2006年VOA标准英语-Koizumi Baffled By Attitude of China, S. K

By Steve Herman
Tokyo
04 January 2006

Japan's prime minister, who just days earlier vowed¹ to improve relations with Asian neighbors in the new year, has lashed² out at criticism from Beijing and Seoul over his visits to a controversial shrine³.

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In a nationally televised news conference Wednesday marking the start of government business for the new year, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi rapped China and South Korea for politicizing his annual pilgrimages to the Yasukuni war shrine.

Mr. Koizumi says he is baffled as to why some foreign governments insist on interfering⁴ with a spiritual matter and try to twist it into a diplomatic issue. The prime minister insists his visits to the Tokyo shrine are meant to honor all of Japan's war dead and says he goes there to pray for world peace.

Several Asian nations have repeatedly called for an end to the pilgrimages because war criminals are enshrined there, along with hundreds of thousands of ordinary soldiers. A museum on the grounds of the shrine also glorifies⁵ Japan's 20th century militarism. The Osaka High Court has ruled that Mr. Koizumi's visits are official acts that violate Japan's constitutional separation of religion and state, but other courts have not backed that ruling.

After Prime Minister Koizumi made his fourth visit since taking office in mid-October, both Beijing and Seoul canceled talks with Tokyo.

Mr. Koizumi said during his news conference that it is up to Beijing and Seoul to resume dialogue with Tokyo and he has a strong desire to see that happen.

The prime minister adds he has never tried to cut off communications with China and South Korea and the door remains⁶ open. Mr. Koizumi says a single problem should not mean ending dialogue because every nation has differences of opinions with others.

Mr. Koizumi also said that Japan has a special relationship with the United States. He said he was not trying to suggest that Tokyo's relationship with Washington is the only one that matters but said it is more critical than ties with other countries because the United States is the only nation that sees an attack on Japan as an attack on itself.

1 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。

2 lashed   

adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥

参考例句：

• The rain lashed at the windows. 雨点猛烈地打在窗户上。
• The cleverly designed speech lashed the audience into a frenzy. 这篇精心设计的演说煽动听众使他们发狂。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 shrine   

n.圣地，神龛，庙；v.将...置于神龛内，把...奉为神圣

参考例句：

• The shrine was an object of pilgrimage.这处圣地是人们朝圣的目的地。
• They bowed down before the shrine.他们在神龛前鞠躬示敬。

4 interfering   

adj. 妨碍的 动词interfere的现在分词

参考例句：

• He's an interfering old busybody! 他老爱管闲事！
• I wish my mother would stop interfering and let me make my own decisions. 我希望我母亲不再干预，让我自己拿主意。

5 glorifies   

赞美( glorify的第三人称单数 )； 颂扬； 美化； 使光荣

参考例句：

• He denies that the movie glorifies violence. 他否认这部影片美化暴力。
• This magazine in no way glorifies gangs. 这本杂志绝对没有美化混混们。

6 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。