常熟英语培训：APEC峰会上看奥巴马的魅力之美

来源：常熟环球雅思培训学校 时间：2014-11-12

 　　As President Barack Obama took the stage at the Apec business leaders summit in Beijing, excitement rippled through the crowd and the packed room transformed into a sea of glowing smartphone screens.当美国总统巴拉克?奥巴马(Barack Obama)登上在北京举行的亚太经合组织(APEC)工商人峰会的讲台时，人群顿时轰动，座无虚席的会议厅变成一片发光的智能手机屏幕的海洋。

　　Mr Obama is a rock star in China, no matter what editorials in state-controlled nationalist Chinese media say about the “insipid banality” of the “lame-duck” president or the decline of liberal democracy and “lazy” America.奥巴马在中国是一个摇滚明星，尽管控制的民族主义倾向的中国媒体在社评中谈到这位“跛脚鸭”总统的“平庸”，或自由民主政体和“懒惰”美国的衰落。

　　The reception was in stark contrast to a speech by Vladimir Putin in the same venue earlier, when nobody in the much smaller audience tried to take selfies with the Russian president. Even China’s President Xi Jinping, who spoke a day earlier, did not get anywhere near the excitement or rapt attention lavished on Mr Obama by the mostly Chinese crowd. The contrast goes much further than a popularity contest at a business event.在同一个会议厅，人们对奥巴马的态度与稍早前对弗拉基米尔?普京(Vladimir Putin)的态度形成鲜明对比。俄罗斯总统发表演讲时，听众人数少得多，而且没有人试图与他合影。就连前发表演讲的中国，从台下听众(多数是中国人)得到的激动响应或凝神关注也比不上奥巴马。这种反差的意义远远不只是一个商业盛会上的人气比拼。

　　From freedom of speech to labour rights and human rights, from open and transparent political systems to the celebration of diversity, Mr Obama captured the essence of what makes most Chinese parents who can afford it want to send their children to study in the US. Mr Putin sounded more like the leader of a small, resource-rich declining power as he outlined a new agreement between Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and possibly Armenia and invited the CEOs in the room to come and invest in Russia.从言论自由到劳工权利和人权，从开放透明的政治制度到赞美多元化，奥巴马所代表的是一种价值观的精髓，正是这种价值观促使大多数有经济能力的中国父母想把孩子送到美国留学。普京听上去更像是一个资源丰富但走下坡路的小型强国的人，他介绍了俄罗斯、白俄罗斯、哈萨克斯坦、可能还有亚美尼亚之间达成的一项新协议，并邀请在场的工商人前往俄罗斯投资。

　　Mr Xi’s pitch to the region and the world was similarly one-dimensional. After frightening its neighbours with aggressive territorial claims over the past few years, Beijing is now trying to charm them with billions of dollars in proposed infrastructure investment and the construction of “new silk road” and “maritime silk road” trade routes.类似地，向地区乃至世界兜售的内容也是一维的。在过去几年里以咄咄逼人的领土主张让邻国害怕之后，北京方面现在试图对邻国发起魅力攻势，提议巨额基础设施投资并建设“新丝绸之路”和“海上丝绸之路”贸易通道。

　　This largesse is part of Mr Xi’s “China dream”, which he defines broadly as the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation”. To other countries, big and small, that slogan’s significance has become clearer in the last two years as Beijing seeks to assert its view of how international relations should work. Diplomats from many diverse countries say everything Beijing does these days seems intended to place other nations, particularly in the Asia-Pacific, into the role of tributary, subservient players in a system that resembles the ancient Chinese imperial order.这种慷慨大度是提出的“中国梦”(他将其笼统定义为“中华民族的伟大复兴”)的一部分。对大大小小的其他而言，随着中国在过去两年里寻求在有关国际关系应如何运作的问题上“说了算”，这一口号的内涵已变得更加清楚。国情迥异的许多的外交官不约而同地表示，如今北京方面所做的每一件事，似乎都意在让其他(尤其是亚太)扮演朝贡国的角色，在一个类似于中国古代朝贡体系的体系中作附庸。

　　This week’s Apec meeting is the biggest event China has held since the 2008 Olympics and the first time Mr Xi’s administration has hosted a major international summit since he took power two years ago. The portrayal by Chinese state media of Mr Xi as the benevolent emperor receiving tribute from foreign leaders is probably the most striking image to come out of the meeting. Most pictures and video clips of foreign dignitaries have seemed calculated to diminish their stature while elevating Mr Xi.本周的APEC会议是中国自2008年北京奥运会以来举办的大规模国际盛会，也是这届层自他两年前上任以来主办大型国际峰会。中国媒体把描绘成接受外国人朝贡的仁慈皇帝，这很可能是本次会议留下的引人注目的画面。大多数照片和视频片段似乎都刻意矮化外国政要的身材，同时进步的身材。

　　When Mr Obama arrived in Beijing, the Chinese soldiers forming a corridor off the aircraft were all taller than him, even though he is 6ft 1in (1.85m). Other footage showed him walking without an entourage surrounded by Chinese officials and burly security as if to emphasise his vulnerability. The ritual humiliation of Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, made to stand in front of the cameras like a penitent schoolboy while waiting to shake Mr Xi’s hand, was another example. Diplomats say China is one of few countries that uses access to leaders as a bargaining tool in international negotiations, just as the emperors once did.当奥巴马飞抵北京时，在停机坪列队迎接他的中国仪仗兵个个比他高大，尽管奥巴马身高6英尺1英寸(合1.85米)。其他画面显示，他在没有美方随从的情况下步行，身边都是中方官员和身材魁梧的警卫，仿佛是在突显他的脆弱。对日本首相安倍晋三(Shinzo Abe)的礼仪性羞辱——让他站在镜头前，像一个忏悔的那样等着握的手——是另一个例子。外交官们表示，中国是在国际谈判中将与人会面当作讨价还价工具的极少数之一，就像古代皇帝所做的那样。

　　With its infrastructure investment plans, China is offering inducements to countries willing to accept its vision of a revived tributary system in which it sits at the centre and is recognised as the pre-eminent power in the region.凭借其基础设施投资计划，中国正在拉拢那些愿接受其新版朝贡体系愿景的。在这个体系中，中国位于中心位置，并被承认为地区内首屈一指的大国。

　　Mr Obama is offering something different – the universal values that have underpinned US soft power for most of the modern age. For all the talk of America’s decline and Mr Obama’s domestic political woes, the US and its president retain an appeal to much of the world that China’s leaders could only dream of.奥巴马则在提供与此不同的东西：在现代的大部分时期支撑美国软实力的普世价值。无论怎样渲染美国的衰落和奥巴马在的政治困境，美国及其总统仍对世界很大一部分地区拥有中国人只能梦想拥有的吸引力。