EMPATHY IS NOT a quality usually associated with(与…相关联) Donald Trump. But he sounded compassionate(有同情心的) when he met Joseph Aoun, Lebanon’s president, on July 21st. “Lebanon has been a very mistreated country,” said President Trump. Indeed it has. Its modern history includes long occupations by both Israel and Syria, and political meddling(干预，干涉) from Iran, Saudi Arabia and others.
同情心通常不是唐纳德·特朗普的品质。但他在7月21日会见黎巴嫩总统约瑟夫·奥恩时，语气中带着同情。特朗普总统说：“黎巴嫩是一个备受虐待的国家。”确实如此。其现代史包括以色列和叙利亚的长期占领，以及伊朗、沙特阿拉伯等国的政治干预。
Yet no one has treated Lebanon worse than Lebanon’s own rulers. The past seven years have seen a financial crash caused by a state-run Ponzi scheme; a catastrophic explosion at Beirut’s port, the result of state negligence; and a long war with Israel, started by Hizbullah, an Iranian-backed Shia militia that the state has been too weak and timid to confront.(过去七年见证了金融危机、港口爆炸和与真主党的战争。) A corrupt, sectarian(宗派的，派系的) political class has brought the country to ruin.
然而，没有谁比黎巴嫩自己的统治者对待黎巴嫩更糟。过去七年，一场由国家运营的庞氏骗局引发的金融危机；一次因国家疏忽导致的贝鲁特港口灾难性爆炸；以及一场由真主党（一个伊朗支持的什叶派民兵组织，国家一直软弱怯懦不敢对抗）发起的与以色列的长期战争。腐败、宗派化的政治阶层将国家带向了毁灭。
At last, better people are in charge. Mr Aoun and the prime minister, Nawaf Salam, talk of restoring Lebanese sovereignty(主权). They want Israeli troops gone from territory in the south and insist that the state has a monopoly on(对…的垄断) weapons. Since taking office last year they have promised to reconstruct war-ravaged(饱受战争蹂躏的) regions, restructure insolvent(资不抵债的，破产的) banks and rebuild a government hobbled(跛行的，受阻碍的) by economic collapse. The goal is for Lebanon, a small country of hefty(重大的，沉重的) importance, to be once again a business hub for the region and a model of pluralism(多元主义，多元性).
终于，更好的人掌权了。奥恩先生和总理纳瓦夫·萨拉姆谈论恢复黎巴嫩主权。他们希望以色列军队撤出南部领土，并坚持国家拥有武器垄断权。自去年上任以来，他们承诺重建饱受战争蹂躏的地区、重组资不抵债的银行，并重建一个因经济崩溃而步履蹒跚的政府。目标是让黎巴嫩这个具有重要影响力的小国，再次成为该地区的商业中心和多元主义的典范。