本文为大家带来雅思阅读政治类素材——沙特阿拉伯的镇压已达到伊斯坦布尔。政治类话题一直是雅思阅读常考的类型,同学们应该多阅读时政类国际新闻。以防雅思阅读会考到。
FOR five days friends and colleagues have wondered what became of Jamal Khashoggi, a prominent Saudi journalist living in self-imposed exile. On October 2nd he visited the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to collect some paperwork. Feeling unsafe, he asked his fiancée to wait outside and to call a member of Turkey’s ruling party if he did not emerge. No one has seen him since. Acquaintances feared he had been detained inside or abducted and flown back to Saudi Arabia against his will.
五天之后,朋友和同事们想知道Jamal Khashoggi是一个生活在自我流放中的着名沙特记者。10月2日,他访问了伊斯坦布尔的沙特领事馆,收集了一些文件。感到不安全,他要求他的未婚妻在外面等待,如果他没有出现,就会打电话给土耳其执政党的一名成员。从那以后,没有人见过他。熟人害怕他被拘留在内部或被绑架并违背他的意愿飞回沙特阿拉伯。
Over the weekend Turkish police made a far grimmer claim: that Mr Khashoggi was murdered inside the consulate by men flown in from Saudi Arabia. His body was smuggled out, they added, perhaps in a diplomatic car. The Saudis call this a “baseless allegation” and insist he left the mission safely. Neither side has offered evidence. Then the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, added to the confusion, saying he still hoped for a positive outcome. Turkish investigators are working to piece together what happened outside the consulate. What happened inside remains a mystery. (Conveniently, the Saudis say the consulate’s CCTV cameras do not record footage.)
上周末,土耳其警方提出了一个更为严峻的说法:卡扎吉先生在沙特阿拉伯境内飞来的人员在领事馆内被谋杀。他们补充说,他的尸体被偷运出去,也许是在一辆外交车里。沙特人称这是一个“毫无根据的指控”,并坚称他安全地离开了这个任务。双方都没有*证据。然后土耳其总统雷杰普·塔伊普·埃尔多安(Recep Tayyip Erdogan)加入了这种困惑,并表示他仍希望得到积极的结果。土耳其调查人员正在努力将领事馆外发生的事情拼凑起来。里面发生的事情仍然是一个谜。(方便的是,沙特人说领事馆的闭路电视摄像机不会录制镜头。)
It is no mystery why Saudi Arabia might have wanted to silence Mr Khashoggi, a critic of the powerful crown prince, Muhammad bin Salman. He wrote frequently in Arabic, penned a regular column for the Washington Post, and kept close ties with countless diplomats and journalists. For over a year he used that platform to criticise growing repression in Saudi Arabia and urge an end to the war in Yemen. But he was hardly a radical. Mr Khashoggi was part of the Saudi elite, close to members of the royal family. In the 2000s he advised Turki al-Faisal, a former spy chief who became Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Britain and America. He often stressed that his criticism was nasiha, friendly counsel, and not a rejection of the monarchy.
沙特阿拉伯可能想要让强大的王储穆罕默德·本·萨勒曼(Muhammad bin Salman)的批评者卡绍吉(Khashoggi)沉默,这一点并不神秘。他经常用阿拉伯语写作,为华盛顿邮报撰写定期专栏,并与无数外交官和记者*持密切联系。一年多来,他利用这个平台批评沙特阿拉伯日益增长的镇压,并敦促结束也门的战争。但他不是一个激进的人。Khashoggi先生是沙特精英的一员,与皇室成员关系密切。在2000年代,他为前任间谍主席Turki al-Faisal*咨询,后者成为沙特阿拉伯驻英国和美国大使。他经常强调,他的批评是nasiha,友好的忠告,而不是拒绝君主制。
His disappearance was widely covered because of his connections, but it was not unusual. The crown prince detained more than 100 royals and ministers in a corruption sweep last year. Dozens of activists languish in jail; some may face the death penalty. Astonishingly the Saudis detained a sitting prime minister, Saad Hariri of Lebanon, for two weeks in November. Even spiriting Mr Khashoggi out of Turkey would have had precedent. In March a women’s-rights activist, Loujain al-Hathloul, was detained in Abu Dhabi and whisked back to Saudi Arabia, where she remains in jail.
由于他的关系,他的失踪被广泛覆盖,但这并不罕见。去年,皇太子在腐败案中拘留了100多名皇室成员和部长。数十名活动家在监狱里受苦; 有些人可能会面临死刑。令人惊讶的是,沙特人在11月份拘留了黎巴嫩的一位现任总理萨阿德·哈里里,为期两周。即使是将Khashoggi先生赶出土耳其也是先例。今年3月,一名妇女权利活动家Loujain al-Hathloul被拘留在阿布扎比,并被带回沙特阿拉伯,在那里她仍被关进监狱。
But murdering a critic abroad would be a chilling escalation, a tactic previously used by despots like Saddam Hussein and Muammar Qaddafi, who used their embassies in London to terrorise exiles. If the allegations are true, it is an unmistakable, brutal message to Saudi dissidents: the state can reach you anywhere. Other Arabs have heard it, too. One Syrian activist in Europe says he’s scrapped a planned trip to his own embassy.
但是在国外谋杀一名评论家将是一种令人不寒而栗的升级,这种策略以前曾被萨达姆侯赛因和穆阿迈尔卡扎菲等暴君所使用,后者曾在伦敦使用他们的大使馆来恐吓流亡者。如果指控属实,这对沙特持不同政见者来说是一个明白无误的残酷信息:国家可以在任何地方与你联系。其他阿拉伯人也听过了。欧洲一位叙利亚活动人士表示,他已经取消了计划前往自己大使馆的行程。
Mr Erdogan was already on bad terms with Saudi Arabia, partly over his support for Qatar in its dispute with its Gulf neighbours. The authoritarian Mr Erdogan is also the world’s leading jailer of journalists. Saudi apologists are already using those facts to discredit any Turkish investigation. Prince Muhammad may not care much about a demarche from Mr Erdogan.
埃尔多安先生与沙特阿拉伯的关系已经很糟糕,部分原因是他支持卡塔尔与海湾邻国的纠纷。专制的埃尔多安先生也是*的记者监狱。沙特护教者已经在利用这些事实来诋毁土耳其的任何调查。穆罕默德亲王可能不太关心埃尔多安先生的行动。
Other reactions will matter more. If the crown prince abducted or killed a critic in Istanbul, business leaders may wish to reconsider attending a major investment conference in Riyadh later this month. In America, where Mr Khashoggi was a resident, a few members of Congress have expressed outrage. “If this is true… it should represent a fundamental break in our relationship,” says Chris Murphy, a Democratic senator. Donald Trump may be less bothered. He is close to the Saudis, bitterly feuding with Turkey, and not exactly a champion of human rights or press freedom. That may explain Mr Erdogan’s ambivalent remarks: he does not wish to confront the kingdom alone.
其他反应更重要。如果王储在伊斯坦布尔绑架或杀害一名评论家,商界领袖可能希望重新考虑参加本月晚些时候在利雅得举行的一次重要投资会议。在美国,Khashoggi先生是居民,一些国会议员表示愤慨。民主党参议员克里斯墨菲说:“如果这是真的......它应该代表我们关系的根本性突破。” 唐纳德特朗普可能不那么烦恼了。他与沙特人关系密切,与土耳其激烈争斗,而不是人权或新闻自由的捍卫者。这可以解释埃尔多安先生的矛盾言论:他不希望单独对抗王国。
A final question is how Saudis themselves will react. Prince Muhammad enjoys strong support at home, even though parts of his agenda are going poorly. His economic reforms have met predictable headwinds. His foreign policies range from missteps, like the blockade of Qatar, to catastrophes, like the war in Yemen. But his cultural reforms—granting women the right to drive, allowing cinemas and concerts—are broadly popular, and there are few independent voices left to criticise him. In a recent conversation Mr Khashoggi lamented the cult of personality surrounding the crown prince. “The media is not allowed to debate problems, because that would be a sign of weakness,” he said. Now he himself has become another problem to be hidden from view.
*后一个问题是沙特人自己会如何反应。穆罕默德亲王在国内得到了强有力的支持,尽管他的部分议程进展不顺利。他的经济改革遇到了可预见的逆风。他的外交政策包括像卡塔尔封锁这样的失误,再到像也门战争这样的灾难。但他的文化改革 - 赋予妇女驾驶权,允许电影院和音乐会 - 广泛流行,并且很少有独立的声音可以批评他。在*近的一次谈话中,Khashoggi先生为王储周围的人格崇拜感到遗憾。“媒体不允许辩论问题,因为那将是一个弱点的迹象,”他说。现在他自己已经成为另一个被隐藏起来的问题。
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