美国国家公共电台 NPR--The United Nations wants to avoid a nuclear disaster in Ukraine

The United Nations wants to avoid a nuclear disaster in Ukraine

Transcript¹

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is in Ukraine where he is calling for the Russian and Ukrainian armies to back away from a nuclear power plant over fears of a nuclear catastrophe².

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is in Ukraine, where he's calling for the Russian and Ukrainian armies to back away from a nuclear power plant over fears of a nuclear catastrophe.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Guterres is also looking for access. The United Nations wants to send a fact-finding mission to a Russian prison camp. Their plan is to look into the deaths of at least 50 Ukrainians there.

FADEL: For more, we turn to NPR's Frank Langfitt in Kyiv.

Hi, Frank.

FRANK LANGFITT, BYLINE³: Hi, Leila.

FADEL: So, Frank, what is the state of fighting around the nuclear power plant? And what are the biggest fears here?

LANGFITT: Yeah, I mean, the shelling picked up around the plant about in the last two weeks. And both sides are blaming the other, but there's no resolution to it. Russians have been in control of the plant for - since March, I think. And they've threatened even to shut it down, which could create more risks. Ukrainians are in the middle of a counteroffensive down in the south, and they're trying to take back territory. Now, the fear is that artillery⁴ could strike, you know, spent fuel there and cause radiation leak into the atmosphere. The other thing is that you could have shelling that could cut off electricity, which is, you know, crucial to cooling reactors⁵. You could end up with a meltdown like we saw in Fukushima, in Japan, and that could force millions to evacuate⁶.

FADEL: Wow. Now, Russia's navy cut off commercial shipping⁷ for months in the Black Sea as well. In July, the U.N. helped cut a deal where Ukrainian ships could finally start bringing out grain. Is that working?

LANGFITT: Yeah, well, so far, at least 25 ships have left Black Sea ports with grain. I have to say that's nothing like the normal volume. For the war, I was watching satellites very closely, and the Black Sea was actually full of ships coming in and out. But the hope here certainly is that it will help increase food supplies in parts of Africa and Asia where people are struggling for food. I mean, for instance, take Somalia. That country's been suffering from drought. There are eight areas at risk of entering famine as soon as next month. That's according to the U.N. And one thing that's good, though, is that as the grain is coming out of the Black Sea, prices are coming down. Overall, the wheat market is down more than 6% this week. That's the biggest fall since mid-July.

FADEL: Now, Frank, you've been in and out of Ukraine since before the war started, and now you're back in Kyiv. What's it like?

LANGFITT: It's really interesting. I'm looking out my window right now, Leila, and I can see - first of all, there's a ton of traffic right out in front of me. And there's a little traffic island, and they've just actually replanted it with flowers. There's, like, a tank trap, and then there's a little checkpoint, but there are no soldiers. And I got to be honest - other than that, you wouldn't know that the country was at war. Things really seem back to normal in Kyiv. There's a giant supermarket I go to next door. I remember back in May, I pretty much had it to myself. Yesterday, I was there - there was a line to buy alcohol, 40 people long.

FADEL: Wow.

LANGFITT: And I think what you're seeing is really two Ukraines here. You know, out in the east and in the south, cities badly damaged, villages empty, some of them rubble⁸. Places here in central and west Ukraine, they feel mostly normal day to day.

FADEL: Now, next week, the war will reach its six-month mark. What's your sense of how things stand?

LANGFITT: It was really interesting. I spoke⁹ to a Zelenskyy insider this morning who said the U.S. HIMARS, these precision rockets, are making a big difference in destroying Russian ammo on the back lines. And on the other hand, down south, they don't seem to have enough well-trained soldiers to be able to mount the kind of counteroffensive they want and attack the Russians and push them back more.

FADEL: NPR's Frank Langfitt in Kyiv.

Thank you.

LANGFITT: Good to talk, Leila.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 catastrophe   

n.大灾难，大祸

参考例句：

• I owe it to you that I survived the catastrophe.亏得你我才大难不死。
• This is a catastrophe beyond human control.这是一场人类无法控制的灾难。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 artillery   

n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队)

参考例句：

• This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
• The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。

5 reactors   

起反应的人( reactor的名词复数 )； 反应装置； 原子炉； 核反应堆

参考例句：

• The TMI nuclear facility has two reactors. 三哩岛核设施有两个反应堆。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• The earliest production reactors necessarily used normal uranium as fuel. 最早为生产用的反应堆，必须使用普通铀作为燃料。

6 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。

7 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

8 rubble   

n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾

参考例句：

• After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
• After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。

9 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。