News Item6

奥巴马政府在非洲地区面临挑战

News Background

新闻背景　　2009年11日，美国总统奥巴马在加纳议会发表了以“民主、良政、发展、和平”为主题的演讲，此次演讲勾勒出了美国对非政策的主要轮廓。在大约30分钟的演讲中，奥巴马用近一半的时间阐述了“民主”、“良政”与非洲国家发展、繁荣的关系，同时他也批评一些非洲国家存在的极权统治和盛行的腐败之风。奥巴马承诺，要通过增加对非援助和投资、为非洲国家创造更多贸易机会等办法来帮助非洲国家实现发展。然而舆论指出，奥巴马对非洲和平的承诺是有限的，美国政府至今未能在刚果（金）冲突等问题上有所作为。非洲国家的发展并不能单纯依靠外来援助来实现，况且美国能在多大程度上兑现其承诺还是疑问。

News Transcript VOA 新闻梗概

A new report says the Obama administration faces key challenges in Africa this year,including poverty, climate change and HIV/AIDS.

Gerald LeMelle, executive director of Africa Action, “The policy outlook is something we’veput out now for 10 years. What we try to do is give a sort of an honest look at what the followingyear will look like vis-à-vis U.S. foreign policy in Africa based on the trends that we’ve seen fromthe year previous.”

Poverty is the biggest challenge“We don’t like to discuss poverty that much because it’s kind of an indication that someof the free trade deregulation policies so favored by Western countries and Bretton WoodsInstitutions (World Bank, IMF) are in fact failing,” he says.

Climate ChangeThe report says another major challenge to Africa is climate change. And LeMelle is critical ofthe major powers for failing to take stronger action at the Copenhagen climate summit in December.

Listening Comprehension听力理解

1. 10 years; an honest look2. D 3. C Key(HIV/AIDS)The Africa Action report says HIV/AIDS will also remain a major problem,despite programs such as PEPFAR, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDSRelief. LeMelle says it’s responsible for an 18 percent decrease in AIDS-relateddeaths across Africa since 2004.

LeMelle says with the many problems facing the continent, “Africa deservesa more sophisticated approach than what has been afforded to its people.”

1 Gerald LeMelle, executive director of Africa Action, “The policy outlook issomething we’ve put out now for . What we try todo is give a sort of at what the following year willlook like vis-à-vis U.S. foreign policy in Africa based on the trends that we’veseen from the year previous.”

2 A new report says the Obama administration faces key challenges in Africa thisyear, including ( )A. povertyB. climate changeC. HIV/AIDS.

D. All of the above.

3 Which statement of the following is not right? ( )A. Poverty is the biggest challenge.

B. LeMelle is critical of the major powers for failing to take stronger action atthe Copenhagen climate summit in December.

C. LeMelle says it’s responsible for an 18 percent decrease in AIDS-relateddeaths across Africa since 2008.

D. LeMelle says with the many problems facing the continent, “Africa deservesa more sophisticated approach than what has been afforded to its people.”

challenge n.

挑战executive a.

行政的outlook n.

前景vis-à-vis prep.

关于deregulation n.

反常continent n.

洲，大陆deserve v.

应得，应受sophisticated a.

复杂的词汇加油站一项新报告指出，今年，奥巴马政府在对非政策上面临关键挑战，其中包括贫穷问题，气候变化问题以及艾滋病问题。

非洲行动的执行理事杰拉尔德??利梅里说，“这个政策的目的就是，我们现在为今后十年的发展所作出的努力。我们努力做得就是，以一种实事求是的态度，来看待接下来的几年将会是一个什么样子，就像美国对非政策是基于我们前几年的看到的发展趋势。”

贫穷是最大的挑战他说：“我们不喜欢去过多谈论贫穷，因为这是一种暗示，一些受西方国家和布雷顿森林体系（世界银行、国际货币基金组织）青睐的自由撤销对贸易管制规定的政策事实上失败了。”

气候变化问题报告指出，非洲面临的另一个重要挑战是气候变化问题。在12月份的哥本哈根气候会议上，利梅里对主要大国没能采取更强有力的行动提出了批评。

艾滋病问题非洲行动报告指出，艾滋病仍然是一个主要问题，尽管有专门的项目——总统艾滋病紧急救援计划。利梅里说，这是2004年到现在，艾滋病引起的疾病死亡率已经下降了18%的原因。

利梅里说，由于这片大陆目前仍然存在许多问题，“非洲应该采用比以往人们所能承受的，更为复杂的方法”。

1 A new report says the Obama administration faces key challenges in Africa this year, includingpoverty, climate change and HIV/AIDS. 其中“the Obama ... HIV/AIDS.”做整个句子的宾语。”including ... HIV/AIDS”是介词短语补充说明challenge。

2 “What we try to do is give a sort of an honest look at what the following year will look like vis-à-visU.S. foreign policy in Africa based on the trends that we’e seen from the year previous.”这个句子的主语是What we try to do，意思是“我们所要试着做的”。base on sth. 思是“建立在……的基础上”。that we’e seen from the year previous.是定语从句，the trend是先行词.

3 The Africa Action report says HIV/AIDS will also remain a major problem, despite programssuch as PEPFAR, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. 其中despite做介词 用，意思是“不管, 尽管, 任凭”例如：Despite the fact that she is short, she is an excellent basketballplayer. 尽管她个子矮，却是个出色的篮球运动员。整句话的意思是“非洲行动报告指出，艾滋病病毒仍然是遗留的主要问题，尽管有专门的项目——PEPFAR，这是总统为了艾滋病救治采取的紧急计划。”