of large scale stoppage of the flow of goods and people would actually make it a lot more difficult for the Mexican cartels to ship drugs."
For similar reasons, Papic does not believe the drug cartels want to see a failed state or a total collapse 10 of government authority in Mexico.
"For the cartels, the real issue here is not to topple the Mexican government," Papic said. "For them, the Mexican government is a great conduit for doing business because Mexican government officials are corruptible 11."
Observers close to the border say Mexico may yet be able to gain control of the situation. Professor Howard Campbell at the University of Texas in El Paso, says Mexican society is far more resilient than some critics might think.
University of Texas at El Paso Professor Howard Campbell
"I don't think the Mexican state is going to fail, I don't think Mexican society is going to fail in some total collapse way. What we have are serious threats to public security," Campbell said. "But these are things that can be minimized and lessened 12 if Mexico and the United States work together, identify the most serious and real problems and try to fight them in very focused ways."
Campbell says one of the things the United States can do is make a greater effort to stop gun smugglers. Most of the guns used in shootings in Mexico can be traced to the United States, where private citizens have much broader rights to buy and sell firearms than do average citizens in Mexico.
"It seems to me the United States should bear the brunt of responsibility for trying to stop the flow of weapons from the U.S. to Mexican drug cartels because we are the source of those guns," Campbell said. "I know many people do not like this, but it seems to me the most effective measure would be control of the sale of weapons."
But enacting 14 stricter controls on gun sales in the United States is politically difficult because gun owners see such measures as a violation 15 of the right to bear arms guaranteed by the second amendment 16 to the U.S. Constitution. Many guns are bought and sold privately 17 or at gun shows with little or no documentation. U.S. Authorities have concentrated their efforts on arresting and prosecuting 18 people who have conspired 19 to smuggle 13 large quantities of weapons into Mexico in violation of both U.S. and Mexican law.
- We should be prepared for any contingency.我们应该对任何应急情况有所准备。
- A fire in our warehouse was a contingency that we had not expected.库房的一场大火是我们始料未及的。
- The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
- The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。
- What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务?
- The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。
- She suffered a nervous breakdown.她患神经衰弱。
- The plane had a breakdown in the air,but it was fortunately removed by the ace pilot.飞机在空中发生了故障,但幸运的是被王牌驾驶员排除了。
- 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。
- The transport corps is ancillary to the infantry.运输队是步兵的辅助部队。
- This is just an ancillary business.这仅仅是一项辅助业务。
- The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
- They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。
- Progress has been made in curbing inflation. 在控制通货膨胀方面已取得了进展。
- A range of policies have been introduced aimed at curbing inflation. 为了抑制通货膨胀实施了一系列的政策。
- Some claimed that the docker's union fronted for the smuggling ring.某些人声称码头工人工会是走私集团的掩护所。
- The evidence pointed to the existence of an international smuggling network.证据表明很可能有一个国际走私网络存在。
- The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
- The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。
- Things there were corruptible and subject to change and decay. 那儿的东西容易腐烂、变质。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史
- The body is corruptible but the spirit is incorruptible. 肉体会腐败,但精神不腐朽。
- Listening to the speech through an interpreter lessened its impact somewhat. 演讲辞通过翻译的嘴说出来,多少削弱了演讲的力量。
- The flight to suburbia lessened the number of middle-class families living within the city. 随着迁往郊外的风行,住在城内的中产家庭减少了。
- Friends managed to smuggle him secretly out of the country.朋友们想方设法将他秘密送出国了。
- She has managed to smuggle out the antiques without getting caught.她成功将古董走私出境,没有被逮捕。
- Generally these statutes apply only to wastes from reactors outside the enacting state. 总之,这些法令只适宜用在对付那些来自外州的核废料。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
- In addition, the complexion of enacting standards for live working is described. 另外,介绍了带电作业标准的制订情况。
- He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说,那是违反规则的。
- He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。
- The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
- The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。
- Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
- The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。
- The witness was cross-examined by the prosecuting counsel. 证人接受控方律师的盘问。
- Every point made by the prosecuting attorney was telling. 检查官提出的每一点都是有力的。