时间:2019-02-18 作者:英语课 分类:VOA常速英语2008年(二月)


英语课
By Al Pessin
Vilnius
07 February 2008

U.S. Defense 1 Secretary Robert Gates did as he promised at a NATO meeting in Lithuania Thursday, he again urged other allies to provide more troops for Afghanistan.  But he also says he does not believe there is a crisis in the country, and he understands the political difficulties some allies face.  VOA's Al Pessin reports from Vilnius.


Secretary Gates had said he would "nag 2" NATO allies again to send more troops to Afghanistan, and he says that is what he did on the first of two days of meetings here.


"I called on the other allies to make further commitments to the mission, to do what they could to meet unmet needs as articulated by the commanders out there, and to consider other, more creative, ways that they may be able to contribute," he said.


Many European governments stress the need for more efforts on reconstruction 3 and economic development in Afghanistan.  But while Secretary Gates agrees with that, he made clear that the United States believes more troops are needed, too, and with fewer restrictions 4 imposed by their home governments.


"What we are obviously interested in is more who will have no caveats 5 on their forces, and those who are willing to engage in the fight itself," he added.


After a NATO meeting last October, Secretary Gates sharply criticized some allies for not fulfilling their commitments and for putting the alliance's Afghanistan mission at what he called "real risk."  Last month, he announced the deployment 6 of 3,200 U.S. Marines, most of them to restive 7 southern Afghanistan, to ensure gains made against the Taliban are not lost.


On Wednesday, Secretary Gates said NATO could evolve into a two-tier alliance, with fighters and non-fighters, but the secretary said he was encouraged after Thursday's meetings.


"I do not think that there is a crisis," he explained.  "I do not think that there is a risk of failure.  My view is that it represents potentially the opportunity to make further progress faster in Afghanistan if we had more forces there."


Secretary Gates says he will not send more Marines when this deployment ends in November, and he wants other NATO members to provide replacement 8 forces.  In addition, Canada has said it will withdraw from southern Afghanistan next year if it does not get more help from the allies. 


Secretary Gates says he understands the political difficulties and public opposition 9 some European governments face when they consider sending more troops to Afghanistan, but he says more must be done, perhaps by sending equipment and paying costs.


A few countries indicated they might send a few more troops to Afghanistan, but no major announcements are expected until the NATO summit in April in Romania.


At a separate news conference, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop 10 Scheffer noted 11 that NATO has increased its troop presence in Afghanistan by more than 8,000 in the past year, and he disputed claims that the mission is close to failing.


Scheffer also had strong words for the government of Afghanistan, saying it cannot rely on NATO to do everything for the country.


"We do not own it," he said.  "The Afghan people own their own nation.  And it is up to the Afghan government to be responsible for the fight against corruption 12, to play their role in the fight against narcotics 13 to see that law and order is there in the full sense of the word.  That is their responsibility."


Scheffer said he is "cautiously optimistic" that NATO will succeed in Afghanistan, but he also said it will take patience and a long-term commitment.  He is working on a strategy document to be approved at the summit that U.S. officials say is designed in part to convince Europeans that creating a stable Afghanistan is important for their security, so they will support their governments sending more troops




n.防御,保卫;[pl.]防务工事;辩护,答辩
  • The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
  • The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。
v.(对…)不停地唠叨;n.爱唠叨的人
  • Nobody likes to work with a nag.谁也不愿与好唠叨的人一起共事。
  • Don't nag me like an old woman.别像个老太婆似的唠唠叨叨烦我。
n.重建,再现,复原
  • The country faces a huge task of national reconstruction following the war.战后,该国面临着重建家园的艰巨任务。
  • In the period of reconstruction,technique decides everything.在重建时期,技术决定一切。
约束( restriction的名词复数 ); 管制; 制约因素; 带限制性的条件(或规则)
  • 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
警告
  • I would offer a caveat for those who want to join me in the dual calling. 为防止发生误解,我想对那些想要步我后尘的人提出警告。 来自辞典例句
  • As I have written before, that's quite a caveat. 正如我以前所写,那确实是个警告。 来自互联网
n. 部署,展开
  • He has inquired out the deployment of the enemy troops. 他已查出敌军的兵力部署情况。
  • Quality function deployment (QFD) is a widely used customer-driven quality, design and manufacturing management tool. 质量功能展开(quality function deployment,QFD)是一个广泛应用的顾客需求驱动的设计、制造和质量管理工具。
adj.不安宁的,不安静的
  • The government has done nothing to ease restrictions and manufacturers are growing restive.政府未采取任何措施放松出口限制,因此国内制造商变得焦虑不安。
  • The audience grew restive.观众变得不耐烦了。
n.取代,替换,交换;替代品,代用品
  • We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
  • They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。
n.反对,敌对
  • The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
  • The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。
n.(篮球)篮圈,篮
  • The child was rolling a hoop.那个孩子在滚铁环。
  • The wooden tub is fitted with the iron hoop.木盆都用铁箍箍紧。
adj.著名的,知名的
  • The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
  • Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。
n.腐败,堕落,贪污
  • The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
  • The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。
n.麻醉药( narcotic的名词复数 );毒品;毒
  • The use of narcotics by teenagers is a problem in many countries. 青少年服用麻醉药在许多国家中都是一个问题。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • Police shook down the club, looking for narcotics. 警方彻底搜查了这个俱乐部,寻找麻醉品。 来自《简明英汉词典》
学英语单词
2'-phosphodiesterase
a cutie pie
abnormal focal length
aggregation of individual preferences
air inlet valve of dredger's deliving pipeline
air-guns
alcala de la selva
archeri
Ariquemes
assinie
Auberger blood group system
Banbayan Pt.
bar rack
be food for worms
between-class correlation
Brachypodium sylvaticum
calex
capon test
carbon steel
catch copy
Central I.
chantha
chromophobic
couchful
day disk
deformational stress
detonation point
deutscheland
drive out of
duramatral
echymose
Elephanta Island
expected yield
fadged
fermentation inhibitor
floating point unit
folded and grooved seam
go hard or go home
half titles
harker lines
hideosities
Higher bid
imperialls
insinuate
iris detachment
Jeans viscosity equation
lactocidin
lbgs
lead metasilicate
left atrium failure
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
lock cylinder
loi-cadre
M.H.R.
macromitrium ferriei
marie dolores eliza rosanna gilberts
membranogenesis
mesh side cutter
Minskian
nodes
nonitemized
normal congruence
observantially
order parameter
pachometers
papular pruritic gloves and socks syndrome
paroxysmal coliky pain
patent licence-agreement
Phulsāri
pioneering work
plain ashlar
plant ledger card
pork fillet
preconising
PSD (power spectral density)
ragtop
relish
residual valency
Santa Maria, I.
satish
scientific data processing
search and seizure
Seawater Quality Standards
sharpness of focusing
side-by-side
Simonart band
Sleepwell
smazes
spherochromatism
starch slurry
stop-and-direction-indicator-lamps
storage cathode ray tube
sweetkin
tabby-cats
teamkillers
tetracontagons
tip clearance area
Tossåsen
uppermost part
us sea
water ejection tube
you're a star