时间:2018-12-16 作者:英语课 分类:2018年VOA慢速英语(七)月


英语课

 


The drive from the Russian border to the Tapa military base in Estonia is only three hours by tank. And that concerns the North Atlantic Treaty Organization or NATO.


The military base once belonged to the Soviet 1 Union. Now, it has 1,000 NATO soldiers as well as millions of dollars’ worth of military equipment.


The soldiers are officially part of NATO’s Enhanced Forward Presence program, which began in 2016. It was set up to stop any Russian intervention 2 in the Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia or Lithuania. The three countries joined the Atlantic alliance in 2004.


The NATO troops are considered a tripwire force. That means any military action by Russia into the Baltic States would lead to a NATO reaction. The alliance has promised to defend its members.


Two times in the past week Russian aircraft violated Estonian airspace in the Gulf 3 of Finland, said an official for the Estonian defense 4 forces. Each time, he said, a Russian airplane entered the airspace for less than one minute and failed to answer radio calls from Estonia’s Air Navigation Services. The Estonian Foreign Ministry 5 requested talks with the Russian Ambassador and gave him a diplomatic note each time, The Baltic Times reported.


VOA joined troops from Britain’s 1st Battalion 6 Yorkshire Regiment 7 as they began a six month deployment 8 at the Tapa military base in early July.


“We’re here defensively, but we’re here to fight and defend should the need arise,” said Lieutenant 9 Colonel Jim Kennedy.


Russia’s 2014 takeover of the Crimean peninsula and invasion of eastern Ukraine worried the Baltic States, especially Estonia. Just 10 years ago, Russian forces invaded Georgia, which is not a full member of the alliance. The Russian government continues to support two breakaway provinces there.


The Estonian government has spent a lot of money to enable the NATO deployment and welcomed the troops.


In Tallinn, Estonia’s capital, all eyes are on the July 16 Helsinki meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump 10.


“NATO’s strategy when dealing 11 with Russia…it’s showing strength and being prepared to enact 12 our collective defense, but it is dialogue at the same time. We…await the outcome of Helsinki,” said Kennedy.


Kalev Stoicescu is with Estonia’s International Center for Defense and Security. He says Trump adds a new unpredictability to the talks in Helsinki, but the Russians know what they want from the meeting.


“The Russian expectations could be higher than from the American side. Surely, they are expecting a propaganda victory,” he said.


President Trump said the Helsinki summit could reset 13 relations with Russia. But the NATO message from Estonia is clear: we are prepared for Russian aggression 14.


I’m Susan Shand.


Words in This Story


enhance – v. to improve something


tripwire – n. a wire placed close to the ground which trips people, sets off an alarm


navigation – n. the act, activity, or process of finding the way to get to a place when you are traveling in a ship, airplane


dialogue – n. discussions; contacts


strategy – n. a plan of action



1 Soviet
adj.苏联的,苏维埃的;n.苏维埃
  • Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
  • Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。
2 intervention
n.介入,干涉,干预
  • The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
  • Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。
3 gulf
n.海湾;深渊,鸿沟;分歧,隔阂
  • The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
  • There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。
4 defense
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。
5 ministry
n.(政府的)部;牧师
  • They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
  • We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。
6 battalion
n.营;部队;大队(的人)
  • The town was garrisoned by a battalion.该镇由一营士兵驻守。
  • At the end of the drill parade,the battalion fell out.操练之后,队伍解散了。
7 regiment
n.团,多数,管理;v.组织,编成团,统制
  • As he hated army life,he decide to desert his regiment.因为他嫌恶军队生活,所以他决心背弃自己所在的那个团。
  • They reformed a division into a regiment.他们将一个师整编成为一个团。
8 deployment
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。
9 lieutenant
n.陆军中尉,海军上尉;代理官员,副职官员
  • He was promoted to be a lieutenant in the army.他被提升为陆军中尉。
  • He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官,递上了一张简短的便条进去。
10 trump
n.王牌,法宝;v.打出王牌,吹喇叭
  • He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
  • The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手,作为他的王牌。
11 dealing
n.经商方法,待人态度
  • This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
  • His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。
12 enact
vt.制定(法律);上演,扮演
  • The U.S. Congress has exclusive authority to enact federal legislation.美国国会是唯一有权颁布联邦法律的。
  • For example,a country can enact laws and economic policies to attract foreign investment fairly quickly.例如一个国家可以很快颁布吸引外资的法令和经济政策。
13 reset
v.重新安排,复位;n.重新放置;重放之物
  • As soon as you arrive at your destination,step out of the aircraft and reset your wristwatch.你一到达目的地,就走出飞机并重新设置手表时间。
  • He is recovering from an operation to reset his arm.他做了一个手臂复位手术,正在恢复。
14 aggression
n.进攻,侵略,侵犯,侵害
  • So long as we are firmly united, we need fear no aggression.只要我们紧密地团结,就不必惧怕外来侵略。
  • Her view is that aggression is part of human nature.她认为攻击性是人类本性的一部份。
学英语单词
acanthoidine
adjacent line
air-breather
ambiguohypoglossal
avoking
bestower
buffer reagent
buy-and-holds
catanator
caveling
chlordan
cost-reimbursement
de-activation
Deinotherioidea
democratic values
desoxypyridoxine
dexamethasones
diameter of working disk
diatonic auxiliary note
discretamine
domain magnetization
double-layer fluorescent screen
dropper plate of free grain
Drusze
dynamicize
editon
elbow equivalent
electrode-travel motor
embraced
endomycopsis hordel
Engler viscosimeter
fairwells
fang-likest
fawns on
federal radio act 1927
fling oneself into the breach
fluoroolefin
free-taking
general staff
grinding media charge
hachi
hard-fightings
Hatsukaichi
HRST
ignition of precipitate
inverse mercator
iodine trap
jM-factor
karhunen loeve transform (klt)
kemerer
laughing-eyed
liege poustie
light-alloy armo(u)r
Longué-Jumelles
lophocoronids
Louis Henri
market chaotic
multistage linear amplifier
Narfeyri
Ngoso
octuplex
optical fiber ribbons
organised-crimes
pass in a program
pelviroentgenography
photoelectrocatalytic reactor
phrenemphraxis
polar moments of inertia
portcullised
practice range
prevelar
primordisl endoderm cells
reave
Rectocillin
residual concentration
Riemann upper integral
rifle shot
safo
saltations
screw-tap
sebiferic acid
second anchor
short-lived asset
sleight-of-hand
sniol
sound-barriers
speed change control
stalk extractor
structurality
Tharrawaw
thirst bucket
thoughted
three-dimensional imaging
throw dust in someone's eyes
transnationally
unwed mother
vel non
voiced sounds
votes down
well-customed
wharfies
wrecking