英語(yǔ)四級(jí)閱讀練習(xí)附答案-133 布萊爾答清華學(xué)子

　　Tony Blair In Qinghua University

 

　　QUESTION:Seven days ago during your visit to the USA, newspaper cuttings commented that the UK had become the 51 st state 1 of the United States. I want your views about that comment.

　　PRIME MINISTER:On the 51 st state , well that is what is often said by people who oppose Britain's strong alliance with the United States of America . And actually it is not true to say that we don't have our disagreements with the United States, sometimes we do. The Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change2 was an example of that. But I am proud of our relationship with the United States and I am proud of the partnership that we have . But I don't think that we should see a strong relationship with the United States as the only strong relationship we can have. The problems that we face are problems to do with global terrorism and weapons of mass destruction in the hands of irresponsible people, I think they are climate change, I think it is economic globalisation, I think it is to do with how we extend development to the poorest parts of the world. But I think those challenges are best dealt with by nations working together. So we have a close relationship with the United States, but we are also part of the European Union. I would like a closer relationship between the UK and China, because I think how China develops in this international framework is going to be vitally important. I think 21 st century politics is about nations coming together on a common agenda. Now that means in my view, not that we come together simply on an agenda that America sets, but that we come together on an agenda that we set together. I think that the path for Britain is not to be worried about our alliance with the United States, I think it is good that we have got an alliance with the United States, but I think we should be using that influence to try and bring the United States and other countries together on a common agenda that we are all happy with, that your leadership here in China is happy with, the European Union, the Russians, countries like India that are developing too . We have all got to get in the same place on the same agenda, and that is what we are working towards, because I think that is the best thing for people . .. I really do.

　　QUESTION:You are around my father's age and like my father. Would you tell me here honestly, like talking to your own children, that you never lied on the Iraq war?

　　PRIME MINISTER:What would I say to my children? What I would say to them is this, that in the end as a political leader you have got to take the decisions that you think are right, and those decisions are sometimes very, very difficult. But I believe passionately in relation to Iraq, we could not allow Saddam Hussein to carry on developing weapons of mass destruction3 , and don't be in any doubt that he was doing it, because we had 23 different United Nations resolutions about the very issue of Saddam and weapons of mass destruction. So please don 't anyone here think this is something that suddenly was dreamed up by the Americans or the British , it was there , it was a serious issue . That is why the United Nations inspectors were in Iraq throughout the 1990s. They were then forced to leave at the end of 1998, it was why they went back in November after the United Nations resolution. So I don't have any doubt about the threat that he posed, and I don't have any doubt either about the danger of that threat in the hands of a man like Saddam. It is difficult for people here just to appreciate4 this, but out of a country of 23 million, 4 million of its people were in exile —4 million of them were in exile . Literally5 tens of thousands of children used to die of malnutrition every single year, of preventable diseases, because of the way he ran the country. And to allow someone like that to carry on being a security threat to the world I thought was the wrong thing, so I took the action that I did. Now there will be people here , and I totally understand it, who disagree with that decision, and the difficult thing about being a political leader is that in the end you have to take the decisions that you believe are right and stand by them. I took the decision I thought was right and I stick by it. And that is what I would say to my children or anybody else's children.

　　練習(xí)題：

　?、? Matching:

　　1. prime minister A. homeless

　　2. alliance B. agreement

　　3. protocol C. decision

　　4. resolution D. premier

　　5. appreciate E. union

　　6. in exile F. understand

　　Ⅱ. Questions :

　　1. Who is the head of Iraq ?

　　2. How many resolutions UN passed to forbid Saddam Hussein to carry on developing weapons of mass destruction?

　　3. Why did newspaper cuttings comment that the UK had become the 51st state of the United States?

　　答案：

　?、? 1. D 2. E 3 . B 4 . C 5. F 6 . A

　?、? 1. Saddam Hussein

　　3. That is what is often said by people who oppose Britain's strong alliance with the United States of America.

　　譯文：

　　學(xué) 生: 幾天前, 在您到美國(guó)的訪問(wèn)時(shí), 有報(bào)紙?jiān)u論說(shuō)英國(guó)是美國(guó)的第51 個(gè)州, 您是怎么看待這些評(píng)論的?

　　布萊爾: 人們經(jīng)常會(huì)用第51 個(gè)州之說(shuō)來(lái)反對(duì)英國(guó)跟美國(guó)的強(qiáng)大聯(lián)盟。但是我們不能說(shuō)英美之間就沒(méi)有分歧, 有時(shí)候我們也會(huì)有不同意見,《關(guān)于全球氣候變化的京都議定書》就是一個(gè)例子。但對(duì)于我們與美國(guó)的關(guān)系, 我感到非常自豪, 我對(duì)我們的伙伴關(guān)系感到非常自豪。但是我并不認(rèn)為與美國(guó)的良好關(guān)系是我們所能具有的惟一的關(guān)系?，F(xiàn)在我們面臨的問(wèn)題是國(guó)際恐怖主義, 是掌握在不負(fù)責(zé)任的人手中的大規(guī)模殺傷性武器, 是氣候變化, 是經(jīng)濟(jì)全球化, 是發(fā)展貧窮國(guó)家的經(jīng)濟(jì)。我覺(jué)得應(yīng)付這些挑戰(zhàn)的方法, 是各國(guó)人民的合作。所以我們跟美國(guó)有很好的關(guān)系,同時(shí)我們也是歐盟的一部分。我也愿意與中國(guó)發(fā)展更緊密的關(guān)系, 因?yàn)槲矣X(jué)得中國(guó)在國(guó)際構(gòu)架下如何發(fā)展事關(guān)重大。我覺(jué)得21 世紀(jì)的政治是各個(gè)國(guó)家為一個(gè)共同的議程走到一起。我的意思是, 我們不是按美國(guó)制定的議程, 而是按我們共同制定的議程走到一起。所以, 我覺(jué)得英國(guó)的任務(wù)不是去擔(dān)心與美國(guó)的聯(lián)盟, 我覺(jué)得我們應(yīng)該跟美國(guó)保持良好的盟友關(guān)系, 應(yīng)該把這種影響擴(kuò)大開來(lái), 推動(dòng)美國(guó)和其他國(guó)家的關(guān)系, 制定出大家都能接受的共同議程。中國(guó)的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)能夠接受,歐盟、俄羅斯以及像印度這樣的發(fā)展中國(guó)家也能接受。大家都走到一起, 制定共同的議程, 這是我們努力的方向。因?yàn)槲矣X(jué)得這是最有利于人民的, 我堅(jiān)信這一點(diǎn)。

　　學(xué)生: 您大概是我爸爸的年齡, 您像我父親一樣。您能不能像您對(duì)您的孩子那樣老實(shí)地告訴我, 您在伊拉克戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)當(dāng)中沒(méi)有撒謊?

　　布萊爾: 我會(huì)怎么回答我的孩子? 我想要說(shuō)的是, 作為一個(gè)政治領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人, 你不得不做出你認(rèn)為正確的決定。有時(shí)候要做出這些決定是很困難的, 但我堅(jiān)信: 有關(guān)與伊拉克的關(guān)系上, 我們絕不允許薩達(dá)姆繼續(xù)發(fā)展大規(guī)模殺傷性武器, 毫無(wú)疑問(wèn), 他的確在發(fā)展大規(guī)模殺傷性武器, 因?yàn)閷?duì)此聯(lián)合國(guó)有二十三個(gè)決議。在座的各位可別認(rèn)為這是英國(guó)或者美國(guó)虛構(gòu)的。事實(shí)就是如此, 這是很嚴(yán)肅的問(wèn)題。這就是為什么聯(lián)合國(guó)檢查人員整個(gè)20 世紀(jì)90 年代都呆在伊拉克, 直到1998 年底被迫離開。但是在聯(lián)合國(guó)做出決定之后, 他們又回到伊拉克。我毫不懷疑薩達(dá)姆所構(gòu)成的威脅, 我也同樣不懷疑一個(gè)像薩達(dá)姆這樣的人手中握有這種武器會(huì)有危險(xiǎn)。中國(guó)人可能很難意識(shí)到這意味著什么, 但是在伊拉克2300 萬(wàn)人口中, 有400 萬(wàn)流落他鄉(xiāng), 每年有數(shù)萬(wàn)的兒童死于營(yíng)養(yǎng)不良和可防沿的疾病。所有這些都是因?yàn)樗慕y(tǒng)治所造成的。我認(rèn)為任由像他這樣的人繼續(xù)威脅世界安全是錯(cuò)誤的, 所以我采取了那樣的行動(dòng)。會(huì)有人不贊同我的決定, 我完全理解。作為一個(gè)政治領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人的困難在于你必須做出你認(rèn)為正確的決定, 而且堅(jiān)持你的立場(chǎng)。我做出了我認(rèn)為正確的決定, 我堅(jiān)持這個(gè)立場(chǎng), 這就是我要對(duì)我自己的孩子以及別人的孩子要說(shuō)的話。