今日导读
在当代国际政治与社会议题中，难民问题长期以来都“当之无愧”地位列于热点之中。在意识形态与价值观上，西方国家一直提倡接纳、庇护任何因战争和灾害造成的难民。但与他们的实际作为相比，这样的口头表态多少显得有些道貌岸然了：对难民迁移设置障碍、给予部分难民不公待遇、对不同难民群体实施双重标准……在他们心中，到底是保护难民还是保护自身政治利益更重要？让我们跟着大仔老师一起来看。
带着问题听讲解
如何理解 enshrine 这个词？
短语 go to extraordinary lengths 是什么意思？
文章提到有哪些因素促使西方国家试图削减自身在“庇护”上的义务？
正文
The world's broken promise of asylum
世界各国难以兑现庇护承诺
For more than 70 years, the world has enshrined, in national laws and global agreements, a promise that was presented as vitally important: Anyone who cannot live safely in their home country may seek refuge in another.
70 多年来，在世界范围内，一个至关重要的承诺被庄严载入国家法律和全球协议：任何在自己的国家无法安全生活的人，都可以到另一个国家寻求庇护。
But the Western powers that championed this compact have been steadily eroding it in recent years — chipping away at their own, and therefore the world's, obligations toward a responsibility they once characterized as crucial to global stability.
但是，那些倡导这项契约的西方大国近年来却在逐步削弱它，这减轻了其自身以及世界各国履行责任的义务。而这些西方大国曾认为，庇护对维持全球稳定起到了重要作用。
That assault, experts say, reached a new extreme last week, as Britain's government announced a new plan for thousands of foreign citizens in the country who had applied for asylum. Rather than hear their claims, it would ship them to Rwanda to become someone else's problem.
专家表示，在上周，（西方国家对这项契约的）抨击达到了新的极端。因为英国政府宣布了一项针对新计划，这一计划针对数千名身在英国并申请了庇护的外国公民。英国政府并不会听取他们的要求，而是会把他们送到卢旺达，让他们成为别国的麻烦。
A rise in right-wing populist politics, the backlash in Europe against a surge of migration in 2015 and then the coronavirus pandemic have accelerated this practice and others like it: walls, armed patrols and "deterrence" policies that deliberately make the journey more dangerous.***
【句子结构分析
主要结构：A, B and C have accelerated sth.
主语：
A：a rise in right-wing populist politics
B: the backlash in Europe against a surge of migration in 2015
C: then the coronavirus pandemic
宾语：this practice and others like it: walls, armed patrols and "deterrence" policies that deliberately make the journey more dangerous
定语从句，修饰 "deterrence" policies：that deliberately make the journey more dangerous】
右翼民粹主义政治的抬头、2015 年欧洲人对大批移民的强烈反对，以及之后的新冠疫情都加速了遣送移民和其他类似做法：建墙、武装巡逻和故意提升行程危险性的“威慑”政策。
The result is not exactly that the global refugee system is dead. European governments are taking in millions of Ukrainians, for example. Rather, Britain's policy highlights that this system, once held up as a universal and legally binding obligation, is now treated as effectively voluntary.
其结果并不完全意味着全球难民系统已经终结：例如，欧洲各国政府正在接纳数百万乌克兰人。相反，英国的政策凸显出（一个变化），接纳难民曾经被视为一项全球性的、具有法律约束力的义务，但现在，这实际上却成了一种自发行为。
Europe's seeming double standard — as its governments welcome Ukrainians but continue going to extraordinary lengths to keep out migrants from the Middle East — has laid the unwritten norms of the new refugee system especially bare.
欧洲似乎采取了双重标准——政府欢迎乌克兰人，但继续不遗余力地将来自中东的移民拒之门外——这使得新难民体系中不成文的规范尤其暴露无遗。
重点词汇
asylum
/əˈsaɪ.ləm/
n.（尤指政治）避难，庇护
英文释义：protection that a government gives to people who have left their own country, usually because they were in danger for political reasons
搭配短语：to seek political asylum
例句：He has been granted asylum in France.
refuge
/ˈref.juːdʒ/
n. 庇护，避难
近义词：asylum
相关词汇：refugee（n. 难民）
搭配短语：refugee camps
搭配短语：seek refuge = seek asylum（寻求庇护）
power
/paʊɚ/
n. 强国，大国；力量
搭配短语：major European powers such as France and Germany
相关词汇：superpower（n. 超级大国）
champion
/ˈtʃæm.pi.ən/
v. 支持，声援，捍卫
词性拓展：champion（n. 冠军；支持者，捍卫者）
搭配短语：a champion boxer and skier（一位拳击和滑雪的双料冠军）
例句：He is known as a champion of social reform.（n. 支持者，捍卫者）
搭配短语：to champion social reform（支持社会改革）
erode
/ɪˈroʊd/
v. 削弱，逐步破坏；侵蚀，风化
例句：The rocks have eroded away over time.（v. 侵蚀，风化）
例句：Criticism eroded her self-confidence.（v. 削弱，逐步破坏）
chip away at sth.
损害，逐步削弱
相关短语：chip away（削下，凿下一些碎片）
例句：Chip away the damaged area.
近义词：erode（v. 损害，逐步破坏）
搭配短语：to chip away at one's power（削弱某人的力量）
搭配短语：to chip away at one's authority（削弱某人的权威）
搭配短语：to chip away at one's confidence（削弱某人的信心）
obligation
/ˌɑː.bləˈɡeɪ.ʃən/
n. 义务，责任
搭配短语：to have an obligation to do sth.（有义务做某事）
例句：Parents have a legal obligation to educate their children.
搭配短语：to fulfil or meet one's obligations（尽义务）
assault
/əˈsɑːlt/
n. 抨击；（军事）攻击
搭配短语：to launch an assault on the enemy（对敌人发动进攻）
搭配短语：an assault on the capitalist system（对资本主义制度的抨击）
backlash
/ˈbæk.læʃ/
n. 强烈反对
搭配短语：a backlash against sth.
搭配短语：a public backlash against racism.
surge
/sɝːdʒ/
n. 激增
词性拓展：surge（v. 激增）
英文释义：to increase suddenly and strongly
例句：The share prices surged.
反义词：plummet / plunge（v. 暴跌）
例句：The share prices plunged / plummeted.
搭配短语：a surge of sth.（某样东西的急剧上升）
deterrence
/dɪˈter.əns/
n. 威慑，遏制
英文释义：deterrence is the prevention of something, especially war or crime, by having something such as weapons or punishment to use as a threat
搭配短语：policies of nuclear deterrence（核威慑政策）
binding
/ˈbaɪn.dɪŋ/
adj.（尤指协议）必须遵守的，有约束力的
相关词汇：bind（v. 捆绑；受到（法律等）约束，使......承担法律义务）
搭配短语：to be bound by convention（受到了公约的约束）
例句：The contract is legally binding.
搭配短语：a binding contract（一份具有约束力的合同）
double standard
/ˌdʌb.əl ˈstæn.dɚd/
n. 双重标准
go to extraordinary lengths
不遗余力，竭尽全力
相关词汇：lengths（n. 程度）
同义短语：go to any, some, great lengths（不遗余力）
例句：We should go to extraordinary lengths to get what we wants.
lay sth. bare
使某事暴露；公开，公布
例句：A secret report lays bare the shocking truth.
unwritten
/ʌnˈrɪt̬.ən/
adj. 不成文的，约定俗成的；没有写下的，没有文字记录的
搭配短语：unwritten songs（口头流传的歌曲）
搭配短语：the unwritten rules of social life（社会生活中约定俗成的规定）
right-wing populist politics（右翼民粹主义政治）
相关词汇：right-wing（adj. 右翼的，右倾的）
反义词：left-wing（adj. 左翼的，左倾的）
相关词汇：populist（adj. 民粹主义的）
文化补充：民粹主义是一种与精英主义相对立的价值观。在当下的欧美，活跃着勒庞等右翼民粹主义政客，他们反对移民，反对全球化，导致民粹主义政治的抬头。