聽力原文:
Barack Obama visits Cuba
奧巴馬訪問古巴
Cubama
古巴馬
The United States and Latin America can profitably draw closer, but only if the next president agrees
美國拉攏古巴可以使彼此獲益，但是前提是下屆美國總統要點頭同意繼續執行這個政策
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.
重點詞匯：
1 watchword 口號;格言
2 precede 在…之前發生（或出現）；先于
2 crown （尤指通過增添成就、成功等）使圓滿，使完美
3 bold 大膽的；勇敢的；無畏的
4 gambit 為取得優勢而采取的）行動，精心策劃的一著，布局
5 embargo 禁止貿易令；禁運
聽力原文:
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).
重點詞匯：
1 lance 用刀切開（感染處放膿）
2 boil癤；皮下膿腫；黃水瘡
3 rancorous adj. 怨恨的，滿懷惡意的; 怨恨；名詞 rancour怨恨；
How to change Cuba 如何改變古巴
聽力原文:
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.
重點詞匯：
1 an exercise in futility 徒勞無益 徒然的；futility 徒勞的；無效的
2 anachronism過時的人（或風俗、思想），不合時代的事；過時現象
3 police state（尤指通過秘密警察限制人民自由的）警察國家，極權國家
4 penury貧困；貧窮
5 inflict使遭受打擊；使吃苦頭
6 communism 共產主義
聽力原文:
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.
重點詞匯：
1 rapprochement 友好關系的恢復；和解
2 patched-up 修理；（尤指）臨時修補 軟件補丁 （patch）
3 incipient 剛開始的；初始的；早期的
4 Revenue 財政收入；稅收收入；收益
5 remittance 匯款金額
6 diaspora 移民社群 （任何民族的）大移居
7 aid 援助;救助;資助
8 Venezuela 委內瑞拉（南美洲北部國家）
9 diminish 減少；（使）減弱，縮減；降低
聽力原文:
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.
重點詞匯：
1 critic 批評家；評論家；評論員
2 free pass 自由通行證;免費入場證
3 overnight: suddenly or quickly 突然；一夜之間；旋即
4 entrenched 使處于牢固地位；牢固確立

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