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進入《中英對照讀新聞》ABC Reporter Calls Out White House After It Tries to Explain Away Obama’s "60 Minutes" Comments 白宮試圖為歐巴馬的「60分鐘」談話辯解 遭ABC記者質問
◎管淑平
On Monday, White House press secretary Josh Earnest fended off questions about why President Barack Obama said ’’they’’ and not ’’we,’’ regarding whether there was an intelligence failure in not predicting the rise of the Islamic State, and if Obama was blaming his intelligence officials.
白宮新聞秘書厄尼斯特週一迴避有關總統歐巴馬談話內容的疑問，包括歐巴馬談到未能預期到「伊斯蘭國」崛起是否涉及情報疏失時，為什麼是說「他們」而非「我們」，以及他是否在怪罪他的情報官員。
During a ’’60 Minutes’’ interview Sunday, Obama was asked about the United States not anticipating the Islamic State’s threat. He answered that his Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, ’’has acknowledged that I think they underestimated what had been taking place in Syria."
在週日「60分鐘」節目的訪問中，歐巴馬被問到美國沒預料到「伊斯蘭國」的威脅。他回答，他的國家情報首長克萊伯「已經承認了，我認為他們低估在敘利亞所發生的情況。」
Earnest said the president wasn’t blaming U.S. intelligence and several times said, ’’the president has complete confidence in the intelligence community.’’
厄尼斯特說總統並非在怪罪美國情報當局，連說好幾次「總統充分信任情報機構。」
But ABC News reporter Jonathon Karl pointed to Nov. 13, 2013 testimony in front of the House Foreign Affairs Committee by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Brett McGurk who warned about the growing threat and the weakness of Iraqi defenses.
但美國廣播公司新聞網記者卡爾指出，副助理國務卿麥格克在2013年11月13日眾議院外交事務委員會聽證會上警告此一與日俱增的威脅，以及伊拉克的防禦弱點。
The reporter pressed：’’Did the president hear this? Did he know?’’
這名記者追問：「總統有聽到嗎？他知道嗎？」
Karl added that two months after McGurk’s testimony to Congress, Obama called the Islamic State a ’’JV team.’’
卡爾還說，麥格克向國會作證後2個月，歐巴馬曾稱伊斯蘭國是「二軍」。
新聞辭典
call out：動詞，在本文中為「挑戰某人（說法、行為等）」之意（俚語）。例句：She called him out on his contradictory statement.（她質問他前後矛盾的言論。）
explain away：動詞片語，搪塞、辯解（為淡化重要性或擺脫責任）。例句：When being questioned about his whereabouts, Ben managed to explain it away.（班被問到他的行蹤時，設法搪塞過去了。）
fend off：動詞片語，抵擋、擊退、迴避。例句：Joey fended off these attackers with his bare hands.（喬伊徒手擊退這群攻擊者。）
