VOA常速英语:Russia Hopes to Present ’Fresh Face’ for World Cup Amid Global Isolation

It was a near-perfect opening day for Russia as its hosting of the World Cup kicked off Thursday.A 5-0 victory over Saudi Arabia, thousands of fans filling the squares of Moscow in the evening sunshine,and all of it broadcast to hundreds of millions watching around the globe.
6月14日，世界杯足球赛在俄罗斯开幕，开幕日堪称完美。在揭幕战中，俄罗斯以5:0的成绩大胜沙特，在傍晚的余晖下，成千上万的球迷欢聚在莫斯科球迷广场看球，本届世界杯开幕式有全球数亿观众共同观看。

“For Putin himself, this World Cup is extremely important with precisely an aim of demonstrating his so-called “second face”, a friendly, open face that theoretically could have contributed to the change of Russia’s image as well as his own if it had not been for previous events.”
“对于普京本人来说，这届世界杯非常重要，其目的就是要展示他所谓的“最好的一面”，友好开放的一面，其实如果不是由于之前的种种事件，理论上来说，世界杯可能有助于改善俄罗斯的国际形象以及普京的个人形象。”

Events that have made Russia the pariah of the West, the annexation of Crimea and invasion of Ukraine in 2014, the destruction of Malaysia Airlines flightMH17, which investigators say was shot down by a Russian missile,the intervention in Syria to support President Bashar al-Assad and the poisoning of double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter on British soil which London blames squarely on the Kremlin.
一系列事件使俄罗斯在国际社会上很被孤立，主要包括：2014年吞并克里米亚并入侵乌克兰；马来西亚航空公司MH17航班坠毁，而调查人员称击落这架飞机的导弹来自俄罗斯军方；干预叙利亚局势，支持总统巴沙尔·阿萨德；双面间谍瑟盖·斯克里帕尔和他的女儿在英国中毒身亡，而英国当局将矛头直接指向俄罗斯。

“Well, it lost the soft power gains Russia got from the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and how quickly it gave them away when it started the annexation of Crimea before their closing ceremony had even begun.So there’s something else at play it for Russia and which is that it will use the World Cup as an example of its reemerging as a great power and Western countries by participating in the World Cup are in a sense enabling President Putin to portray the competition in those terms.”
“俄罗斯通过主办2014年索契冬奥会获得了软实力的提升，但现在，它失去了这一优势，冬奥会闭幕式开始之前，它就开始实施吞并克里米亚的想法，所以很快人们对它的好感度大打折扣。因此对于俄罗斯来说，世界杯并不只是足球比赛那么简单，也就是说，它将利用世界杯这个机会重新树立其大国形象，而参加世界杯的西方国家在某种程度上来说是在支持普京想充分利用世界杯彰显实力的想法。

A successful World Cup is key to the Kremlin’s plans.For the fans, geopolitics comes a distant second to the football and the partying.But for Western countries taking part, that presents a problem:Will the World Cup be used to whitewash Russia’s record on the global stage?
要使这一想法成为现实，俄罗斯就要举办一届成功的世界杯。对于球迷来说，地缘政治远远比不上足球和聚会重要。但对于参赛的西方国家来说，面临着这样一个问题：世界杯是否会被用来美化俄罗斯在国际舞台上的种种表现？

Analysts say it will take more than a football tournament to end Russia’s isolation. “Unfortunately, there would be a huge amount of work to do to dismantle what has already been done.Russia is unable to unfreeze the Donbas conflict in its present political situation. Russia will by no means give Crimea back to Ukraine, that is too late.Russia is not ready to express its political will to have serious talks with the West.”
分析人士表示，要结束俄罗斯的孤立状态，不仅仅是一场足球比赛的事。“遗憾地是，想要弥补做过的事，必须要做大量补救工作。在目前的政治局势下，俄罗斯没有政治解决方案，也就意味着顿巴斯冲突将继续‘冻结’。俄罗斯绝不会把克里米亚还给乌克兰。事情已经发生了。俄罗斯还没有准备好表达其愿与西方认真对话的政治意愿。”

Alongside the soft power games of the World Cup and the Sochi Olympics,Putin has maintained his popularity through military campaigns in Ukraine and Syria, says analyst Foxall.
分析人士福克索表示，除了利用举办世界杯和索契奥运会的时机提升俄罗斯的软实力之外，普京还通过在乌克兰和叙利亚的军事活动保持俄罗斯民众对他的支持率。

“The question that it begs of course is where next or what next in order to enable Putin to maintain those remarkably high approval ratings that he currently enjoys.”
“当然，人们不禁会提出这样一个问题：为维持目前享有的相当高的支持率，普京下一步的方向是什么或者说接下来会采取什么措施呢？”

That question will remain long after the fans have returned home, after the World Cup final in one month’s time.
这个问题的答案，要等到各国球迷回到自己的国家，等到一个月后世界杯决赛结束后，才会揭晓。

Henry Ridgwell, for VOA News, Moscow.
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