雅思听力：印度学生难倒奥巴马

【聚焦时事】奥巴马到访印度圣泽维尔学院时，遭遇大学生尖锐提问，包括圣战、甘地、美国中期选举，以及与*的谈判等。圣泽维尔学院是一所有140年历史的学校，那里的许多学生都称自己很尊敬奥巴马，然而他们提问时却不那么客气，常常提出大胆而直率的问题，让奥巴马不得不委婉作答。奥巴马遇到的难题有：为何不把巴基斯坦当成恐怖主义国家?详见以下原版新闻：

 

Indian students asked Obama very tough questions

 

President Obama was challenged Sunday by an Indian university student to explain his administration's unwavering support for Pakistan, exposing in a single question the central challenge to his goal of strengthening the U.S. relationship with India.

 

During a town hall forum at St. Xavier's College here, a student rose to ask Obama why he does not refer to Pakistan as a "terrorist state," drawing some gasps from the rest of the audience. Obama told the crowd that he had expected the issue to come up, and he answered by challenging the several hundred students present to view a country against whom India has fought three major wars, and was the staging area for a devastating terrorist attack against this city, from a new perspective.

 

"We want nothing more than a stable, prosperous and peaceful Pakistan," Obama said. "Our feeling has been to be honest and forthright with Pakistan, to say, 'We are your friend, this is a problem and we will help you, but the problem has to be addressed.' "

 

The question came two years after gunmen trained in Pakistan landed in a fisherman's village on the city's waterfront and killed more than 170 people in a days-long siege. The question highlighted the problem Pakistan presents for Obama as he seeks to strengthen trade, military and cultural ties with one of the world's fastest-growing democratic economies.

 

Obama commemorated the Nov. 26, 2008, massacre on his arrival Saturday when he laid a white rose at a memorial to the victims and spoke at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel and Tower, a main target of the attack. But he infuriated many Indians by not mentioning Pakistan in his tribute, reinforcing the impression here that Obama cares less about India's grievances than he does about defending a key partner in the Afghanistan war.

 

The issue will probably come up again Monday, Obama's final day in India, when he appears with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh before the U.S. and Indian media and later addresses the Indian Parliament. Obama could well face questions over his position on Kashmir, a religiously mixed region in the subcontinent's northwest that both India and Pakistan claim.

 

How he portrays the U.S. interest in Pakistan, whose weak government is defending itself against its own Taliban insurgency, will probably determine whether his visit here succeeds in convincing Indians that he is serious when he says, as he did Sunday, that "the U.S.-India relationship will be indispensable in shaping the 21st century."

 

"It may be surprising to some of you to hear me say this, but I am absolutely convinced that the country that has the biggest stake in Pakistan's success is India," Obama told the students. "I think that if Pakistan is unstable, that's bad for India. If Pakistan is stable and prosperous, that's good. Because India is on the move."

 

【背景知识】印美关系: 印度曾经受到英国200多年的殖民统治，并因此接受了一整套的西方政治、经济、军事、法律和教育体系，从意识形态的角度来说，印度本应属于西方阵营，但在独立后印度长期奉行不结盟政策，与美国保持较为疏远的距离。直到上个世纪冷战结束后，国际格局重新洗牌，美印关系才开始逐渐拉近。冷战结束后，随着世界经济重心的东移，美国越来越认识到了印度的战略价值，想把印度拉入自己阵营的企图日益明显。按照美国的战略构想，印度即使不能成为盟友，也应该成为在印度洋地区协助美国实现某种战略目的的准盟国。