俄罗斯世界杯如火如荼地举行，对球迷们来说是一场狂欢的盛宴。但是对于举办国而言，一场世界级赛事的意义就远不止如此了。本文介绍了世界杯对俄罗斯的政治意义，并分析了俄罗斯在政治上面临的问题和原因。
It was a near-perfect opening day for Russia as its hosting of the World Cup kicked off Thursday. A 5-0 victory over Saudi Arabia, thousands of fans filling the squares of Moscow in the evening sunshine, and all of it broadcast to hundreds of millions watching around the globe.
For Putin himself, this World Cup is extremely important with precisely an aim of demonstrating his so-called “second face”, a friendly, open face that theoretically could have contributed to the change of Russia’s image as well as his own if it had not been for previous events.
Events that have made Russia the pariah of the West: The annexation of Crimea and invasion of Ukraine in 2014, the destruction of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which investigators say was shot down by a Russian missile, the intervention in Syria to support President Bashar al-Assad and the poisoning of double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter on British soil which London blames squarely on the Kremlin.
“Well, it lost the soft power gains Russia got from the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and how quickly it gave them away when it started the annexation of Crimea before their closing ceremony had even begun. So there’s something else at play for Russia and which is that it will use the World Cup as an example of its reemerging as a great power, and Western countries by participating in the World Cup are in a sense enabling President Putin to portray the competition in those terms.”
A successful World Cup is key to the Kremlin’s plans. For the fans, geopolitics comes a distant second to the football and the partying. But for Western countries taking part, that presents a problem: Will the World Cup be used to whitewash Russia’s record on the global stage?
Analysts say it will take more than a football tournament to end Russia’s isolation. Unfortunately, there would be a huge amount of work to do to dismantle what has already been done. Russia is unable to unfreeze the Donbas conflict in its present political situation. Russia will by no means give Crimea back to Ukraine. That is too late. Russia is not ready to express its political will to have serious talks with the West.
Alongside the soft power games of the World Cup and the Sochi Olympics, Putin has maintained his popularity through military campaigns in Ukraine and Syria, says analyst Foxall.“The question that it begs of course is where next or what next in order to enable Putin to maintain those remarkably high approval ratings that he currently enjoys.”That question will remain long after the fans have returned home, after the World Cup final in one month’s time.
Henry Ridgwell, for VOA News, Moscow.
结构分析
第1段：开篇引出世界杯的盛况
第2段：世界杯对改变普京和俄罗斯形象的意义
第3-4段：描述了之前对俄罗斯形象有负面影响的各种事件
第5-7段：再次强调世界杯的意义，并提出疑问——世界杯之后，普京和俄罗斯应如何维持形象？
句子解析
It was a near-perfect opening day for Russia as its hosting of the World Cup kicked off Thursday. A 5-0 victory over Saudi Arabia, thousands of fans filling the squares of Moscow in the evening sunshine, and all of it broadcast to hundreds of millions watching around the globe.
1. 开篇用near-perfect、victory和thousands of fans等词来表现俄罗斯世界杯的盛况。
2. kick off一般指(事件、比赛或讨论等)开始或(足球比赛中)开球，在文中是指俄罗斯举办的世界杯开始，而世界杯正好是足球比赛，这里有一语双关的意思。
For Putin himself, this World Cup is extremely important with precisely an aim of demonstrating his so-called “second face”, a friendly, open face that theoretically could have contributed to the change of Russia’s image as well as his own if it had not been for previous events.
1. with precisely an aim of 有一个明确的目标
2. demonstrating his so-called “second face” 展示其所谓的“另一面”，接着用同位语a friendly, open face(友好开放的一面)解释了“另一面”
3. a friendly, open face that theoretically could have contributed to the change of Russia’s image as well as his own if it had not been for previous events中that后面的句子则作为定语来修饰face，意思是要不是由于之前的事件，这一面本可以有助于改变俄罗斯和普京的形象，其中could have……if it had not been……是虚拟语气。
4. contribute to 对……有贡献，有助于
Events that have made Russia the pariah of the West: The annexation of Crimea and invasion of Ukraine in 2014, the destruction of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which investigators say was shot down by a Russian missile, the intervention in Syria to support President Bashar al-Assad and the poisoning of double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter on British soil which London blames squarely on the Kremlin.
1. pariah是指不被社会所接受的人、贱民等，在文中则表示由于一些事件，俄罗斯处在西方社会的边缘地带，成为众矢之的，不被接纳。
2. Events包括the annexation of Crimea and invasion of Ukraine (吞并克里米亚并侵略乌克兰)、the destruction of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17(毁坏马航MH17)、the intervention in Syria(干预叙利亚内政)、the poisoning of double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter(毒害双面特工Sergei Skripal和他的女儿)
3. which investigators say was shot down by a Russian missile是用来修饰flight MH17，意思是调查人员称其是被俄罗斯导弹击落的
4. on British soil 在英国领土上
5. which London blames squarely on the Kremlin是用来修饰毒害事件，意为伦敦方面将此事直接归咎于俄罗斯，blame sth squarely on 将某事归罪于，the Kremlin 克里姆林宫，是俄罗斯的象征、总统府的所在地。
“Well, it lost the soft power gains Russia got from the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and how quickly it gave them away when it started the annexation of Crimea before their closing ceremony had even begun. So there’s something else at play for Russia and which is that it will use the World Cup as an example of its reemerging as a great power, and Western countries by participating in the World Cup are in a sense enabling President Putin to portray the competition in those terms.”
1. 本段是第三方人士对俄罗斯世界杯看法的发言。
2. soft power 软实力，gain作为名词，这里的英文解释为“an advantage or improvement”，意为利益或提高。俄罗斯失去了其在2014年索契冬奥会期间赢得的软实力，在冬奥会闭幕式开始之前，俄罗斯开始吞并克里米亚，从而迅速失去了刚刚赢得的软实力。
3. something else at play指其他能够起作用的手段，at play意为起作用。索契冬奥会的作用没了，俄罗斯自然有其他算盘，即世界杯。
例：There are also psychological factors at play. 也有心理因素在起作用。
4. use……as an example of 用……作为例证、典范等，reemerge 重新出现，a great power 大国，文中指俄罗斯将使用世界杯证明自己已重新崛起为一个大国。
5. in a sense 在某种意义上、在一定程度上， portray 将……描写成，给人以某种印象，这句话的意思是通过参加世界杯，西方国家在一定程度上使普京总统能以那个角度来宣传世界杯这一赛事。
A successful World Cup is key to the Kremlin’s plans. For the fans, geopolitics comes a distant second to the football and the partying. But for Western countries taking part, that presents a problem: Will the World Cup be used to whitewash Russia’s record on the global stage?
1. is key to 表示是……的关键所在，本段开头再次强调世界杯的成功举办是俄罗斯计划的关键。
2. geopolitics 地缘政治，即世界上国家与国家之间的政治关系，a distant second 以较大的差距屈居第二
例：Most of the imports were sourced from Australia, with Mongolia and Canada in a distant second and third positions. 大部分进口来自澳大利亚，蒙古和加拿大排在第二和第三位，但进口量与澳大利亚相去甚远。
3. 这一段对比了世界杯在球迷和西方参赛国中分别意味着什么，在球迷而言，足球和狂欢远比地缘政治重要；而对西方参赛国来说，却有一个地缘政治上的问题：俄罗斯是否会利用世界杯洗白在世界舞台上的黑历史？
4. whitewash 洗白，很形象的一个单词，想要表达“洗白……的历史” ，可使用whitewash the record of
Analysts say it will take more than a football tournament to end Russia’s isolation. Unfortunately, there would be a huge amount of work to do to dismantle what has already been done. Russia is unable to unfreeze the Donbas conflict in its present political situation. Russia will by no means give Crimea back to Ukraine. That is too late. Russia is not ready to express its political will to have serious talks with the West.
1. end Russia’s isolation 结束俄罗斯的孤立状态
2. dismantle 指拆开、拆除(某机械装置)，废除、结束(某种体系、组织等)
例：The government was in the process of dismantling the state-owned industries. 政府正在着手废除国有企业。
3. the Donbas conflict是指由俄罗斯控制的乌克兰东部和南部亲俄势力与乌克兰政府军之间的战争，其中Crimea地区通过公投独立并加入俄罗斯，该冲突也间接导致了马航17号班机被击落的事故。
4. by no means 决不，express the will 表达意愿
5. 上一段提出疑问，而本段则主要分析了俄罗斯目前的政治处境，不容乐观，想要彻底扭转俄罗斯的政治局面，还有很长的路要走。
Alongside the soft power games of the World Cup and the Sochi Olympics, Putin has maintained his popularity through military campaigns in Ukraine and Syria, says analyst Foxall. “The question that it begs of course is where next or what next in order to enable Putin to maintain those remarkably high approval ratings that he currently enjoys.” That question will remain long after the fans have returned home, after the World Cup final in one month’s time.
1. alongside 与……同时/一起，military campaigns军事行动
2. 分析师Foxall表示，普京通过在乌克兰和叙利亚的军事行动以及世界杯和冬奥会的软实力游戏等维持其声望。
3. beg the question 是一个常用短语，表示引起疑问，approval ratings支持率，maintain remarkably high approval ratings 保持非常高的支持率，the World Cup final世界杯决赛
4. 本段在上一段的基础上进一步提出疑问，世界杯之后，普京和俄罗斯的路在何方？
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