万花筒 2013-12-23&12-31 朝鲜发传真警告韩国；罗德曼赴朝“篮球外交”

 I’m Mary Bruce in New York and this is an ABC news digital special report. Another busy day on the Korean peninsula, the north has again threatened to strike the south, this time in response to a series of protest against the regime. Meanwhile Dennis Rodman in Ping Yong again, holding tryouts for a basketball team that he says will play an exhibition game against NBA veterans next month on Kim Jong-Un’s birthday. Here’s Rodman talking about his North Korean friends.

 

This country is pretty cool now, it’s pretty cool, I understand what’s going on with the political stuff, that’s it, I don’t wanna go on that adventure. I was doing one thing for these kids here, and for this country, and for my country, and for the world pretty much. 

 

The whole world does seem to be watching, among those keeping an eye on Rodman, joining us now from Washington, ABC news political director and basketball enthusiast¹ Rick Clan², so Rick, Rodman looking pretty comfortable there today, holding court, putting the North Korean through their paces, is there any evidence anywhere that he’s representing anyone there other than Dennis Rodman?

 

Warm diplomacy³ I think is a function entirely⁴ of Dennis Rodman’s imagination. He has obviously struck something of a friendship with the North Korean leader, he’s been used before, this is of course not the first trip he’s made to the country. And I think the view in the world community, and certainly from American officials that he is being used as a pawn⁵ to paper over the atrocities⁶, the mishandling, some of the recent headlines involving an assassination⁷ of the uncle of the current leader, so I think this is Dennis Rodman freelancing, there’s no evidence to suggest that there’s anything other than that. He’s making a number of trips there, and I think in each of these instances, you can see that there’s a sense of propaganda, that’s arouse a lot of it, these photos were a lot different than what you normally see in the news coming out of North Korea. 

 

And Rick, Rodman was asked today how the North Korean players stack up against America’s best, here’s his answer.

 

You know they have a, I call it European skills, they don’t pass, they don’t do a trickery stuff or wrestle⁸ stuff, they loved I when they got stuff like that, they can actually shoot. And that's really, really cool, they can actually shoot. But you know what? You know, no one asks you to be a super star. And now, you know, you gotta go down and work for it. 

 

So Rick, it sounds like the Americans are gonna have to be defending the perimeters⁹. Do we have any idea who if anyone will actually be travelling to Ping Yong and accepting his invitation for that game?

 

We do not, I’d imagine that we’re only talking about former NBA players, kind of blushed up stars, if anyone Dennis Rodman knows, you see, he even admitted he’s having trouble finding enough man to join him on the trip. I think there’s an understandable fear about travelling to the country, so finding a former NBA star who’s willing to make that trip and be part of sir Rodman’s entourage, sir Rodman was a quirky guy when he was a player to say the least, and now as a post player, and I think any assessor in North Korean’s sports has to remember again the propaganda in these things, the current leader’s father Kim Jong-il, he actually was said to have completed a round of golf once in 18 strokes, all holes in one. So I don’t know that we can have an objective analysis of exactly how good North Korean basketball is. 

 

Now Rick, of course the white house has said it had nothing to do with Rodman’s trip, but isn’t that exactly what they would say even if they did?

 

Ah, the conspiracy¹⁰ theories began over and over again, yeah, I know, I think that there’s a little bit of deniability here that seems plausible¹¹ to me, only in that I can’t imagine Dennis Rodman passing any kind of CIA background check, I think if he was being used as some kind of secretive operative, I have no doubt the Americans are very interested in what he’s learned over there, and they may even wanna talk to him and to other people that had travelled with him, but the idea of Dennis Rodman as a secret undercover agent for the United States government seems to me a little bit out of the realm of the likely. 

 

Now this spectacle of side, of course, the North Koreans have issued a very serious threat to the south, sending a message via fax of course to Soul earlier today, in response to a series of very angry protest there against the regime in the north, but how seriously does the white house take this kind of thing?

 

Well, that’s just it, and that’s where the Rodman diplomacy is potentially harmful from the America perspective, is that this isn’t a time to try, to engage in photo ops and humanizing elements of what the regime is doing in North Korea. This is serious bluster¹², and every time a country with nuclear weapon makes these kind of noises about a neighbor, American officials have always thought that current regime is unstable¹³, there isn’t a current strong foothold on power, you have a leader trying to establish himself, so the fact that he’s trying to establish himself and establish himself in the international community and back at home with visits like Mr. Rodman’s, and those of potentially other NBA players, none of those things that are welcome to people that are worried about how close their finger is to the nuclear button. 

 

ABC news political director Rick Clan, thank you very much. 

1 enthusiast   

n.热心人，热衷者

参考例句：

• He is an enthusiast about politics.他是个热衷于政治的人。
• He was an enthusiast and loved to evoke enthusiasm in others.他是一个激情昂扬的人，也热中于唤起他人心中的激情。

2 clan   

n.氏族，部落，宗族，家族，宗派

参考例句：

• She ranks as my junior in the clan.她的辈分比我小。
• The Chinese Christians,therefore,practically excommunicate themselves from their own clan.所以，中国的基督徒简直是被逐出了自己的家族了。

3 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。

4 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

5 pawn   

n.典当，抵押，小人物，走卒；v.典当，抵押

参考例句：

• He is contemplating pawning his watch.他正在考虑抵押他的手表。
• It looks as though he is being used as a political pawn by the President.看起来他似乎被总统当作了政治卒子。

6 atrocities   

n.邪恶，暴行( atrocity的名词复数 )；滔天大罪

参考例句：

• They were guilty of the most barbarous and inhuman atrocities. 他们犯有最野蛮、最灭绝人性的残暴罪行。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The enemy's atrocities made one boil with anger. 敌人的暴行令人发指。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 assassination   

n.暗杀；暗杀事件

参考例句：

• The assassination of the president brought matters to a head.总统遭暗杀使事态到了严重关头。
• Lincoln's assassination in 1865 shocked the whole nation.1865年，林肯遇刺事件震惊全美国。

8 wrestle   

vi.摔跤，角力；搏斗；全力对付

参考例句：

• He taught his little brother how to wrestle.他教他小弟弟如何摔跤。
• We have to wrestle with difficulties.我们必须同困难作斗争。

9 perimeters   

周边( perimeter的名词复数 )； 周围； 边缘； 周长

参考例句：

• Examples include outdoor perimeters, traffic monitoring, tunnels, and car parks. 例子像户外围墙；交通监视；隧道和停车场。

10 conspiracy   

n.阴谋，密谋，共谋

参考例句：

• The men were found guilty of conspiracy to murder.这些人被裁决犯有阴谋杀人罪。
• He claimed that it was all a conspiracy against him.他声称这一切都是一场针对他的阴谋。

11 plausible   

adj.似真实的，似乎有理的，似乎可信的

参考例句：

• His story sounded plausible.他说的那番话似乎是真实的。
• Her story sounded perfectly plausible.她的说辞听起来言之有理。

12 bluster   

v.猛刮；怒冲冲的说；n.吓唬，怒号；狂风声

参考例句：

• We could hear the bluster of the wind and rain.我们能听到狂风暴雨的吹打声。
• He was inclined to bluster at first,but he soon dropped.起初他老爱吵闹一阵，可是不久就不做声了。

13 unstable   

adj.不稳定的，易变的

参考例句：

• This bookcase is too unstable to hold so many books.这书橱很不结实，装不了这么多书。
• The patient's condition was unstable.那患者的病情不稳定。