From VOA Learning English, this is In the News.
这里是美国之音慢速英语新闻报道。
The word "mess" can be used to describe something complex or very difficult to deal with. A former United States official used the word last weekend when she spoke about recent world events. "To put it mildly," Madeleine Albright said, "the world is a mess."
“烂摊子”这个词可以用于形容复杂的或难以处理的一些事情。一位前美国官员上个周末在谈到最近的世界大事时用到了这个词。玛德莱娜 奥尔布莱特(Madeleine Albright)说，“说得客气点，这个世界就是个烂摊子。
Ms. Albright was the first woman to serve as Secretary of State. She served as the country's top diplomat during the presidency of Bill Clinton.
奥尔布莱特女士是第一位担任美国国务卿的女性。她曾在克林顿总统任期内担任美国最高外交官。
Ms. Albright appeared on the CBS News program Face the Nation. Reporter Bob Schieffer asked her if she knew of "a time when there was so much trouble in so many different places?"
奥尔布莱特女士出现在CBS新闻节目中面对全国观众。记者鲍勃·希弗（Bob Schieffer）问她是否知道“在不同地方出现这么多麻烦的一个时期。”
She said two "huge game changers" have affected recent events. One is the behavior of Russian Vladimir Putin toward Ukraine. The other is what has been happening in the Middle East, starting with the political unrest known as the Arab Spring. She also noted what she called "the artificiality of the borders that were established after World War I."
她说，两个重要的破局者影响了最近发生的事件。其一是俄罗斯普京总统对乌克兰所作所为。其二是中东所发生的始于政治动荡的所谓“阿拉伯之春”。她还指出了她所谓的“第一次世界大战后建立的人为边界。”
The conflict in Ukraine has been in the news almost daily since the shooting down of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 last month. All 298 people on the airplane were killed. The same day, the Israeli military launched a campaign against Hamas supporters in the Gaza Strip. Since then, more than 1,000 people have died in the fighting.
自从上个月马航17号航班被击落以来，乌克兰冲突几乎每天都出现在新闻中。该航班上的所有298名乘客遇难。同一天，以色列军队发动了一场针对加沙地带哈马斯支持者的战役。自那时起已经有1000多人因此丧生。
The war in nearby Syria has displaced millions of people. Thousands of Central American children have entered the United States illegally and without their parents. Add to that the religious violence in Iraq. So some would say the world does appear to be a mess at the present time.
邻近的叙利亚的战争已经造成数百万人流离失所。数千名中美洲儿童在没有父母陪伴的情况下非法进入美国。此外还有伊拉克的宗教暴力。所以有人会说，目前世界确实像是一个烂摊子。
Micah Zenko is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, D.C. He says many people believe that the world is either on fire or "facing chaos or spinning out of control." He thinks technology and social media are driving news reports on the conflicts. He notes the influence of broadcasters like CNN.
Micah Zenko是位于华盛顿特区的外交关系委员会的一位资深研究员。他说，许多人认为，世界不是打仗就是面临混乱或失控。他认为科技和社交媒体正在推动对冲突的新闻报道。他指出了CNN一类电视台的影响力。
"Part of this is because it is so vivid, the imagery and the concerns and the instability, and this is now translated in real time -- not just as they used to call 'the CNN effect' but it's sort of the CNN effect on steroids, which is to say journalists, activists, researchers in conflict-prone countries can place images of suffering, of damage, and they can appear on your Twitter feed, on your Facebook posts sort of instantly. And so it's in not just real time but sort of immediacy that allows us to connect with suffering in a way that we don't see in terms of positive news stories."
他说，“部分原因是因为影像、担忧和不安定是如此生动，而且这些如今是实时传输--不仅仅是因为他们习惯称之的‘CNN效应’，而且这有点像是‘CNN对类固醇的影响’，也就是说，冲突频发国家的记者、活动人士和研究人员能够把造成的苦难和破坏的图像发上网，出现在你的Twitter简讯以及Facebook即时文章上。因此它不仅仅实时而且直观，这使得我们能够用一种在正面新闻报道中看不到的方式与苦难相连。”
The Council of Foreign Relations lists 33 conflicts on a part of its website called the Global Conflict Tracker. Reports about these conflicts have appeared in news media over the past six months.
外交关系委员会在其网站的全球冲突跟踪这个部分列出了33项冲突。这些冲突的报道在过去六个月里出现在新闻媒体中。
Micah Zenko says the world has experienced other periods of chaos or unrest. The issue, he says, is that positive, or good, news does not get reported. He notes the drop in the number of child deaths and progress in fighting diseases like polio. He says people are living longer than their parents did and generally have better health. He also notes the spread of democracy around the world.
Micah Zenko表示，世界经历过其它混乱或动荡的时期。他说，问题是正面新闻没有得到报道。他指出了儿童死亡人数的下降以及对抗小儿麻痹症等疾病的进展。他说，人们比父辈更长寿，通常也更健康。他还提到了民主在世界各地的传播。
And, that's In The News from VOA Learning English. I'm Christopher Cruise.
以上就是美国之音慢速英语新闻报道的全部内容。我是克里斯托弗·克鲁斯（Christopher Cruise）。(51VOA.COM对本文翻译保留全部权利，未经授权请勿转载，违者必究！)