字神帝國英語天地

今日主題：French defence sales-- Mistral blows  法國國防交易--兜售“西北風”

康康精選GRE&GMAT會考的主題，堅持每天精讀一定會進步的哦!!
MP3音檔 (按右鍵可下載聽)：喜歡的同學，幫忙推或按讚哦~~
http://xia2.kekenet.com/Sound/2015/…/ecob0820_542143799n.mp3

只有音檔怎夠，聽不懂地方，不用怕，康康幫你準備好中英文稿了：

中英文稿：
French defence sales-- Mistral blows
法國國防交易--兜售“西北風”

Why France insists on going ahead with selling warships to Russia
法國為何堅持對俄出售“西北風”級兩棲攻擊艦

EVEN before France signed a deal in 2011 to build two Mistral-class assault ships for Russia, the idea prompted widespread unease. Had Russia possessed such warships in 2008, boasted its naval chief, Admiral Vladimir Vysotsky, it would have won its war against Georgia in “40 minutes instead of 26 hours ”. Russia's neighbours were accordingly troubled, but so were France's closest allies. In Paris before the deal, Robert Gates, then America's defence secretary, had what he called a “ thorough exchange of views ” with the French : code for a serious disagreement.
早在2011年法國剛簽訂對俄出售“西北風”級兩棲攻擊艦時，各地就紛紛表示不安。俄羅斯海軍主席Admiral Vladimir Vysotsky也吹噓，若是2008年俄就擁有這些軍艦，那麼擊敗格魯吉亞就不必26小時，而只需40分鐘。俄羅斯的鄰國們同樣因法俄交易合同而心頭慌 慌，就連法國最親的同盟也略感緊張。合同簽訂前，後成為美國國防部長的Robert Gates於巴黎和法國負責人進行了一系列自稱是“透徹詳盡的意見交流”洽談：就一個嚴重分歧的處理準則。

Now, as the Ukraine crisis lurches on, the Mistral sale is creating fresh ructions. At a meeting in Washington with John Kerry, America's secretary of state, this week, Laurent Fabius, France's foreign minister, found himself forced to defend it. Earlier this month, Victoria Nuland, Mr Kerry's assistant secretary, said she had “regularly and consistently expressed our concerns ” about the sale. But Mr Fabius was having none of it. France, he said on May 13 th, would take firmness lessons from nobody: “the rule with contracts is that contracts which have been signed are honoured.”
隨著烏克蘭危機事件的蔓延，“西北風”軍售合同再引騷動。本周於華盛頓和美國國務卿John Kerry的會晤談話上，法國外交部部長Laurent Fabius不得不為本國此舉加以辯護。本月初，John Kerry的秘書助理Victoria Nuland就稱自己“一直對此次交易憂心忡忡”。然而，法國外交部部長Laurent

Fabius卻一點也不擔憂。5月13日，他還對外宣稱法國向來自我立場堅定，不受外界所動搖：“於此合同有一準則，那就是已簽訂的合同必須兌現”。
At a moment when Europe and America are trying to co-ordinate sanctions against Russia, the timing is nonetheless embarrassing. The mighty Mistral-class vessels, 199 m long, are not gunships. But their capacity to carry and land hundreds of soldiers and over a dozen armoured tanks and amphibious craft, as well as to transport some 16 helicopters, greatly enhances power projection. The first of the two ships, named the Vladivostok, will be ready for delivery to Russia in October this year ; the second, more pointedly named the Sevastopol, in mid -2015. Next month 400 Russian naval staff will arrive for training in Saint-Nazaire, the French Atlantic port where the vessels are being built.
時值歐美強強聯手製裁俄羅斯，現今的狀況無疑是令人尷尬的。威力強大的“西北風級”艦船長達199米，卻非砲艇。但是，它可容納成千上百的士兵，承載幾十 架裝甲坦克和兩棲飛行器，並能置放16架直升飛機，這大大提高了俄羅斯的力量投送能力。第一艘“西北風級”艦船名為Vladivostok，預計今年10 月將抵達俄羅斯；第二艘名字更加霸氣，叫Sevastopol，預計2015年中期竣工。下月，400名俄羅斯海軍將抵達聖納澤爾Saint- Nazaire開始接受訓練。聖納澤爾是法國西部大西洋的港口城市，這批軍艦也正是在此處修建的。

There are 400 jobs directly at stake at the Saint-Nazaire shipyard ( which also built the Queen Mary 2 cruise liner ), and over 1,000 that depend on the contract. The French state has a 33% stake in STX France, the shipyard owner, and orders from the French navy help keep it in work. At a time when unemployment is high, President François Hollande can ill afford to put more jobs in peril. And breach of the 1.2 billion contract would entail a fat penalty payment to Russia, which has already settled half the price. Hence France's consistent refusal to contemplate anything other than completing construction as planned. The contract, Mr Hollande repeated on May 10 th, “ is not in doubt ”.
聖納澤爾造船廠（也曾建造了瑪麗女王2郵輪）如今過400份工作都直面危機，且過千種工作的命運都直接掌控在法俄協議手上。法國政府擁有船廠STX France 33%的股份，廠長與法國海軍的訂單幫助鞏固了政府的股份權。眼下法國就業陷入低迷狀態，奧朗德總統當然不敢輕易讓更多的工作遭遇危機。此次合同交易額高 達120萬英鎊（170萬美元），而若法國違約，那麼它將向俄羅斯支付巨額賠款，近乎一半交易額。因此，法國一而再再而三地拒絕深入考慮其它事宜，只想按 原計劃完成艦船建造工程。Hollande於5月10日多次強調，實施合同“勢在必行”。

Could this change ? Officials in Paris suggest that the only circumstances in which France might reconsider delivery would be an agreement with its allies to move to deeper “ third-stage ” sanctions, in such sectors as energy, finance and defence. But, say the French, this would have to include equally tough measures by, for instance, Britain against Russian assets in London. “ There is an enormous amount of French ill-will towards the way the British are seen as having lived off the fat of Russia's oligarchs, ” says François Heisbourg, of the Foundation for Strategic Research. “ The French will resist any idea that they take a unilateral hit.”
合同的執行會否出現轉機呢？巴黎官員認為，要想法國重新考慮武器交易一事，唯一的可能就是法國和同盟國就在能源、經濟及國防等領域“三度”制裁俄羅斯事件 上達成協議。不過，法國也表示這必伴隨著同等苛刻的舉措，例如英反對俄在倫敦的資產。“英國一直被視為寡頭政治執政者俄羅斯的寄生蟲，對此法國向來是嗤之 以鼻的。”戰略研究基金會的 François Heisbourg如是說。“法國對外界任何稱它在打單邊戰術的評點都一一加之反駁”。

The French government will take a final decision in October, when the first vessel is ready for delivery, says Jean-Yves Le Drian, the defence minister. America may disapprove, but there is little domestic pressure to cancel the order, despite the Ukraine crisis. Mr Hollande has not withdrawn his invitation to Russia's Vladimir Putin to come to the 70 th anniversary commemoration of the Normandy landings in June. There is almost no public or parliamentary debate in France over the warship sales, and both the political left and right are keeping quiet about any reservations they might have. Mr Hollande's Socialist government wants to avoid a fresh fiasco over jobs and industry. And the centre-right opposition party is keenly aware that the original contract was won by its own leader and former French president, Nicolas Sarkozy.
國防部部長Jean-Yves Le Drian發言，等到10月第一艘軍艦竣工待要運往俄時，法國政府會做出最後決策。美國或許會反對。然而法國境內，儘管受烏克蘭危機影響，反對呼聲並不 高。Hollande也並未撤回對俄總統普金的邀請，屆時歡迎普京參加諾曼底“6月登陸”70週年大慶盛宴。在法國，此次軍事武器交易活動幾乎毫無異議， 無論是公眾之間還是議會內部，無論是左翼黨派，還是右翼黨派，均守口如瓶，未發表任何個人意見。以Hollande為首的社會主義政府不想陷入就業和工業 蕭條的漩渦中。且中右翼反對黨深刻意識到，最初的合同是由自己的領袖，即前法國總統Nicolas Sarkozy爭取而來的。