不一般的女人:第66任美國國務卿-賴斯
不一般的女人:第66任美國國務卿-賴斯
The Moscow News wasn't sure what to make Condoleezza Rice when the 34-year-old Stanford University professor came to town in 1988 to inaugurate1 a series of seminars2 at the U.S. ambassador's3 residence. She spoke of arms control policy and of a coming summit4 with the United States, but the writer could not quite get past the notion5 of a young black woman as an expert on Soviet affairs.
1988年,34歲的斯坦福大學教授康多莉扎.賴斯來到莫斯科主持召開在美國大使官邸舉行的系列研討會時，《莫斯科新聞》還不知道她是何許人也。她談到了軍備控制政策和即將召開的美俄首腦會晤，但是筆者實在不明白一名年輕的黑人婦女是怎樣成為一位蘇聯問題專家的。
“ The men... couldn't help wondering: ‘ She should be busy cooking and driving her admirers mad. But instead she aptly6 juggles7 numbers of missiles and tanks, names of marshals8 and dates of summits,’ ” the paper wrote.
這家報紙寫道：“男人們……都不免奇怪：‘她應該忙于燒火做飯和使得她的愛慕者們發瘋。但是她卻能敏捷地從口中蹦出導彈和坦克的數目、元帥們的姓名和許多次首腦會談的日期。’”
It would be neither the first nor the last time that Rice, President-elect George W. Bush's choice to head the National Security Council, would exceed expectations.“ I've seen it happen time and time again,” said Michael McFaul, a Democrat who advised Al Gore's campaign but is close to Rice. “ Foreign policy is dominated by bald9, graying white men and they're not used to someone like Condi Rice.”
賴斯是當選總統喬治.布什挑中的國家安全委員會負責人人選。她超出人們預料這恐怕既不是第一次，也不會是最后一次。一位曾擔任戈爾陣營顧問但現在接近賴斯的民主黨人邁克爾.麥克福爾說：“這種情況我已屢見不鮮了。外交政策一向由禿頂的、老成的白人所把持，他們是容不下像康迪.賴斯這樣的人的。”
Indeed, Rice, 46, bears little outward10 resemblance11 to Henry Kissinger, the quintessential national security adviser, but friends and colleagues say she is among of the smartest, most articulate12 and charming people they know.A steely13 manager, she also is a concert pianist and maniacal14 sports fan, half-joking that the only job she would rather have is commissioner of the National Football League.
確實，現年46歲的賴斯，外表與美國最完美的國家安全顧問亨利.基辛格沒有多少相似之處，但是朋友和同事們說，賴斯是他們所認識的頭腦最精明、口齒最清楚和風度最迷人的人物之一。她是一個鐵石心腸的管理者，但也是一個音樂會上的鋼琴演奏者和狂熱的體育運動愛好者，她還半開玩笑地說，她應該擔任的惟一職務是全國橄欖球聯盟主席。
Philosophically, she is quite conservative. Rice argues against humanitarian15 missions and international treaties and for a hard line on Russia and putting U.S. strategic interests at the center of all decisions.“ American foreign policy in a Repulican administration should refocus the United States on the national interest,” Rice wrote this year in Foreign Affairs magazine. “ There is nothing wrong with doing something that benefits all humanity,but that is,in a sense,a second-order effect.”
從哲學角度講，她是相當保守的。賴斯反對從事人道主義使命和簽訂國際條約；她贊成對俄羅斯采取強硬政策，同時還主張將美國的戰略利益置于一切決定的中心。賴斯今年在《外交》雜志上撰文稱：“共和黨政府的美國外交政策應該是重新關注美國的國家利益。做一些有益于全人類的事情并沒有錯，但從某種意義上講，那不是頭等大事。”
An expert on the Soviet Union, Rice was plucked16 from academia in 1989 by Brent Scowcroft to serve on the National Security Council of former President George Bush, where she helped shape U.S. policy during the tumultuous17 time of the Soviet Union's collapse18.
作為蘇聯問題專家，賴斯于1989年被布倫特?斯考克羅夫特從學術界相中，進入前總統喬治?布什的國家安全委員會，為制訂美國在蘇聯解體這一動蕩時期的政策出謀劃策。
She was responsible for a part of the world that was exploding, giving her unusual access19 to the President. They would develop a friendship that, nearly a decade later, would lead Rice to his son.
賴斯負責的是出現爆炸性局勢的國家，她因而得以頻繁接觸總統。他們之間建立起的友誼在近10年之后也使賴斯成為小布什之選。
She first met George W. Bush in 1995 when she happened to be in Texas visiting his father. They talked mostly about their shared passion? ? sports. Bush, in his first year as Texas governor, had neither foreign policy nor the presidency on his mind.But by August 1998, when they were together again at the Bush family house in Kennebunkport, Maine, that had changed.
1995年，賴斯在得克薩斯州拜訪老布什時第一次和喬治.W.布什見面。那時他們之間的話題大多集中在共同的愛好——運動上。其時布什當選得克薩斯州州長剛剛一年，尚未考慮過外交政策，更沒考慮過當總統。但是，到了1998年8月，當他們在緬因州肯納邦克波特布什家族的私宅再次見面時，情況發生了變化。
“ In between tennis games and going out on the boat and sitting out on the back porch we would have conversations about what foreign policy challenges would face the next president,” Rice said last week in an interview.As Rice ran on the treadmill20 and Bush worked out on a glider21, the college professor began a two-year tutorial22 of her most important student yet. Bush has said that he likes Rice because she explains issues in a way he can understand.
賴斯在上周的一次采訪中說：“我們在打網球的間隙，乘船外出或者坐在走廊的時候，談論的是下任總統在外交政策上可能會遇到什么挑戰。”當賴斯在跑步機上鍛煉和布什玩滑翔機的時候，這位大學教授開始了對她最重要的一位學生為期兩年的授課。布什曾經說過，他喜歡賴斯的原因是她能用讓自己理解的方式解釋問題。
When George Bush was elected president in 1988, Scowcroft became national security adviser and recruited23 Rice, who had impressed him with her knowledge of arms control.She was never a top tier policy aide in the White House, but her timing was perfect.
1988年喬治.布什當選總統，被任命為國家安全顧問的斯考克羅夫特把賴斯招至麾下，就在于賴斯在軍控問題上的知識給他留下了深刻印象。賴斯在白宮一直都不是最高層的政策助手，但是她的機遇棒極了。隨著柏林墻倒塌和蘇聯解體，她就成了制訂美國政策的小組成員之一。
The Berlin Wall collapsed, the Soviet Union was crumbling, and she was part of team that developed U.S.policy.Burned out24 after two years in Washington,she returned to Stanford.Within a year, she was elevated25 to provost26 the No.2 job at Stanford although she never been a department head or dean.
在華盛頓埋頭苦干了兩年之后，賴斯回到了斯坦福大學。雖然此前連部門負責人或系主任都沒當過，但她在一年之內就升任學校的第二把手──教務長的位置。
Now, as Rice becomes the first woman to head the National Security Council, there's some concern that she was too far removed from international affairs as she was focused on university affairs. “ One critique27 you'll hear is that the Russia she knows is the Soviet Union of 10 or 12 years ago,” said Andrew Kuchins, who worked with Rice at Stanford and is now at the Carnegie Endowment28 for International Peace. And even if she is an expert on Russia and Eastern Europe, what about the Middle East, China and Latin America? Rice responds that every scholar has to specialize in something.
現在，賴斯成為領導國家安全委員會的第一位女性。但是有些人擔心她會由于一直專注于大學里的事務而對國際形勢疏于了解。現供職于卡耐基國際和平基金會、曾與賴斯在斯坦福一起共過事的安德魯.庫欽斯說：“你會聽到有人指責賴斯，說她知道的俄羅斯是10年至12年前的蘇聯。”再者，即使她諳熟俄國與東歐事務，那對諸如中東、中國和拉美等問題又如何呢？賴斯的回答是，每個學者都必須有所專長。
Another challenge: Making her voice heard above Colin Powell, nominated to be secretary of state, and Vice President-elect Chency, strong personalities who might wind up29 battling one another.Kuchins is betting she will exceed expectations again. “ She's a strong personality and she should never be underestimated,” he said. “ Whether she's sitting in a room with Dick Cheney or Colin Powell, Condi will her own.”
另一個挑戰是：賴斯要在已被提名為國務卿的科林.鮑威爾和新當選副總統切尼面前建立自己的威信。這兩個人的個性很強，很有可能會以一個又一個的爭執收場。庫欽斯打賭說，賴斯的表現會再次出人意料。他說：“她是個有顯明個性的人，絕不可低估。無論是與迪克.切尼還是與科林?鮑威爾共事，康迪都將擁有自己的一席之地。”
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