“保护国家免受伤害是政府的首要且最重要的责任。”这是明尼苏达州民主党参议员艾米·克洛布查网站上的表述。但这可能是任何议员或任何总统、无论民主党还是共和党的口号。
“Protecting our nation from those who would do us harm is the first and most important responsibility of government.”That’s from the website of Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat. But it could be any lawmaker or any president, Democrat or Republican.
几乎所有人都宣称这一点，但按他们自己的标准，几乎所有人都在失败——多年来如此，且看不到尽头。美国仍拥有世界上最强大的军队。这些无与伦比的能力提供了威慑、全球影响力和经济繁荣。只有一个问题：我们的子弹快打光了。
Almost all proclaim it, and by their own standard, almost all are failing — as they have for years, with no end in sight. The U.S. still maintains the world’s most powerful military. Those unmatched capabilities provide deterrence, global influence and economic prosperity. There’s just one problem: We’re running out of bullets.
在华盛顿，官方说法是“弹药短缺”，一些军事分析师称之为危机。
In Washington, the preferred parlance is “munitions shortage,” a development that some military analysts are calling a crisis.
用通俗英语说：关键进攻和防御导弹的储备严重耗尽且在萎缩，而国内工业基础不足以迅速补充。
In plain English: Stockpiles of critical offensive and defensive missiles are severely depleted and shrinking, and our domestic industrial base is inadequate to the task of swift replenishment.
更糟的是，国会中的民主党人和共和党人在犹豫不决，这是议员在需要两党合作和艰难投票时的惯常做法。
Worse than that, Democrats and Republicans in Congress are dithering, as is lawmakers’ habit when bipartisan cooperation and difficult votes are required.
美国总统唐纳德·特朗普则试图坚持——可预见地——这只是“叛国”媒体制造和延续的虚构。这场危机几乎不能怪罪这一届国会或这位总统。
U.S. President Donald Trump, for his part, tried to insist — predictably — that this issue was a fiction perpetrated and perpetuated by a “treasonous” media. This challenge is hardly the fault of this Congress or this president alone.
但它确实存在，正在危及军事准备，限制美国的战略选择，并限制——借用国防部长皮特·赫格塞斯最喜欢的一个词——杀伤力。
But it does exist and it is jeopardizing military readiness, limiting America’s strategic options and limiting — to borrow Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s favorite word — lethality.