搜索关注在线英语听力室公众号:tingroom,领取免费英语资料大礼包。
(单词翻译)
Are Russians able to get any real news about what's going in Ukraine?
Journalist and diplomatic analyst2 Lawrence Sheets speaks to NPR's Steve Inskeep about Russian President Vladimir Putin's disinformation campaign against Ukraine, and his crackdown on Russian media.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
We have two visions of the war in Ukraine. There's the reality of Russia's invasion and the image cast on Russian TV. Our former NPR colleague Lawrence Sheets has a vision of both. He is in Ukraine now, and he is a Russian speaker who has been watching a Russian state TV broadcast that gives some insights into what may be happening in the Kremlin. Lawrence, welcome back.
LAWRENCE SHEETS: Hello, Steve. Nice to speak again.
INSKEEP: Where are you, and what's it like there?
SHEETS: I'm near the center of Odesa, Ukraine, which is Ukraine's main port. Seventy percent of the trade for Ukraine comes through this port. It's closed currently. I'm sitting next to a bomb shelter, which is sandbagged, not too far from the port area. This morning, there have been a lot of elderly people showing up asking about provisions in the bomb shelter. First time I've seen that, although I've been here for six days - probably as a result of a major bombing. We heard a bomb go off this morning, air raid sirens. The Ukraine Defense3 Ministry4 reporting that they shot down four Russian drones over the area, over the center of the city, over the district.
INSKEEP: So that's the reality there in Odesa, a port city where people have feared a Russian waterborne invasion. That hasn't happened, but there's a degree of violence. At the same time that you're there, Lawrence, you've been watching a Russian TV program that doesn't maybe tell you anything reliable about Ukraine, but you say that it gives you clues about Vladimir Putin. What is the program?
SHEETS: The program is called "Vremya," which in Russian means time. It's been on since 1956. It comes on religiously at 2100, 9 p.m. local. It's been obligatory5 - during the Soviet6 period, it's obligatory watching for all good Soviet citizens. And it's become more and more absurdist as the days go on. But it's some of the things which are being said, especially last night - I watched it, and the lead story was about Hunter Biden. And the allegation was that Hunter Biden, of course, had sat on a Ukrainian gas company board. And the allegation was that Hunter Biden - and I will quote this - "apart from spending his time snorting cocaine7, was running, actually, a biological weapons program in Ukraine for the U.S. government under the cover of the Pentagon, with the participation8 of people like George Soros."
INSKEEP: Wow. This is tying all of the conspiracy9 theories together into one unified10 conspiracy theory.
SHEETS: Yeah, it gets wild as you go along.
INSKEEP: OK, so this is clearly not reliable information about what's going on in Ukraine. In fact, you've noted11, when they talk about people fleeing Mariupol, they suggest that the Ukrainians themselves have been destroying their own city. But does the evolution of the program tell you anything about Kremlin thinking and especially Vladimir Putin's thinking? For example, have his goals in Ukraine changed over time?
SHEETS: It tells you a lot because the goals have shifted. If the goals before were de-Nazification, which is still used during the program, now it's repeatedly the liberation of what they call the Donetsk, which is a region of Ukraine, People's Republic as Russia refers to it, the Lugansk People's Republic as Russia refers to it, and Crimea. And this seems to be the Russian - at face value, the demand that Ukraine recognize these regions - Crimea as part of Russia, which was annexed12 in 2014, the other two as independent entities13. So the goal posts have shifted. There's no question about that. And it's notable for what it doesn't show. It doesn't show the defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, who I know personally, and he has not been shown for - we're going on Day 13 now. Now, day - two weeks, he hasn't been seen, where I used to see him daily.
INSKEEP: Now, I know that there was one - there was at least one image where he did show up on TV the other day, after his general absence was noted. But I'm interested in what you're telling me there, Lawrence, about Crimea and about the Donbas. Is this what you're saying? In the early days of the war, this channel that reflects Putin's view talked about Russia quickly taking over the entire country, clearly on its way to taking over Kyiv, but now they've retreated to the idea that they want Ukraine to recognize the parts of Ukraine that they'd already stolen. Is that right?
SHEETS: Absolutely. And in fact, this is being stated officially by Kremlin officials, including the chief Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, who had - has stated this demand very forcefully. So this seems to be not just a random14 talking point; it seems to be what the Russians are putting on the table. You speak to people here in, for instance, Odesa, and they say that's off the table because too many people have died, and too much blood has been shed. You referred to Mariupol, the Ukrainians bombing themselves and all these things - I mean, this is something that the Russians said in Chechnya and other places, that the Chechens were bombing themselves, even though they didn't have any planes.
INSKEEP: Lawrence, thanks for the insights. Really appreciate it.
SHEETS: Appreciate it, Steve.
INSKEEP: Lawrence Sheets is a longtime Kremlin watcher and former NPR correspondent. He heads the consulting group Eurasian International Analytics, and he's currently in Odesa, Ukraine.
1 transcript | |
n.抄本,誊本,副本,肄业证书 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
2 analyst | |
n.分析家,化验员;心理分析学家 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
3 defense | |
n.防御,保卫;[pl.]防务工事;辩护,答辩 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
4 ministry | |
n.(政府的)部;牧师 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
5 obligatory | |
adj.强制性的,义务的,必须的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
6 Soviet | |
adj.苏联的,苏维埃的;n.苏维埃 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
7 cocaine | |
n.可卡因,古柯碱(用作局部麻醉剂) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
8 participation | |
n.参与,参加,分享 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
9 conspiracy | |
n.阴谋,密谋,共谋 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
10 unified | |
(unify 的过去式和过去分词); 统一的; 统一标准的; 一元化的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
11 noted | |
adj.著名的,知名的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
12 annexed | |
[法] 附加的,附属的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
13 entities | |
实体对像; 实体,独立存在体,实际存在物( entity的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
14 random | |
adj.随机的;任意的;n.偶然的(或随便的)行动 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
本文本内容来源于互联网抓取和网友提交,仅供参考,部分栏目没有内容,如果您有更合适的内容,欢迎 点击提交 分享给大家。