[時事英文] 蘭德智庫 (RAND): 美國的未來之戰
同學來參考一下蘭德智庫對於未來十年軍事發展的Q&A!
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🇺🇸 Let’s start with the big picture. Who are the main U.S. adversaries in 2030?
None of our main competitors—Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, and terrorist groups—are going away, and some of them will probably strengthen. China will become a more formidable threat as its economic and military influence increases. We're not going to have the same freedom of movement that we have with China now.
1. a more formidable threat 更為難纏的威脅
2. freedom of movement 行動自由
讓我們著眼大局。時至２０３０年，誰是美國的主要對手？
我們的主要競爭者——俄羅斯、中國、北韓、伊朗以及恐怖組織——都沒有消失，其中有些國家或組織可能會愈發強大。隨著經濟與軍事影響力的增長，中國將成為更加難纏的威脅。屆時面對中國的我們，將不再擁有今日的行動自由。
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🇺🇸 How do you see the global economic picture changing?
The United States and its allies are going to lose some of their share of global economic output. China is growing, and growing at the expense of our allies, particularly the Europeans. If you think about economics as the underlying bedrock that allows you to produce military capabilities, that trend is the opposite of what you want to see.
3. global economic output 全球經濟產出
4. at the expense of 以……為代價
5. the underlying bedrock 潛在的基石
6. military capabilities 軍事能力
如何看待全球經濟情勢的轉變？
美國與盟邦將喪失其於全球經濟產出的部分份額。中國正以犧牲我們盟邦——尤其是歐洲——的方式成長。若你將經濟視為提升軍事能力的基礎，那麼此一趨勢與你所見者恰好相反。
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🇺🇸 How will environmental change play into this?
First, it will have an effect on where we can base. Some of our installations around the world are in places that will be threatened by climate change—they're in low-lying areas or flood plains, for example. But second, it also will have a destabilizing effect. Some of the places that will be hardest hit by droughts or rising sea levels tend to have weaker governments. That could increase domestic instability, and more domestic instability can lead to terrorism and civil war, the kind of sub-state conflict that we've been dealing with for the last decade or so.
7. base (v.) 以某處作為主要地點；將某地設為總部
8. installation （尤指用於軍事目的的）設施
9. low-lying areas 低窪地區
10. flood plains 洪泛平原；泛濫平原；澇原
11. a destabilizing effect 一個不穩定的因素
12. be hard hit by… 受到……的重創
13. increase domestic instability 增加國內動盪
14. lead to 導致
15. sub-state conflict 次國家衝突
環境變遷將如何產生影響？
首先，它將影響我們基地的選址。我們遍布全球的某些設施處於受氣候變遷威脅的地方——位於低窪地區或澇原。但第二，氣候變遷也會造成不穩定的因素。在一些受嚴重乾旱或海平面上升衝擊的地方，其政府通常較為軟弱。這可能會加劇國內動盪，而更多的國內動盪會導致恐怖主義與內戰，此類次國家衝突是我們近十年來一直在處理的問題。
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🇺🇸 What role will domestic politics in the United States play?
We've seen a steady trend over the last several decades toward increasing polarization among the U.S. electorate. That creates some significant constraints. Just to get the defense bill passed requires a bipartisan consensus, and that will face increasing pressure in the years to come. We're also seeing a second major trend, which is a growing push to retrench, to pull the U.S. back from a global posture.
16. a steady trend 一個穩定的趨勢
17. increasing polarization 日益加劇的兩極化
18. the U.S. electorate 美國選民
19. a bipartisan consensus 兩黨的共識
20. retrenchment strategy 緊縮策略
美國的國內政治將扮演什麼角色？
在過去的幾十年裡，我們看到一個穩定的趨勢——美國選民的兩極化日益加劇。這形成了一些重要的約束。為使國防法案通過，便需兩黨的共識，而在未來的幾年中，其所面臨的壓力將愈發龐大。我們還看見了第二個重要趨勢，即緊縮的聲音持續增長，要求美國自全球態勢中抽身。
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🇺🇸 What should the United States be doing to prepare for 2030?
We probably need more longer-range platforms, for example, but there's really no silver bullet. The bigger finding is that the United States is going to increasingly face a grand-strategic choice. It can double down on its role for the last three decades as the world's leading superpower, in which case it needs to spend more on defense and defense capabilities than it has.
21. longer-range platforms 更長程載臺
22. face a grand-strategic choice 面對巨大的戰略選擇
23. double down on sth 加倍努力；決心完成
24. the world's leading superpower 世界領先的超級大國
25. defense capabilities 防衛能力
美國應為２０３０年做怎樣的準備？
舉例來說，我們可能需要更多更長程的載臺，惟確無萬靈丹。更大的發現是，美國所面臨的巨大戰略選擇將愈發增加。美國可以加倍努力，扮演好自己在過去三十年裡，領導世界的超級大國角色。如此，美國便需要在國防與防衛能力上投入更多的資金。
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