美国国家公共电台 NPR In Trump Meeting With South Korean Leader, A Chance To Reaffirm 'Ironclad' Ties

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

South Korea's new president visits President Trump¹ today. They share a common problem - South Korea's neighbor, North Korea. Here's NPR's Elise Hu.

ELISE HU, BYLINE²: Listen closely to what U.S. leaders say about America's 60-plus-year alliance with South Korea. Something in the language perpetually pops up.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JAMES MATTIS: America's commitments to defending our allies remain ironclad.

HU: That was Defense³ Secretary Jim Mattis in Seoul in March. Here, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson weeks later.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

REX TILLERSON: The ironclad alliance between the United States and the Republic of Korea has remained strong.

HU: And Vice⁴ President Mike Pence in Seoul in April.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE: The United States' commitment to South Korea is ironclad.

HU: Hear a pattern there?

DAVID KANG: It really is ironclad, you know. You know, it is ironclad.

HU: David Kang heads the Korean Studies Institute at the University of Southern California.

KANG: (Laughter) You know, in some ways, if you have to say it too much, that means you're a little worried about it, right?

HU: Despite commitments from both Seoul and Washington that the U.S.-Korea alliance is as strong and ironclad as it's ever been, the administrations on both sides of the Pacific are new and untested. While the South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, comes in with government experience the American leader lacks, he did just start last month.

KANG: The Moon administration isn't really staffed up yet, isn't really prepared for a summit. And certainly, the Trump side isn't really prepared for a summit. They don't really have a policy in place. The Trump administration doesn't have an ambassador to Korea, for example. They don't have a lot of the State Department and Defense officials for East Asia in place.

HU: On top of that, Moon takes a slightly different tack⁵ than the U.S. and his predecessors⁶ on North Korea, which is expected to dominate the summit. Moon has favored engagement with Pyongyang and is open to talks to get to a freeze on nuclear provocations⁷.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT MOON JAE-IN: (Speaking Korean).

HU: "For too long we have been closed off from each other," Moon said in a speech last week. "Our government will find ways to restore inter-Korean relations and to reopen dialogue." The Trump administration has so far rejected the idea of talks to get to any freeze. It instead outlined a policy of increasing sanctions and pressure on North Korea, following the same path the Obama administration took for years.

The U.S. has also begun deploying⁸ its missile defense system, THAAD, on South Korean soil, but President Moon is slowing it down for an environmental review first. That could be an issue of contention⁹, but David Kang says for this first summit, appearances are the main objective.

KANG: They just want to have a good photo-op, not screw anything up and hopefully not talk about anything too much of substance precisely¹⁰ because neither side is really ready to talk about it yet.

HU: The clock's ticking. Analysts¹¹ say North Korea's weapons capabilities¹² are getting better with each successive test. But whatever tensions brew¹³ below the surface, the language at the summit will likely stay the same. Expect to hear something about the U.S.-Korea alliance being, you guessed it, ironclad. Elise Hu, NPR News, Seoul.

(SOUNDBITE OF THE AMERICAN DOLLAR'S "GHOSTS")

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 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。

3 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

4 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

5 tack   

n.大头钉；假缝，粗缝

参考例句：

• He is hammering a tack into the wall to hang a picture.他正往墙上钉一枚平头钉用来挂画。
• We are going to tack the map on the wall.我们打算把这张地图钉在墙上。

6 predecessors   

n.前任( predecessor的名词复数 )；前辈；（被取代的）原有事物；前身

参考例句：

• The new government set about dismantling their predecessors' legislation. 新政府正着手废除其前任所制定的法律。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Will new plan be any more acceptable than its predecessors? 新计划比原先的计划更能令人满意吗？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 provocations   

n.挑衅( provocation的名词复数 )；激怒；刺激；愤怒的原因

参考例句：

• We cannot ignore such provocations. 对于这种挑衅，我们不能置之不理。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• They must immediately cease all their provocations. 他们必须停止一切挑衅。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

8 deploying   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
• Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。

9 contention   

n.争论，争辩，论战；论点，主张

参考例句：

• The pay increase is the key point of contention. 加薪是争论的焦点。
• The real bone of contention,as you know,is money.你知道，争论的真正焦点是钱的问题。

10 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

11 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

12 capabilities   

n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力

参考例句：

• He was somewhat pompous and had a high opinion of his own capabilities. 他有点自大，自视甚高。 来自辞典例句
• Some programmers use tabs to break complex product capabilities into smaller chunks. 一些程序员认为，标签可以将复杂的功能分为每个窗格一组简单的功能。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

13 brew   

v.酿造，调制

参考例句：

• Let's brew up some more tea.咱们沏些茶吧。
• The policeman dispelled the crowd lest they should brew trouble.警察驱散人群，因恐他们酿祸。