美国有线新闻 CNN 亚美尼亚和阿塞拜疆因领土争端开战

Our first story concerns a conflict involving Armenia and Azerbaijan, two countries located in Southwestern Asia. They both won their independence from the Soviet¹ Union in 1991. But even before that, they were fighting each other over a region that they both believe should be part of their territory.

今天首先来关注亚洲西南部国家亚美尼亚与阿塞拜疆的冲突。两国都于1991年脱离苏联独立。但在那之前，两国就曾因双方都认为应该属于本国的领土而互相争斗。

The region is named Nagorno Karabakh. It's located inside the borders of Azerbaijan, but most of the people who live there are ethnic² Armenians.

这个地区名为纳戈尔诺-卡拉巴赫。该地区位于阿塞拜疆境内，但居住在那里的大多数人都是亚美尼亚人。

Nagorno Karabakh declared its independence from Azerbaijan in 1991. Since then, it's ruled itself with the support of Armenia.

1991年，纳戈尔诺-卡拉巴赫宣布脱离阿塞拜疆独立。从那时起，它就在亚美尼亚的支持下实行自治。

But that country and Azerbaijan continued to fight over the region after a ceasefire was declared in 1994. It was a shaky agreement. It did calm down a lot of the classes, but it did not calm the tension between Armenia and Azerbaijan. They have continued to grapple over the issue of Nagorno Karabakh.

但亚美尼亚和阿塞拜疆在1994年宣布停火后仍在为争夺该地区而战。那是不牢靠的协议。该协议确实让许多阶级平息下来，但并没有平息亚美尼亚和阿塞拜疆之间的紧张局势。双方仍继续在纳戈尔诺-卡拉巴赫问题上纠缠不休。

The fighting flared³ up again between them on September 27th. We don't know who's at fault. Each side blames the other for shooting first, and it was the same thing, over a truce⁴ they agreed to over a week ago. Clashes followed and both sides blamed each other.

9月27日，双方再次爆发战斗。我们不知道责任在哪方。双方都指责对方先开枪，两国曾在一周前达成停火协议，但这份协议仍以失败告终。冲突接踵而至，双方互相指责。

Over the past few weeks, the region of Nagorno Karabakh says more than 700 members of its military had died in clashes with Azerbaijan.

过去几周，纳戈尔诺-卡拉巴赫地区表示，在与阿塞拜疆的冲突中有700多名军人死亡。

Here's why all of this is internationally significant. The nation of Russia supports Armenia. The nation of Turkey supports Azerbaijan. So, if the fighting continues, there are concerns it could eventually mean the involvement of two much larger countries.

下面来解释一下这都具有国际意义的原因。俄罗斯支持亚美尼亚。土耳其支持阿塞拜疆。因此，人们担心，如果战事持续下去，这最终可能意味着两个更大国家的介入。

The United Nations, the European Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the United States have all called for Armenia and Azerbaijan to stop fighting immediately.

联合国、欧盟、北大西洋公约组织和美国都呼吁亚美尼亚和阿塞拜疆立即停止战斗。

1 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

2 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

3 Flared   

adj. 端部张开的, 爆发的, 加宽的, 漏斗式的 动词flare的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The match flared and went out. 火柴闪亮了一下就熄了。
• The fire flared up when we thought it was out. 我们以为火已经熄灭，但它突然又燃烧起来。

4 truce   

n.休战，(争执，烦恼等的)缓和；v.以停战结束

参考例句：

• The hot weather gave the old man a truce from rheumatism.热天使这位老人暂时免受风湿病之苦。
• She had thought of flying out to breathe the fresh air in an interval of truce.她想跑出去呼吸一下休战期间的新鲜空气。