听力原文:
Barack Obama visits Cuba
奥巴马访问古巴
Cubama
古巴马
The United States and Latin America can profitably draw closer, but only if the next president agrees
美国拉拢古巴可以使彼此获益，但是前提是下届美国总统要点头同意继续执行这个政策
CAUTION has been a watchword in the foreign policy of Barack Obama. But in one part of the world he has been adventurous. For any of the nine preceding American presidents, his planned visit to the Cuba of Raúl and Fidel Castro, on March 21st and 22nd, would have been unthinkable (see article). It crowns a bold gambit in which Mr Obama has restored diplomatic relations, frozen for 54 years, and begun to loosen the economic embargo against the island. He is betting that engagement with one of America’s neighbours will do more than isolation to bring its Communist regime to an end.
重点词汇：
1 watchword 口号;格言
2 precede 在…之前发生（或出现）；先于
2 crown （尤指通过增添成就、成功等）使圆满，使完美
3 bold 大胆的；勇敢的；无畏的
4 gambit 为取得优势而采取的）行动，精心策划的一着，布局
5 embargo 禁止贸易令；禁运
听力原文:
Moreover, engagement with Cuba will lance a boil that has poisoned relations between the United States and the whole of Latin America. After a period in which China appeared to be displacing America in what some once called its backyard, those links could become increasingly warm and mutually profitable—so long as the next president seizes the opportunity. On the evidence of America’s rancorous election campaign, there is a danger that he or she will not (see article).
重点词汇：
1 lance 用刀切开（感染处放脓）
2 boil疖；皮下脓肿；黄水疮
3 rancorous adj. 怨恨的，满怀恶意的; 怨恨；名词 rancour怨恨；
How to change Cuba 如何改变古巴
听力原文:
Mr Obama’s bet is the right one. The American embargo against Cuba is an exercise in futility. It is a cold-war anachronism that hurt Cubans (and Americans) rather than the Castros, who use it to justify their police state and as an excuse for the penury inflicted on the island by communism.
重点词汇：
1 an exercise in futility 徒劳无益 徒然的；futility 徒劳的；无效的
2 anachronism过时的人（或风俗、思想），不合时代的事；过时现象
3 police state（尤指通过秘密警察限制人民自由的）警察国家，极权国家
4 penury贫困；贫穷
5 inflict使遭受打击；使吃苦头
6 communism 共产主义
听力原文:
The rapprochement comes as Cuba is changing, albeit at the pace of one of those patched-up 1950s cars that delight tourists to the island. Thanks to reforms Raúl Castro started when he took over as president from his elder brother in 2008, some 1m Cubans (one in five of the workforce) are members of an incipient private sector. Revenue from tourism, some of which goes to small businesses, and remittances from the diaspora are growing, just as aid from Venezuela is diminishing.
重点词汇：
1 rapprochement 友好关系的恢复；和解
2 patched-up 修理；（尤指）临时修补 软件补丁 （patch）
3 incipient 刚开始的；初始的；早期的
4 Revenue 财政收入；税收收入；收益
5 remittance 汇款金额
6 diaspora 移民社群 （任何民族的）大移居
7 aid 援助;救助;资助
8 Venezuela 委内瑞拉（南美洲北部国家）
9 diminish 减少；（使）减弱，缩减；降低
听力原文:
Officially, Mr Castro’s reforms are an “updating of socialism”, not an embrace of capitalism, let alone democracy. Mr Obama’s critics conclude that he has given the Castros a free pass. Yet Cuba was never about to become a democracy overnight. Because the regime remains entrenched, political change is more likely to come gradually and from within. In 2018 Mr Castro intends to stand down as president. His likely successor, Miguel Díaz-Canel, was born after the Castros’ revolution in 1959. Cubans will judge him on his ability to improve their lives, which will require more economic reforms. The hope must be that, as Cuba becomes more prosperous and connected, political liberalisation will follow.
重点词汇：
1 critic 批评家；评论家；评论员
2 free pass 自由通行证;免费入场证
3 overnight: suddenly or quickly 突然；一夜之间；旋即
4 entrenched 使处于牢固地位；牢固确立

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