VOA慢速英语:Obama Sets Plan for 'Leaner' Military

This week, President Obama announced a new defense plan based on budget cuts in the coming years.
这一周，基于未来数年的预算削减，奥巴马总统宣布了一项新的防卫计划。

BARACK OBAMA: "Our military will be leaner, but the world must know the United States is going to maintain our military superiority."
奥巴马：“我们的军队将被精简，但全世界必须知道，美国将继续保持我们的军事优势。”
 
Mr. Obama said details of the defense budget will be announced in the coming weeks. But he said Asia and the Middle East will get greater attention.
奥巴马先生称，国防预算的细节将在未来几周内宣布。但他表示，亚洲和中东地区将获得更大关注。

BARACK OBAMA: "As I made clear in Australia, we'll be strengthening our presence in the Asia Pacific, and budget reductions will not come at the expense of this critical region. We're going to continue investing in our critical partnerships and alliances, including NATO, which has demonstrated time and again -- most recently in Libya -- that it's a force multiplier. We will stay vigilant, especially in the Middle East."
奥巴马：“正如我在澳大利亚表明的，我们将加强我们在亚太地区的军事存在，预算削减不会削弱这一关键地区的费用。我们将继续投资于包括北约在内的我们的重要伙伴和盟友，这已经一再的被证明，最近在利比亚就是一次多方军力合作。我们会保持警觉，尤其是在中东地区。”

Mr. Obama spoke Thursday in a rare presidential appearance in the press briefing room at the Pentagon -- the Defense Department headquarters. He said the nation is at a "moment of transition" after ten years of war.
周四，奥巴马先生罕见的出现在国防部总部五角大楼新闻简报室并发言。他说，经过十多年的战争后，国家正处于一个“过渡时刻。”

BARACK OBAMA: "As we look beyond the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the end of long-term, nation-building with large military footprints, we will be able to ensure our security with smaller conventional ground forces. We’ll continue to get rid of outdated Cold War-era systems so that we can invest in the capabilities we need for the future, including intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; counterterrorism; countering weapons of mass destruction; and the ability to operate in environments where adversaries try to deny us access."
奥巴马：“当我们考虑伊拉克和阿富汗战争之后的问题，以及长期带有大量军事印记的国家建设时代宣告结束。我们确保能够以较小规模的常规地面部队保卫国家安全。我们将继续摆脱过时的冷战时期的体系，这样我们就能在未来所需的战斗力上投入更多，包括情报、监视和侦察；反恐、打击大规模杀伤性武器，以及在敌人试图阻止我们进入的情况下进行作战的能力。”

Joining Mr. Obama were Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army General Martin Dempsey.
与奥巴马先生一同出席的还有国防部长Leon Panetta和参谋长联席会议主席，陆军上将Martin Dempsey将军。

The president ordered a strategic review last year to help guide decision-making by the Defense Department. American military policy is currently designed to be prepared to fight and win two wars at once. Secretary Panetta said that idea was a "residual of the Cold War." He said this, in some ways, restricted thinking about the future.
奥巴马去年下令进行一项策略性审查，以帮助指导国防部决策。美国军事政策目前设计的是同时做好参加和打赢两场战争的准备。国防部长Panetta称，这种想法是“冷战残余。”他说，这个在某些方面限制了对未来的思维。
 
LEON PANETTA: "Our strategy review concluded that the United States must have the capability to fight several conflicts at the same time. We are not confronting obviously the threats of the past, we are confronting the threats of the twenty-first century, and that demands greater flexibility to shift and deploy forces to be able to fight and defeat any enemy anywhere."
LEON PANETTA：“我们的策略性审查得出的结论是，美国必须有能力同时应对几次冲突。我们面临的显然不是过去的威胁，我们正面临的是二十一世纪的威胁，而需要在转移和部署军事力量上更为灵活，有能力打败任何地方的任何敌人。”

The defense secretary said troop numbers would be cut. But he said the United States will protect and in some cases increase its investments in areas such as special operations and cyberspace.
国防部长表示将削减部队人数。但他表示，美国将保护和增加在某些情况下，如特种作战和网络空间领域的投资。

For some defense experts, including Michael O'Hanlon at the Brookings Institution in Washington, the new strategic plan makes sense.
对于包括华盛顿布鲁金斯学会的Michael O'Hanlon在内的防务专家来说，新的战略计划是有意义的。
 
MICHAEL O'HANLON: "It's been in discussion for twenty years, and it's even more feasible now with Saddam Hussein gone from Iraq, and I think it's also responsive to the set of threats we face today where more of them are likely to be at sea or in the air -- from Iran, for example."
MICHAEL O'HANLON：“该问题已经讨论了20多年，随着萨达姆侯赛因在伊拉克下台它现在甚至变得更为可行。我认为它对我们当前面临的威胁也能做出反应，当前面临的这种威胁可能是在海上或空中，例如来自伊朗的威胁。”

But former defense official Frank Gaffney, now president of the Center for Security Policy, says the new strategy has many problems.
但是，前国防部官员，现任安全政策中心主席的Frank Gaffney表示，该新战略还存在很多问题。

FRANK GAFFNEY: "It may not be up to us how many wars we have to fight. Enemies who perceive us unable to deal with more than one problem at a time may decide to collaborate and work in a simultaneous fashion that will simply overtax us. And worse, the perception that we are so weak as to be unable to deal with that sort of danger invites it."
FRANK GAFFNEY：“我们需要打多少场战争可能并不取决于我们自己。敌人发现我们无法同时处理多个问题，可能就会决定合作并同时出手，这将让我们无法招架。更糟糕的是，我们如此薄弱以至于无法处理这类威胁的这种看法，会引发这类威胁。”

The defense budget for this year is about five hundred thirty billion dollars. Mr. Panetta said the new strategy aims to cut about four hundred eighty-seven billion dollars over ten years. However, the military may face more than five hundred billion dollars in additional cuts as Congress and the president seek to reduce the federal deficit.
今年国防预算约有5300亿美元。Panetta先生说，新战略旨在未来十年内减少约约4870亿美元。然而，由于国会和奥巴马总统都寻求降低联邦赤字，军方可能会面临超过5000亿美元的额外削减。