The Moscow News wasn't sure what to make Condoleezza Rice when the 34-year-old Stanford University professor came to town in 1988 to inaugurate1 a series of seminars2 at the U.S. ambassador's3 residence. She spoke¹ of arms control policy and of a coming summit4 with the United States, but the writer could not quite get past the notion5 of a young black woman as an expert on Soviet² affairs.

1988年,34岁的斯坦福大学教授康多莉扎.赖斯来到莫斯科主持召开在美国大使官邸举行的系列研讨会时，《莫斯科新闻》还不知道她是何许人也。她谈到了军备控制政策和即将召开的美俄首脑会晤，但是笔者实在不明白一名年轻的黑人妇女是怎样成为一位苏联问题专家的。

“ The men... couldn't help wondering: ‘ She should be busy cooking and driving her admirers mad. But instead she aptly6 juggles7 numbers of missiles and tanks, names of marshals8 and dates of summits,’ ” the paper wrote.

这家报纸写道：“男人们……都不免奇怪：‘她应该忙于烧火做饭和使得她的爱慕者们发疯。但是她却能敏捷地从口中蹦出导弹和坦克的数目、元帅们的姓名和许多次首脑会谈的日期。’”

It would be neither the first nor the last time that Rice, President-elect George W. Bush's choice to head the National Security Council, would exceed expectations.“ I've seen it happen time and time again,” said Michael McFaul, a Democrat³ who advised Al Gore's campaign but is close to Rice. “ Foreign policy is dominated by bald9, graying white men and they're not used to someone like Condi Rice.”

赖斯是当选总统乔治.布什挑中的国家安全委员会负责人人选。她超出人们预料这恐怕既不是第一次，也不会是最后一次。一位曾担任戈尔阵营顾问但现在接近赖斯的民主党人迈克尔.麦克福尔说：“这种情况我已屡见不鲜了。外交政策一向由秃顶的、老成的白人所把持，他们是容不下像康迪.赖斯这样的人的。”

Indeed, Rice, 46, bears little outward10 resemblance11 to Henry Kissinger, the quintessential national security adviser⁴, but friends and colleagues say she is among of the smartest, most articulate12 and charming people they know.A steely13 manager, she also is a concert pianist and maniacal14 sports fan, half-joking that the only job she would rather have is commissioner⁵ of the National Football League.

确实，现年46岁的赖斯，外表与美国最完美的国家安全顾问亨利.基辛格没有多少相似之处，但是朋友和同事们说，赖斯是他们所认识的头脑最精明、口齿最清楚和风度最迷人的人物之一。她是一个铁石心肠的管理者，但也是一个音乐会上的钢琴演奏者和狂热的体育运动爱好者，她还半开玩笑地说，她应该担任的惟一职务是全国橄榄球联盟主席。

Philosophically⁶, she is quite conservative. Rice argues against humanitarian15 missions and international treaties and for a hard line on Russia and putting U.S. strategic interests at the center of all decisions.“ American foreign policy in a Repulican administration should refocus the United States on the national interest,” Rice wrote this year in Foreign Affairs magazine. “ There is nothing wrong with doing something that benefits all humanity,but that is,in a sense,a second-order effect.”

从哲学角度讲，她是相当保守的。赖斯反对从事人道主义使命和签订国际条约；她赞成对俄罗斯采取强硬政策，同时还主张将美国的战略利益置于一切决定的中心。赖斯今年在《外交》杂志上撰文称：“共和党政府的美国外交政策应该是重新关注美国的国家利益。做一些有益于全人类的事情并没有错，但从某种意义上讲，那不是头等大事。”

An expert on the Soviet Union, Rice was plucked16 from academia in 1989 by Brent Scowcroft to serve on the National Security Council of former President George Bush, where she helped shape U.S. policy during the tumultuous17 time of the Soviet Union's collapse18.

作为苏联问题专家，赖斯于1989年被布伦特?斯考克罗夫特从学术界相中，进入前总统乔治?布什的国家安全委员会，为制订美国在苏联解体这一动荡时期的政策出谋划策。

She was responsible for a part of the world that was exploding, giving her unusual access19 to the President. They would develop a friendship that, nearly a decade later, would lead Rice to his son.

赖斯负责的是出现爆炸性局势的国家，她因而得以频繁接触总统。他们之间建立起的友谊在近10年之后也使赖斯成为小布什之选。

She first met George W. Bush in 1995 when she happened to be in Texas visiting his father. They talked mostly about their shared passion? ? sports. Bush, in his first year as Texas governor, had neither foreign policy nor the presidency⁷ on his mind.But by August 1998, when they were together again at the Bush family house in Kennebunkport, Maine, that had changed.

1995年，赖斯在得克萨斯州拜访老布什时第一次和乔治.W.布什见面。那时他们之间的话题大多集中在共同的爱好——运动上。其时布什当选得克萨斯州州长刚刚一年，尚未考虑过外交政策，更没考虑过当总统。但是，到了1998年8月，当他们在缅因州肯纳邦克波特布什家族的私宅再次见面时，情况发生了变化。

“ In between tennis games and going out on the boat and sitting out on the back porch we would have conversations about what foreign policy challenges would face the next president,” Rice said last week in an interview.As Rice ran on the treadmill20 and Bush worked out on a glider21, the college professor began a two-year tutorial22 of her most important student yet. Bush has said that he likes Rice because she explains issues in a way he can understand.

赖斯在上周的一次采访中说：“我们在打网球的间隙，乘船外出或者坐在走廊的时候，谈论的是下任总统在外交政策上可能会遇到什么挑战。”当赖斯在跑步机上锻炼和布什玩滑翔机的时候，这位大学教授开始了对她最重要的一位学生为期两年的授课。布什曾经说过，他喜欢赖斯的原因是她能用让自己理解的方式解释问题。

When George Bush was elected president in 1988, Scowcroft became national security adviser and recruited23 Rice, who had impressed him with her knowledge of arms control.She was never a top tier policy aide in the White House, but her timing⁸ was perfect.

1988年乔治.布什当选总统，被任命为国家安全顾问的斯考克罗夫特把赖斯招至麾下，就在于赖斯在军控问题上的知识给他留下了深刻印象。赖斯在白宫一直都不是最高层的政策助手，但是她的机遇棒极了。随着柏林墙倒塌和苏联解体，她就成了制订美国政策的小组成员之一。

The Berlin Wall collapsed⁹, the Soviet Union was crumbling¹⁰, and she was part of team that developed U.S.policy.Burned out24 after two years in Washington,she returned to Stanford.Within a year, she was elevated25 to provost26 the No.2 job at Stanford although she never been a department head or dean.

在华盛顿埋头苦干了两年之后，赖斯回到了斯坦福大学。虽然此前连部门负责人或系主任都没当过，但她在一年之内就升任学校的第二把手──教务长的位置。

Now, as Rice becomes the first woman to head the National Security Council, there's some concern that she was too far removed from international affairs as she was focused on university affairs. “ One critique27 you'll hear is that the Russia she knows is the Soviet Union of 10 or 12 years ago,” said Andrew Kuchins, who worked with Rice at Stanford and is now at the Carnegie Endowment28 for International Peace. And even if she is an expert on Russia and Eastern Europe, what about the Middle East, China and Latin America? Rice responds that every scholar has to specialize in something.

现在，赖斯成为领导国家安全委员会的第一位女性。但是有些人担心她会由于一直专注于大学里的事务而对国际形势疏于了解。现供职于卡耐基国际和平基金会、曾与赖斯在斯坦福一起共过事的安德鲁.库钦斯说：“你会听到有人指责赖斯，说她知道的俄罗斯是10年至12年前的苏联。”再者，即使她谙熟俄国与东欧事务，那对诸如中东、中国和拉美等问题又如何呢？赖斯的回答是，每个学者都必须有所专长。

Another challenge: Making her voice heard above Colin Powell, nominated to be secretary of state, and Vice¹¹ President-elect Chency, strong personalities¹² who might wind up29 battling one another.Kuchins is betting she will exceed expectations again. “ She's a strong personality and she should never be underestimated,” he said. “ Whether she's sitting in a room with Dick Cheney or Colin Powell, Condi will her own.”

另一个挑战是：赖斯要在已被提名为国务卿的科林.鲍威尔和新当选副总统切尼面前建立自己的威信。这两个人的个性很强，很有可能会以一个又一个的争执收场。库钦斯打赌说，赖斯的表现会再次出人意料。他说：“她是个有显明个性的人，绝不可低估。无论是与迪克.切尼还是与科林?鲍威尔共事，康迪都将拥有自己的一席之地。”