3月19日翻译
Monday, 19. March 2007, 05:25:56
• IRAQ has hardly been out of the news for the past few years, but expect it to get renewed attention on Tuesday, as the fourth anniversary of the American-led invasion is marked. American planners before the war predicted that most of their soldiers would be home by now; instead 140,000 or so are still there, and more are surging in, mostly to Baghdad. The scorecard for the past four years makes gloomy reading: Saddam Hussein was toppled efficiently enough, Iraqis have voted for a government and there seems to be an agreement on how to divvy out oil revenues; but near civil war, sectarian divisions, a crumbling state, corruption, an exodus of the bright and terrified, the botched execution of Saddam and plenty more explain why almost nobody mouths the words success and Iraq in the same sentence these days.
伊拉克在最近几年几乎从未远离新闻，但预料它会尤其重视本周二，美国所带领入侵四周年纪念。美国在战争之前的计划者当时预料他们绝大多数的士兵截至目前都应该回家了；相反，目前仍有140，000人在那里，而且更多人在进驻，尤其是在巴格达。过去四年的成绩单显得有些灰暗：萨达姆•侯赛因的倒台有些缺乏效率，伊拉克人们为政府投票而且看上去会有一个如何分配石油资源的共识；但临近内战，教派冲突，国家摇摇欲坠，腐败，大批逃离的光明与惊恐。尽快处决萨达姆与越来越多的解释，为什么几乎没有人在一个句子里提到“成功”和“伊拉克”这两个词汇。
• AL GORE’S roadshow is moving on. On Wednesday the former vice-president testifies in Congress, to a House committee, on climate change and man’s role in it—a subject which has helped transform his public character from that of a nerdish loser who, with rotten campaigning skills, threw away a chance to take the White House in 2000, to something of a green superstar. His documentary on global warming picked up an Oscar this year. Pundits like to speculate that he could yet enter and win the race to become Democratic presidential nominee in 2008—once voters are fed up with Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
全球变暖仍在持续。周二，前副总统在国会对委员会作证，关于气候变换与人类的角色，这会帮助他，一个不懂选举，失去2000年问鼎白宫的，令人讨厌的失败者转换成一个公众人物，一个所谓的绿色超级明星。他的关于全球变暖的记录片于今年获得了奥斯卡奖。只要选民厌倦Hillary Clinton和Barack Obama，专家预测他将会成为民主党2008年总统大选的候选人。
• LIFE begins at 50. Yeah, right. The heads of state of the European Union get together next weekend in Berlin, Germany’s capital, to mark half a century since the signing of the Treaty of Rome, the agreement that brought the EU into existence. This is supposed to be more than a chance to look at the past. Germany’s Angela Merkel wants to get some momentum behind the warmed-up idea of a European constitution—despite the rejection of voters in France and elsewhere—that would allow closer integration of the many countries involved. She is unlikely to have much luck.
生命始于50岁。是的，没错。欧盟成员国的首脑将于下周二齐聚德国首都柏林，纪念半个世纪前签订的《罗马协议》，这份协议使欧盟得以存在。这被认为不仅仅是一个回首过去，更是一个机会。尽管法国和其他一些地方的选民拒绝接受，德国总理Angela Merkel依然希望能有动力来支持持续升温的欧盟宪法，，那会使更多的国家加入这一整体。她不大可能有太好的运气。
伊拉克在最近几年几乎从未远离新闻，但预料它会尤其重视本周二，美国所带领入侵四周年纪念。美国在战争之前的计划者当时预料他们绝大多数的士兵截至目前都应该回家了；相反，目前仍有140，000人在那里，而且更多人在进驻，尤其是在巴格达。过去四年的成绩单显得有些灰暗：萨达姆•侯赛因的倒台有些缺乏效率，伊拉克人们为政府投票而且看上去会有一个如何分配石油资源的共识；但临近内战，教派冲突，国家摇摇欲坠，腐败，大批逃离的光明与惊恐。尽快处决萨达姆与越来越多的解释，为什么几乎没有人在一个句子里提到“成功”和“伊拉克”这两个词汇。
• AL GORE’S roadshow is moving on. On Wednesday the former vice-president testifies in Congress, to a House committee, on climate change and man’s role in it—a subject which has helped transform his public character from that of a nerdish loser who, with rotten campaigning skills, threw away a chance to take the White House in 2000, to something of a green superstar. His documentary on global warming picked up an Oscar this year. Pundits like to speculate that he could yet enter and win the race to become Democratic presidential nominee in 2008—once voters are fed up with Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
全球变暖仍在持续。周二，前副总统在国会对委员会作证，关于气候变换与人类的角色，这会帮助他，一个不懂选举，失去2000年问鼎白宫的，令人讨厌的失败者转换成一个公众人物，一个所谓的绿色超级明星。他的关于全球变暖的记录片于今年获得了奥斯卡奖。只要选民厌倦Hillary Clinton和Barack Obama，专家预测他将会成为民主党2008年总统大选的候选人。
• LIFE begins at 50. Yeah, right. The heads of state of the European Union get together next weekend in Berlin, Germany’s capital, to mark half a century since the signing of the Treaty of Rome, the agreement that brought the EU into existence. This is supposed to be more than a chance to look at the past. Germany’s Angela Merkel wants to get some momentum behind the warmed-up idea of a European constitution—despite the rejection of voters in France and elsewhere—that would allow closer integration of the many countries involved. She is unlikely to have much luck.
生命始于50岁。是的，没错。欧盟成员国的首脑将于下周二齐聚德国首都柏林，纪念半个世纪前签订的《罗马协议》，这份协议使欧盟得以存在。这被认为不仅仅是一个回首过去，更是一个机会。尽管法国和其他一些地方的选民拒绝接受，德国总理Angela Merkel依然希望能有动力来支持持续升温的欧盟宪法，，那会使更多的国家加入这一整体。她不大可能有太好的运气。
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