文本选自:The New York Times(纽约时报)
作者:John Ismay
原文标题:U.S. State Department official publicly resigns, citing "unjust" military aid to Israel
原文发布时间:19 Oct. 2023
U.S. State Department official publicly resigns, citing "unjust" military aid to Israel
A State Department official in the bureau that oversees arms transfers resigned this week in protest of the Biden administration's decision to continue sending weapons and ammunition to Israel as it lays siege to Gaza in its war with Hamas. In his resignation letter, Josh Paul, who has been the director of congressional and public affairs for the State Department's Bureau of Political-Military Affairs for over 11 years, said the Biden administration's "blind support for one side" was leading to policy decisions that were "shortsighted, destructive, unjust and contradictory to the very values we publicly espouse."
"The response Israel is taking, and with it the American support both for that response and for the status quo of the occupation, will only lead to more and deeper suffering for both the Israeli and the Palestinian people, " he wrote, adding, "I fear we are repeating the same mistakes we have made these past decades, and I decline to be a part of it for longer." In an interview, Mr. Paul said that Israel's cutting off of water, food, medical care and electricity to Gaza, a territory of two million people, should prompt protections in a number of longstanding federal laws intended to keep American weapons out of the hands of human rights violators. But those legal guardrails are failing, he said.
"The problem with all of those provisions is that it rests on the executive branch making a determination that human rights violations have occurred, " Mr. Paul said. "The decision to make a determination doesn't rest with some nonpartisan academic entity, and there's no incentive for the president to actually determine anything."
反对“不公正”军援以色列,美国务院官员公开辞职
精听党背景导读
当地时间18日,美国国务院资深官员乔什·保罗在多个社交媒体发布了辞职信,对美国总统拜登决定对以色列进行军事援助的决定表示抗议。在这份公开的辞职信中,保罗称自己试图在美国政府内部推行更人道政策的努力失败了。
根据保罗在求职网站“领英”上公布的信息,他在辞职前就职于美国国务院政治军事事务局,任国会和公共事务主管一职。该部门负责研究和制定美国对外军事援助和武器交易相关政策,保罗在这里工作长达11年之久。
文本选自:The New York Times(纽约时报)作者:John Ismay原文标题:U.S. State Department official publicly resigns, citing "unjust" military aid to Israel原文发布时间:19 Oct. 2023关键词:辞职 以色列 战争
精听党带着问题听
1. 乔什·保罗是如何评价拜登政府的政策决定?2. 如何理解第三段的“incentive”?3. “医疗护理”用英语可以如何表达?
精听党选段赏析
标题解读
U.S. State Department official publicly resigns, citing "unjust" military aid to Israel
反对“不公正”军援以色列,美国务院官员公开辞职
U.S. State Department 美国国务院;
resign vi. 辞(职),放弃(工作或职位);
cite vt. 提及(原因);引用,援引;
unjust adj. 不公平的,不公正的;非正义的;
military aid 军事援助;
Israel n. 以色列(亚洲国家);
段一
A State Department official in the bureau that oversees arms transfers resigned this week in protest of the Biden administration’s decision to continue sending weapons and ammunition to Israel as it lays siege to Gaza in its war with Hamas. In his resignation letter, Josh Paul, who has been the director of congressional and public affairs for the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs for over 11 years, said the Biden administration’s “blind support for one side” was leading to policy decisions that were “shortsighted, destructive, unjust and contradictory to the very values we publicly espouse.”
bureau n.(美国政府部门)局,处,科;
oversee vt. 监管,监督;
protest n. 抗议,反对;
ammunition n. 弹药,军火;
lay siege to 包围;1. The enemy army decided to lay siege to the castle. 敌军决定对城堡进行包围。
Gaza n. 加沙(地中海岸港市);
resignation n. 辞职;辞职信,辞呈;
congressional adj.(美国)国会的;
Bureau of Political-Military Affairs 政治军事事务局;
shortsighted adj. 目光短浅的;近视的;
destructive adj. 破坏性的,毁灭性的;
contradictory adj. 相互矛盾的,对立的;
espouse n. 支持,赞成,信奉;
参考译文
美国国务院负责武器交易的一名官员本周辞职,以抗议拜登政府在以色列与哈马斯的战争中包围加沙之际继续向以色列提供武器弹药的决定。乔什·保罗在辞职信中表示,拜登政府“盲目支持一方”的政策决定是“短视的、破坏性的、不公正的,而且与我们公开支持的价值观背道而驰”。保罗在国务院政治军事事务局担任国会和公共事务主管超过11年。
段二
“The response Israel is taking, and with it the American support both for that response and for the status quo of the occupation, will only lead to more and deeper suffering for both the Israeli and the Palestinian people,” he wrote, adding, “I fear we are repeating the same mistakes we have made these past decades, and I decline to be a part of it for longer.” In an interview, Mr. Paul said that Israel’s cutting off of water, food, medical care and electricity to Gaza, a territory of two million people, should prompt protections in a number of longstanding federal laws intended to keep American weapons out of the hands of human rights violators. But those legal guardrails are failing, he said.
status quo 现状;
suffering n.(内心或肉体的)痛苦;
Israeli n. 以色列人;
Palestinian people 巴勒斯坦人民;
decline to 拒绝;
cut off 切断,中断;
medical care 医疗护理;
territory n. 版图,领地;
prompt vt. 促使,导致;
longstanding adj. 长期存在的;长时间的;
intend to 打算做…;
guardrail n. 护栏;屏障;
参考译文
“以色列正在采取的回应,以及美国对这种回应和占领现状的支持,只会给以色列和巴勒斯坦人民带来更多、更深层次的痛苦。”他写道,并补充说,“我担心我们正在重蹈过去几十年犯下的同样错误,我拒绝再参与其中了。”保罗在接受采访时说,以色列切断了对加沙(加沙地区有200万人口)的水、食物、医疗和电力供应,这应该促使一些长期存在的联邦法律做出保护,这些法律旨在防止美国武器落入侵犯人权者之手。但他说,这些法律屏障正在失效。
段三
“The problem with all of those provisions is that it rests on the executive branch making a determination that human rights violations have occurred,” Mr. Paul said. “The decision to make a determination doesn’t rest with some nonpartisan academic entity, and there’s no incentive for the president to actually determine anything.”
provision n. 规定;提供,供应;赡养,供养;
rest on 依赖于,依靠于;1. All our hopes now rest on you. 现在所有的希望都寄托在你的身上。
executive branch 行政部门;
occur vi. 发生;
rest with 由…负责或决定;取决于;
nonpartisan academic entity 无党派学术实体;
incentive n. 激励,刺激;诱因,动机;
参考译文
保罗说:“所有这些条款的问题在于,它取决于行政部门是否认定发生了侵犯人权的行为。做出决定的决定权不在某个无党派的学术实体手中,总统也没有动力去真正做出任何决定。”
精听党每日单词
U.S. State Department
美国国务院;
resign
/rɪˈzaɪn/ vi. 辞(职),放弃(工作或职位);
cite
/saɪt/ vt. 提及(原因);引用,援引;
unjust
/ˌʌnˈdʒʌst/ adj. 不公平的,不公正的;非正义的;
military aid
军事援助;
Israel
/ˈɪzrɪəl/ n. 以色列(亚洲国家);
bureau
/ˈbjʊroʊ/ n.(美国政府部门)局,处,科;
oversee
/ˌoʊvərˈsiː/ vt. 监管,监督;
protest
/ˈproʊtest/ n. 抗议,反对;
ammunition
/ˌæmjəˈnɪʃ(ə)n/ n. 弹药,军火;
lay siege to
包围;
Gaza
/ˈɡɑːzə/ n. 加沙(地中海岸港市);
resignation
/ˌrezɪɡˈneɪʃ(ə)n/ n. 辞职;辞职信,辞呈;
congressional
/kənˈɡreʃən(ə)l/ adj.(美国)国会的;
Bureau of Political-Military Affairs
政治军事事务局;
shortsighted
/ˌʃɔːrtˈsaɪtɪd/ adj. 目光短浅的;近视的;
destructive
/dɪˈstrʌktɪv/ adj. 破坏性的,毁灭性的;
contradictory
/ˌkɑːntrəˈdɪktəri/ adj. 相互矛盾的,对立的;
espouse
/ɪˈspaʊz/ n. 支持,赞成,信奉;
status quo
现状;
suffering
/ˈsʌfərɪŋ/ n.(内心或肉体的)痛苦;
Israeli
/ɪzˈreɪli/ n. 以色列人;
Palestinian people
巴勒斯坦人民;
decline to
拒绝;
cut off
切断,中断;
medical care
医疗护理;
territory
/ˈterətɔːri/ n. 版图,领地;
prompt
/prɑːmpt/ vt. 促使,导致;
longstanding
/ˌlɔːŋˈstændɪŋ/ adj. 长期存在的;长时间的;
intend to
打算做…;
guardrail
/ˈɡɑːrdreɪl/ n. 护栏;屏障;
provision
/prəˈvɪʒ(ə)n/ n. 规定;提供,供应;赡养,供养;
rest on
依赖于,依靠于;
executive branch
行政部门;
occur
/əˈkɜːr/ vi. 发生;
rest with
由…负责或决定;取决于;
nonpartisan academic entity
无党派学术实体;
incentive
/ɪnˈsentɪv/ n. 激励,刺激;诱因,动机;
精听党文化拓展
最近爆发的中东冲突中,一个引起国际社会广泛讨论的问题是,为何这场冲突通常不被称为“哈马斯-以色列冲突”(哈以冲突),而是更多地强调了巴勒斯坦人民的遭遇。这一命名方式背后的原因及其所蕴含的深层含义,值得我们进行深入探讨。
首先,从字面上看,“哈以冲突”似乎更准确地描述了当前的军事对抗,即哈马斯与以色列之间的战争。然而,这种表述却忽略了一个事实,那就是在这场冲突中,受到最直接、最严重伤害的是巴勒斯坦的普通民众。他们的生命安全受到威胁,基础设施被破坏,生活陷入混乱。因此,将这场战争仅仅视为两个军事力量之间的对抗,是对巴勒斯坦人民苦难的忽视。
其次,美国和以色列可能有意识地避免使用“哈以冲突”这一术语,因为这样的命名方式可能会使哈马斯在某种程度上获得合法性,被视为代表巴勒斯坦人民的正式力量。这显然与美国和以色列的外交政策背道而驰,因为他们一直拒绝承认哈马斯作为一个合法的政治实体,并将其列为恐怖组织。
此外,强调巴勒斯坦人民的受害者身份,而不是冲突双方的军事对抗,也是国际媒体和人权组织试图引起世界对这场人道主义危机的关注。他们的目的是促使国际社会采取行动,结束暴力,保护无辜平民,尤其是妇女和儿童。
然而,这种表述也有可能被双方用来为自己的目的服务。以色列可能会利用这一点来强调其自卫权,声称是在反击哈马斯的袭击,而哈马斯则可能利用巴勒斯坦平民的伤亡来争取国际同情和支持。
精听党每日美句
"Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful." - Albert Schweitzer
“成功不是开启幸福的钥匙,幸福才是开启成功的钥匙。如果你热爱你正在做的事情,你就会成功。”——阿尔伯特·施韦策