passage four 英语读物

In the post Cold War world few articles have influenced how western
policymakers view the world more than Samuel Huntington‟s 1993article,
“the clash of civilization.” Suggesting that the world was returning to a
civilization dominated world where future conflicts would originate from
clashes between „civilizations,‟ the theory has been broadly criticized for
oversimplification, ignoring local conflict and for incorrectly predicting
what has happened in the decade since its publication. The claim made by
many that September the 11th has vindicated Huntington is simply not
supported by the evidence.

Clash
冲突

Civilization文明, 文化
Oversimplification
过度单纯化

Claim主张, 断言
Vindicate澄清(某人/某事物)受到的责难或嫌疑

Huntington’s thesis outlines a future where the “great division among
humankind and the dominating source of conflict will be cultural.” He
divides the world’s cultures into seven current civilizations, western,
latin, American, Confucian, Japanese, Hindu and Slavic-Orththodox. In
addition he judged Africa only as a possible civilization depending on
how far one views the development of an African consciousness had
developed. These civilizations seem to be defined primarily by religion
with a number of ad hoc exceptions.

Thesis 论题, 命题, 论点
Dominate 控制, 支配, 统治,左右,影响
Consciousness意识, 观念, 觉悟,看法
Primarily主要地, 首要地; 本来
Exception例外，不包括在内的人
ad hoc特别的

Huntington predicts conflicts occurring between states from different
civilizations for control international institutions and for economic and
military power. He views this mix of conflicts as normal by asserting that
nation-states are a new phenomenon in a world dominated for most of
history by conflicts between civilizations. This is a dubious statement as
the inter-civilizational conflict driven mainly by geo-political rather
than cultural differences is an equally if not more persuasive way to view
much of history.
State 1.形态，结构，态2.国家, 政府
Military 军事的, 军用的; 军人的；武装的
Assert 1.声称, 断言
Phenomenon 1.现象
Dubious 半信半疑的, 可疑的
Persuasive 有说服力的

The theory at least differentiates between non-Western civilization
rather than grouping them together. He also explains how the west
presents pro-western policies as positive for the entire world and the
very idea of a universal culture is a western idea. However, his escape
from a Eurocentric bias is only temporary. He completely fails to account
for local cultures even though one can argue they collectively comprise
a separate civilization. The article also predicts future conflicts will be
started by non-western civilizations reacting to western power and
values ignoring the equally plausible situation where western states use
their military superiority to maintain their superior position. The policy
prescriptions he suggest to counter this perceived threat equate to
increasing the power of the west of forestall any loss of the West’s
pre-eminence. Thus he suggests the Latin American and
Orthodox-Slavic civilization be drawn further into the western orbit and
the maintenance of western military superiority.
pro-western 亲西方的
universal 普遍的；全体的；全世界的；共同的
Bias偏见, 偏心, 偏袒
Eurocentric以欧洲为中心的,主要与欧洲(或欧洲人)有关的
Collectively集体的, 共同的, 共有的
Comprise包含，包括；构成
Separate单独的, 各自的
Plausible 似乎是真的
Prescription 药, 治疗方法
Perceive 感觉, 察觉, 理解, 注意到, 意识到
Counter v 对抗, 反驳
Forestall 预先阻止
Drawn 疲惫的,憔悴的
Orbit 轨道