【新闻精讲】

Fighting has intensified in the eastern European nation of Ukraine. The country got its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Today, Ukraine is a nation divided, between people who want to be aligned with Russia, and those who want to be aligned more closely with Europe. Tensions over this led to the ouster of a former Ukrainian president in 2014. Violence flared up that same year. It has become Europe's most violent crisis in decades. And though a ceasefire was negotiated in 2015, violence and violations are on the rise.
欧国家乌克兰的冲突日益激化。1991年，乌克兰从苏联独立。现在，乌克兰是一个分裂的国家，一些人想同俄罗斯结盟，其他人则想同欧盟紧密合作。这种紧张关系导致乌克兰前总统在2014年被罢黜。同一年，暴力冲突爆发。那是数十年来欧洲发生的最暴力的危机事件。虽然冲突双方在2015年达成停火协议，但是暴力活动和违反停火协议的事件一直在增加。
intensify v.加强
divided adj.分裂的
- divide v.分离
aligned adj.支持站队的
- align v.支持
- she aligned herself with the protesters.
tension n.矛盾
ouster n.废黜 (remove someone from a position of power)
- The ouster of the dictator.
flare v.燃烧
decade n.十年
ceasefire n.停火

This is very messy because the ceasefire isn't really holding. To Russia, Ukraine is it's vital near abroad. You couldn't get more geopolitically, industrially important to Moscow. But Ukraine itself has been vacillating between getting closer to the E.U., to the West, and retaining its longer term links to Russia. That started back in uprising and revolution in 2004. And in 2014, they kicked out a pro-Russian leader.
形势非常混乱，因为停火协议没能够维持下去。对俄罗斯来说，乌克兰是其至关重要的近邻国家。对莫斯科来说，从地缘政治和工业方面来说，乌克兰非常重要。但是，在更靠近欧盟和西方还是保持同俄罗斯的长期关系这个问题上，乌克兰一直摇摆不定。2004年，爆发了起义和革命。2014年，乌克兰将亲俄派领导人赶下了台。
messy adj.糟糕的
hold v.坚持
vital adj.至关重要的 (extremely important)
- The matters are vital to national defense.
geopolitically adv. 地缘政治地
industrially adv.工业地
vacillate v.摇摆不定 (repeatedly change ideas and desires)
- She has vacillated on this issue.
retain v.保持
uprise v.起义

And the Russians responded by sending a covert force and annexing the peninsula of Crimea. They then sent slightly more covert operations into the eastern city of Donetsk, where government buildings were taken over and then militia, a lot of whom had some pretty serious Russian military support started taking territory.
俄罗斯派遣秘密力量吞并克里米亚半岛，以此进行回应。随后，他们在乌克兰东部城市顿涅茨克展开了更多秘密行动，并接管了该市政府大楼，然后得到俄罗斯军事支持的民兵开始了占领领土的行动。
covert adj.隐蔽的 (secret or hidden)
- The spy is taking covert action.
annex v.吞并 (to take control of a place)
- The United States annexed Texas in1845.
peninsula n.半岛
militia n.民兵组织
territory n.领土，地盘

Since 2014,2015, that territory has changed hands, gone back and forth, sometimes the violence escalating. But after a major ceasefire agreement in early 2015, the violence hasn't really stopped. It sort of bubbled along really a quite regular pace. Many see that Moscow has a longer term objective of perhaps linking up those eastern territories with the peninsula of Crimea, so they have a land bridge between them too, and they also want to subject Ukraine to broader political influence. Ukraine itself, well, it needs to get that territory back, the basic reasons of national pride.
自2014年和2015年以来，这些领土来回易手，有时还会导致暴力冲突升级。虽然2015年年初达成停火协议，但是暴力活动并没有真正停止。反而像是有规律地在持续爆发。许多人认为莫斯科方面的长期目标是将乌克兰东部地区的这些领土同克里米亚半岛连接起来，这样他们就有了一座大陆桥，同时他们还想对乌克兰施加更广泛的政治影响。
出于民族自豪感这一基本原因，乌克兰想将这些领土夺回来。
change hands 转换统治者
back and forth 来回地
escalate v.加剧 (make something worse or more severe)
- The conflict has escalated.
bubble v.冒泡
pace n.步伐
objective n.目标
- The main objective of this course is to improve English vovabulary.
link up 连接
subject to 使...服从于

Why is this so important? Well, it's a war happening right on Europe's doorstep, on the European mainland. It pits the European Union against Russia. And hanging in the balance is Ukraine where there are millions of people suffering deeply now from a war that's been going on for years.
为什么这如此重要？因为这场战争发生在欧洲门口，发生在欧洲大陆上。使欧盟站在了俄罗斯的对立面。乌克兰依然前途未卜，那里有数百万民众正在遭受持续多年的战争的蹂躏。
doorstep n.门阶
pit against 与...相争
hang v.悬挂