| 双语新闻 Bilingual News | 双语对照阅读 分级系列阅读 智能辅助阅读 在线英语学习 |
|
| 双语新闻 Bilingual News | 双语对照阅读 分级系列阅读 智能辅助阅读 在线英语学习 |
| [英文] [中文] [双语对照] [双语交替] [] |
| WASHINGTON — Senior American officials increasingly believe the Chinese spy balloon that was shot down off the coast of South Carolina in early February was originally supposed to conduct surveillance over U.S. military bases in Guam and Hawaii, but winds carried it off course to Alaska, Canada and finally the continental United States. |
| 华盛顿——美国高级官员越来越相信，2月初在南卡罗来纳州海岸被击落的中国间谍气球原本是为了监视关岛和夏威夷的美国军事基地，但风让它偏离了航线，飞到了阿拉斯加和加拿大，最后飞到了美国大陆。 |
| The evolution of Washington’s understanding of the Chinese military’s original goals and new details that reveal misreadings of the U.S. reaction by Chinese officials in private meetings reflect how difficult it is for the United States and China to discern each other’s intentions — a gap that American officials fear could lead to greater mistrust in an already fraught relationship or even to armed conflict. |
| 华盛顿对中国军方最初目标的理解发生了转变，新细节也揭示中国官员在私下会议中对美国反应存在误读，这些都反映出美国和中国很难辨别彼此的意图——这使美国官员担心，这种差距会导致不信任在本已紧张的关系中加剧，甚至导致武装冲突。 |
| In another example of the fog created by superpower rivalry and political imperatives, U.S. officials said in interviews on Wednesday that they now increasingly believe three unidentified flying objects shot down over North America were unlikely to be surveillance devices. |
| 美国官员周三在接受采访时表示，他们现在越来越认为在北美上空被击落的三个不明飞行物不太可能是监视设备，这是超级大国敌对和政治必要性所造成的迷雾的又一例证。 |
| U.S. officials said they are still trying to make a definitive conclusion on what the objects were, and do not think they will reach one until more debris is collected. Some senior officials said that based on preliminary work, they believe the three objects were likely designed for scientific or weather research and had ceased to function, becoming akin to airborne trash. |
| 美国官员表示，他们仍在努力辨认这些物体是什么，并认为在收集到更多碎片之前他们不会得出明确结论。一些高级官员表示，根据初步工作，他们认为这三个物体很可能是为科学研究或气象研究而设计的，已经停止运作，无异于空中垃圾。 |
| But the fallout from the spy balloon itself continues to escalate tensions between the United States and China even as new revelations around the episode reveal the depths of confusion over it. American officials discussed those revelations on the condition of anonymity because of sensitivities over intelligence and diplomacy. |
| 尽管随着围绕这一事件的新披露暴露出人们对气球事件的困惑之深，间谍气球本身的影响仍在继续加剧美国和中国之间的紧张关系。由于对情报和外交的敏感性，美国官员在讨论这些披露的时候要求匿名。 |
| Some Biden administration officials say that even if the balloon was aimed at the Pacific region, it was designed to spy on the United States and other nations. And Chinese officials did nothing about the balloon as it passed over the continental United States — including above nuclear missile silos in Montana — for days after senior American diplomats first confronted Chinese officials in private over it. |
| 拜登政府的一些官员表示，即使气球的目的地是太平洋地区，也是为了监视美国和其他国家。在美国高级外交官首次就气球问题与中国官员私下对峙后的几天里，随着气球飞越美国大陆上空——包括蒙大拿州的核导弹发射井上方，中国官员没有采取任何行动。 |
| It took almost three days after the public crisis over the balloon erupted for Chinese officials to tell U.S. counterparts that the controllers of the balloon were trying to speed it out of American airspace, an apparent effort to defuse tensions that baffled Biden administration officials and demonstrated how badly Beijing had misread the United States. |
| 在气球引起的公共危机爆发将近三天后，中国官员才告诉美国官员，气球的控制者正试图使其飞出美国领空，这显然是为了缓和令拜登政府官员感到困惑的紧张局势，也可以看出中国误读美国的严重程度。 |
| By that point, the balloon was reaching the coastline, the American public and politicians had expressed fury over it for days — some criticizing President Biden for not shooting it down immediately — and U.S. officials were intent on getting their hands on it to study its sensors, even if they would end up examining only debris resulting from a missile strike. |
| 气球在那时已经到达海岸线，美国公众和政界人士已经连续数天表达了愤怒——一些人批评拜登总统没有立即将其击落——美国官员打算掌握其传感器以供研究，即使最终只能研究被导弹打碎的残骸。 |
| An F-22 fighter jet shot the balloon down with a single missile hours later, on the afternoon of Feb. 4. |
| 数小时后，即2月4日下午，一架F-22战斗机用一枚导弹将气球击落。 |
| Other murky actions have challenged U.S. analysts trying to read Chinese intentions. On Jan. 28, when the balloon approached the Aleutian Islands and American airspace over Alaska in its off-course trajectory, the balloon’s self-destruct function did not activate, U.S. officials said. Chinese operators may not have wanted to destroy the balloon; it is also possible that they attempted to trigger the self-destruct mechanism and it failed. |
| 其他的可疑行动对试图解读中国意图的美国分析人士构成了挑战。美国官员称，1月28日，当气球以偏离航线的轨迹接近阿留申群岛和阿拉斯加上空的美国领空时，气球的自毁功能并未启动。中国的操作者可能不想毁掉气球；也有可能他们试图触发自毁机制，但失败了。 |
| Operators or officials might have mistimed the winds and thought currents would carry the balloon quickly over Alaska and out of American airspace to the Arctic Ocean. Or they might have decided to allow the balloon to continue onward to see what kinds of intelligence it could collect — not foreseeing the diplomatic and political maelstrom that would ensue once the balloon drifted with the winds to the continental United States. |
| 气球操作者或官员可能错误地把握了风向，并认为洋流会将气球迅速带到阿拉斯加上空并飞出美国领空，到达北冰洋。或者他们可能决定让气球继续前进，看看它能收集到什么样的情报，却没有预见到气球随风飘向美国本土带来的外交和政治漩涡。 |
| Some American officials say they know the intended trajectory of the spy balloon in part because the U.S. government tracked the balloon from the time of its launch in late January from Hainan Island in southern China, a detail first reported Monday by The New York Times, and observed it as it moved across the Pacific. U.S. agencies also monitored the balloon as it was pushed in different directions by the winds, officials said. |
| 一些美国官员表示，他们知道间谍气球的预定轨迹，部分原因是，美国政府自1月下旬气球从中国南部的海南岛放飞时就开始跟踪气球——《纽约时报》周一最先报道了这一细节——并看着它穿越太平洋。官员们说，美国机构还监测了气球被风推向不同方向的过程。 |
| Once the balloon went off course, as U.S. officials suspect, Chinese officials and the machine’s operators, who could be employees of a civilian-run balloon maker under contract with the People’s Liberation Army of China, appeared to make a series of bad decisions. |
| 正如美国官员所怀疑的那样，一旦气球偏离航线，中国官员和机器操作员——可能是与中国人民解放军签订合同的民营气球制造商的雇员——似乎做出了一系列错误的决定。 |
| Chinese operators and officials did not take any immediate action after the two top American diplomats, Antony J. Blinken, the secretary of state, and Wendy Sherman, the deputy secretary, issued a formal démarche to a senior Chinese diplomat, Zhu Haiquan, at the State Department around 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 1 over the balloon, telling him his government had to do something about it. Mr. Zhu appeared taken by surprise, U.S. officials said. |
| 在两位美国高级外交官——国务卿安东尼·J·布林肯和副国务卿温迪·谢尔曼——在2月1日下午6点30分左右在国务院向中国高级外交官朱海权就该气球发出正式照会，表示他的政府必须为此做点什么。美国官员说，朱海权似乎很吃惊。此后，中国操作员和官员没有立即采取任何行动。 |
| More than 24 hours later, and a half-day after the Pentagon announced the existence of the balloon, Chinese foreign ministry officials in Beijing spoke privately to diplomats in the U.S. Embassy to tell them the balloon was a harmless civilian machine that had gone off course. |
| 超过24小时后，也就是五角大楼宣布发现气球半天后，北京的中国外交部官员私下与美国大使馆的外交官交谈，告诉他们该气球偏离了航线，是一台无害的民用设备。 |
| Later that Friday, Feb 3., after China issued a public statement expressing regret, and after Mr. Blinken canceled a planned weekend visit to Beijing, the balloon appeared to accelerate, U.S. officials said. |
| 美国官员表示，2月3日周五晚些时候，气球似乎在加速。此前，中国发表公开声明表示遗憾，布林肯取消了计划中的周末访华之行。 |
| There is much the U.S. government still does not understand. While the balloon was equipped with small propellers, U.S. intelligence agencies do not believe it had the power to dramatically change speed or direction, some American officials said. |
| 美国政府还有很多没弄清的地方。一些美国官员说，虽然气球配备了小型螺旋桨，但情报机构认为它没有能力大幅改变速度或方向。 |
| Then early on Saturday, Chinese officials told U.S. counterparts that the balloon’s operators were trying to speed it out of American airspace. |
| 然后在周六早些时候，中国官员告诉美国官员，气球的操作员正试图让它飞出美国领空。 |
| By then, the balloon was reaching the Atlantic coast, and Pentagon officials had begun plans to destroy it over the ocean. |
| 那时，气球已经到达大西洋海岸，五角大楼官员已经开始计划在海上击落它。 |
| While Chinese balloons have previously passed over the continental United States, the American targets of the balloon program appear mainly to be U.S. military bases in the Pacific. Previous reconnaissance missions by the balloons have been relatively short. When two spy balloons passed Hawaii, for example, one drifted over an island quickly and another entered the airspace around the island chain but did not fly over it. |
| 虽然中国的气球以前也曾飞过美国大陆上空，但该气球计划的美国目标似乎主要是美国在太平洋的军事基地。以往气球的侦察任务都相对较短。例如，有两个间谍气球经过夏威夷，一个迅速飘过一个岛屿，另一个进入岛链周围的空域，但没有飞过该岛。 |
| The Biden administration has said the Chinese military’s spy balloon program has sent airships over more than 40 countries on five continents, violating their sovereignty. U.S. officials began learning about the program after 2020, during a broader review of unidentified aerial phenomena. Officials then realized some past instances of aerial objects in U.S. airspace were Chinese surveillance balloons. |
| 拜登政府表示，中国军方的间谍气球计划向五大洲40多个国家派出了飞艇，侵犯了这些国家的主权。美国官员在2020年之后开始了解这个项目，当时正在对不明空中现象进行更广泛的审查。官员们随后意识到，过去在美国领空出现的一些空中物体是中国的侦察气球。 |
| Beijing may be developing the program to supplement its satellite intelligence collection and also to have backups for the satellites in the event of war with the United States, American officials say. |
| 美国官员表示，北京开发这个项目可能是为了补充其卫星情报收集，也可能是为了在与美国发生战争时，为卫星提供后备。 |
| “They have 260 intelligence satellites in orbit,” said John Culver, a former U.S. intelligence analyst on China. “They’re a major space power. This can augment that capability.” |
| “他们在轨道上有260颗情报卫星，”美国前中国情报分析师约翰·卡尔弗说。“他们是一个主要的太空力量。这可以增强他们在这方面的能力。” |
| Mr. Culver added that there was a strong political incentive in the Chinese system for such a program. |
| 卡尔弗还说，中国的体制内有强烈的政治动机来推动这样的项目。 |
| “The Chinese government knows the U.S. typically flies hundreds, perhaps more than a thousand, reconnaissance aircraft off their coast every year,” he said. “They’re frustrated they can’t fight back. This program gives them something they can point to internally. This is a program that has political value to them and has wartime value.” |
| “中国政府知道，美国每年向他们的海岸线派出数百——可能上千——架次的侦察机，”他说。“他们很沮丧，因为他们无法反击。这个项目给他们提供了一些他们可以在内部提起的东西。这个项目对他们来说有政治价值，也有战时价值。” |
| The balloon program is still in a testing phase, so learning what, if any, significant intelligence the balloons can gather from American bases is important for the Chinese military, U.S. officials say. The downed spy balloon had equipment, including antennas, that allowed it to collect electronic communications, and it was transmitting encrypted signals to Chinese satellites. But U.S. officials insist the balloon did not retrieve any information that Chinese satellites and other intelligence assets cannot already collect. |
| 美国官员称，该气球项目仍处于测试阶段，因此，了解气球能从美国基地收集到什么重要情报（如果有的话）对中国军方来说很重要。被击落的间谍气球拥有包括天线在内的设备，可以收集电子通信，并向中国卫星传输加密信号。但美国官员坚称，气球并没有收集到任何中国卫星和其他情报机构无法收集到的信息。 |
| Early findings suggest the balloon’s self-destruct mechanism was intact, U.S. officials say. Navy divers searching for debris off South Carolina have seen a blasting cap meant to destroy the payload, they say. F.B.I. investigators examining recovered debris could potentially determine if some malfunction had prevented the mechanism from working, though several U.S. officials say they now assume that the device was functional. |
| 美国官员表示，初步的发现表明气球的自毁装置是完好的。他们说，在南卡罗来纳近海搜索残骸的海军潜水员见过一支用来摧毁载荷的雷管。FBI调查人员正在检测寻得的残骸，以判断气球是否因为故障无法启动自毁，不过多名美国官员表示，他们现在假定装置是正常运转的。 |
| U.S. officials say Chinese officials likely wanted to avoid activating the mechanism when the balloon was over land, for fear that any injuries or damage it might cause would escalate the crisis quickly. Chinese officials probably also had the ability to deflate the balloon and bring it to the ground, but wanted to try to prevent the Americans from acquiring the surveillance equipment. |
| 美国官员称，中国官员很可能想避免在陆地上空启动自毁，因为担心由此带来的人员伤亡或损失会导致危机迅速恶化。中国官员可能可以给气球放气从而使其降落，但不希望监控设备落入美国人手中。 |
| Navy divers have collected some parts of the balloon’s sensors. It was equipped with a camera and the antenna array, and the more U.S. officials learn about the devices, the more they are unimpressed with the balloon’s capabilities, they say. In any case, they add, the Pentagon locked down communications and activities at military bases in the balloon’s path as it drifted over the United States. |
| 海军潜水员已经搜集到部分气球传感器的零部件。美国官员表示，气球配备了一个摄像头和天线阵列，但随着对设备的了解增加，他们越来越相信气球并不具备很强的能力。他们还说，无论气球能力如何，在它从美国上空飘过时，五角大楼关闭了沿途军事基地的通讯和活动。 |
| But the balloon continues to roil relations between the world’s two great powers and largest economies, already at one of their lowest points in decades. |
| 然而气球仍然在世界两大军事强国和经济体之间制造扰动，双方的关系本已处于几十年来的最低点。 |
| Critical channels of communication have imploded. Wei Fenghe, China’s defense minister, refused to take a phone call from Lloyd J. Austin III, the U.S. defense secretary, soon after the Feb. 4 shootdown, the Pentagon said. Mr. Blinken has not rescheduled the visit to Beijing he canceled during the uproar over the balloon. And the White House and the Chinese Foreign Ministry traded public barbs this week over their spy programs. |
| 关键的沟通渠道崩塌了。五角大楼称，2月4日气球被击落后不久，中国防长魏凤和拒绝接听美国防长劳埃德·J·奥斯汀三世的电话。因气球事件而取消访华的布林肯也没有安排新的访问时间。白宫和中国外交部本周就各自的谍报计划爆发公开的争吵。 |
| Perhaps the greatest long-term impact comes from the impression left with ordinary citizens who have followed the balloon saga, said Yuen Yuen Ang, a China scholar at Johns Hopkins University. |
| 约翰斯·霍普金斯大学的中国学者洪源远表示，最重要的长期影响可能是此事给普通民众留下的印象，他们密切关注了气球事件。 |
| “When public opinion that the other country is an enemy solidifies,” she said, “it becomes ever harder for leaders in America and China to soften their stances and stabilize relations.” |
| “某国是敌人的观念一旦在民众中确立，”她说，“美国和中国将更加难以软化他们的立场，稳定双方的关系。” |
OK阅读网 版权所有(C)2017 | 联系我们