The European Union , or EU, gave its support Friday to Ukraine and its neighbor Moldova to become candidates to join the group.
欧盟周五支持乌克兰及其邻国摩尔瓦多成为欧盟候选国。
Ursula von der Leyen is the European Commission President. Wearing Ukrainian colors, she told reporters, "Ukrainians are ready to die for the European perspective. We want them to live with us the European dream."
乌尔苏拉·冯德莱恩是欧盟委员会主席。她身着乌克兰国旗色服装对记者表示：“乌克兰人已经准备好为欧洲的愿景而死。我们希望他们与我们一起实现欧洲梦。”
"It's the first step on the EU membership path that'll certainly bring our victory closer," Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on Twitter.
乌克兰总统泽连斯基在推特上写道：“这是（乌克兰）取得欧盟成员国资格道路上的第一步，其无疑将让我们的胜利更近一些。”
The move was only the start of a process that could take many years. But it puts Ukraine on a path to meeting a goal that did not seem possible just a few months ago.
此举只是一个可能需要多年时间的过程的开始。但是这使得乌克兰走上了实现目标的道路，而在几个月前这一切似乎还不可能。
Ukraine applied to join the EU just four days after Russian troops invaded in February. Four days later, so did Moldova and Georgia, two other small states from the old Soviet Union.
在俄罗斯军队于2月入侵后仅4天，乌克兰就申请加入欧盟。4天后，前苏联的另外两个小国家摩尔多瓦和格鲁吉亚也申请加入。
The EU was born after World War II to avoid another conflict between Germany and France. The group has since expanded to become a 27-nation economic and political union.
欧盟诞生于二战之后，旨在避免德法之间再次发生冲突。此后该组织已扩大成为一个由27个国家组成的经济和政治联盟。
When Russian President Vladimir Putin began the invasion of Ukraine, one of his main goals was to stop the expansion of Western organizations, like the EU and the NATO military alliance.
当俄罗斯总统普京开始入侵乌克兰时，他的主要目标之一是阻止西方组织的扩张，如欧盟和北约军事联盟。
But the war has had the opposite effect.
但是这场战争起到了相反的效果。
Finland and Sweden have asked to join NATO. The EU has now considered opening its doors to Ukraine and Moldova, but not Georgia. Von der Leyen said Georgia had a strong application but still must meet certain political requirements.
芬兰和瑞典已经要求加入北约。欧盟现在考虑向乌克兰和摩尔多瓦敞开大门，但是不包括格鲁吉亚。范德莱恩表示，格鲁吉亚有很强的申请，但是仍必须满足某些政治要求。
The EU usually takes a slow approach to expansion. But the urgency of the war and Ukraine's request for a quick consideration could change that.
欧盟通常采取缓慢的扩张方式。但是战争的紧迫性和乌克兰要求迅速考虑可能会改变这一点。
Leaders of EU countries are expected to officially support the decision at a meeting next week. The leaders of the three biggest countries - Germany, France and Italy - had signaled their support on Thursday by visiting Kyiv.
预计欧盟国家领导人将在下周的会议上正式支持该决定。三个最大的国家德国、法国和意大利的领导人周四访问了基辅，表达了他们的支持。
A group of EU countries including Poland wants full support for Ukraine. But others, like the Netherlands, want the group to be more careful. EU leaders want to support Ukraine's membership but do not want to show favoritism to the country.
包括波兰在内的一些欧盟国家希望全力支持乌克兰。但是像荷兰等国家则希望该组织更加谨慎。欧盟领导人希望支持乌克兰加入欧盟，但是不想偏袒该国。
Joining the EU requires years of reform, in areas ranging from the judicial system and financial services to food safety. Ukraine's request to be considered quickly for membership represents a change in how the EU usually operates.
加入欧盟需要从司法系统到金融服务再到食品安全等领域进行多年的改革。乌克兰要求迅速考虑加入欧盟的请求代表了欧盟常规运作方式的改变。
Turkey, for example, applied for membership in 1987. It became a candidate in 1999 and had to wait until 2005 to start talks on its membership application. Talks between Turkey and the EU are now completely stopped because of disagreements between the two sides.
例如土耳其于1987年申请加入。它于1999年成为候选国，并且不得不等到2005年才开始就其入盟申请展开谈判。由于双方之间存在分歧，土耳其与欧盟之间的谈判现在已经完全停止。
Six nations in the Western Balkans also have faced long waits for their EU membership. Membership talks require approval from all 27 EU nations.
西巴尔干半岛的6个国家也面临着成为欧盟成员国的漫长等待。成员资格谈判需要所有27个欧盟国家的批准。
If admitted, Ukraine would be the EU's largest country by size and its fifth most populous.
如果获得接纳，乌克兰将成为欧盟面积最大的国家以及第5大人口大国。
I'm Dan Novak.
我是丹·诺瓦克。(51VOA.COM原创翻译，请勿转载，违者必究！)