英语听力精选进阶版 8140

Coming up, another setback for the Middle East peace process as Israel cancels plans to release another batch of Palestinian prisoners. A former US president admits he never imagined reaching an agreement will be so hard. “I thought it was a foregoing conclusion that we would have peace. I know that President Regan didn't take much interest in it. And most of the other presidents since then have only paid brief attention to that crucial issue.”

这次新闻的主要内容有：以色列取消释放新一批巴勒斯坦囚犯的计划，导致中东和平进程再次受挫。一位美国前总统坦言，未曾想到达成共识如此艰难。“我曾以为和平是迟早的结果。我知道里根总统对此不太感兴趣，此后其他总统大都象征性地对待这个关键问题。”

Jimmy Carter was the US president who came closest to bringing peace between Israel and the Palestinians. He also dealt with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. So what advice would he have for the international community? Our correspondent Catty Kay met him and began by asking whether more progress could have been made in the middle east process if President Obama had been more personally engaged.

吉米·卡特是为实现巴以和平付出最多的一位美国总统，他也处理了苏联入侵阿富汗的问题。那么，他对国际社会有何建议呢?本台记者卡蒂·凯采访了卡特，并首先发问，如果奥巴马总统本人更多地参与中东问题，那么该进程是否会有更多大的进展。

“President Obama made a good start in Cairo when he announced that there were to be no more settlements in Palestinian territory. That was a very wonderful start. I know how difficult it is.”

“奥巴马总统在开罗宣布，禁止在巴勒斯坦领土上建设更多定居点。这是一个很好地开始。我知道这有多么不易。”

Would you ever have thought we would have made so little progress 35 years later?

您是否想到，35年后的今天，我们的进步是如此之小?

“No. I thought it was a foregoing conclusion that we would have peace.”

“我没想到。我当时以为和平是迟早的结果。”

Has it been a failure of American policy?

这是美国政策的失败吗?

“Well, I wouldn't say, I wouldn't try to allege other presidents have failed. But I know that President Regan didn't take much interest in it. And other things are more important to him. And most of the other presidents since then have only paid brief attention to that crucial issue. So I would say that in general, that all of the presidents could have done more to bring peace to Israel.”

“当然，我不会说其他总统都是失败的。但我知道，里根总统对此不太感兴趣，对他来说，还有其他更重要的事情。此后其他总统大都象征性地对待这个关键问题。所以，从总体上说，历届总统本可以为以色列和平进程做出更多努力。”

There has been a lot of discussion in the last two months of whether we will return into the Cold War with Russia’s annexation of Crimea. How is this similar? And how is this different?

过去的两个月，克里米亚入俄引发人们猜想美国是否会再次卷入冷战。两者有何相似之处?又有何不同?

“Well, I think that the taking of Crimea by Russia was a foregoing conclusion. There’s nothing that the western nations could have done to prevent Putin from moving his military forces into Crimea. But I think now we have the same situation that I face when I was in the White House in Christmas week, as a matter of fact, in 1979 when the Soviet invaded Afghanistan. It took very strong action. I declared of an embargo against Russia, as well. I began to arm the freedom fighters in Afghanistan so they could repel the Russian invaders. And I announced that if he went any further than he had already gone, then I would respond militarily with all the weapons that we had at our disposal. And that was the end of the Soviet invasion.”

“我认为克里米亚入俄是迟早的事。西方国家无法阻止普京进军克里米亚。但是我认为现在的局面和我执政时的局面相同。那是1979年的圣诞节周，苏联入侵阿富汗。我采取了有力措施，对俄罗斯下达封港令，并开始武装阿富汗的自由斗士，以便他们能够击退俄罗斯侵略者。我还宣布，如果他采取更过分的举动，我会倾尽所有兵力武装对抗。苏联入侵这才告一段落。”