2007年VOA标准英语-US Envoy Warns More Work Ahead in Effort to End

By Kate Pound Dawson
Hong Kong
15 July 2007

North Korea says it has shut down its main nuclear reactor¹, more than four years after the facility was re-opened. As VOA's Kate Pound Dawson reports from our Asia News Center, a top U.S. diplomat² says that is a good first step, but there is more work ahead.

Pyongyang's declaration that it had shut down the Yongbyon reactor came as United Nations inspectors³ were arriving to examine the facility.

The team from the International Atomic Energy Agency will spend weeks making sure all of the facility is closed, and setting up monitoring equipment to ensure it is not restarted.

Christopher Hill

Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Christopher Hill on Sunday welcomed the news of the shutdown. But he cautioned that more work is needed to end North Korea's nuclear weapons programs.

"We realize how long it took, how long it took, to get here. … I think we have to really work very hard for the additional steps that are necessary," Hill said.

Hill is the lead U.S. negotiator in six-nation talks on ending Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions. He spoke⁴ in Tokyo at the end of a visit to prepare for talks this week.

The IAEA visit is the first since the end of 2002, when North Korea abandoned the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, kicked the agency's staff out of the country and restarted the reactor. It did so after the United States said Pyongyang had resumed efforts to build nuclear weapons, despite several international pledges not to.

Since then, the United States, China, Japan, South Korea and Russia have tried to persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear programs. Those efforts made little progress until this year, and Pyongyang tested a nuclear explosive device last year.

In February, however, North Korea promised to shut down its nuclear facilities in return for energy aid and diplomatic benefits. On Saturday, the first batch⁵ of energy aid - more than six thousand tons of fuel oil from South Korea arrived in the impoverished⁶ North.

On Wednesday, negotiators from the six nations meet in Beijing to plan the next steps in North Korea's disarmament process.

1 reactor   

n.反应器；反应堆

参考例句：

• The atomic reactor generates enormous amounts of thermal energy.原子反应堆发出大量的热能。
• Inside the reactor the large molecules are cracked into smaller molecules.在反应堆里，大分子裂变为小分子。

2 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。

3 inspectors   

n.检查员( inspector的名词复数 )；（英国公共汽车或火车上的）查票员；（警察）巡官；检阅官

参考例句：

• They got into the school in the guise of inspectors. 他们假装成视察员进了学校。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Inspectors checked that there was adequate ventilation. 检查员已检查过，通风良好。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 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。

5 batch   

n.一批(组，群)；一批生产量

参考例句：

• The first batch of cakes was burnt.第一炉蛋糕烤焦了。
• I have a batch of letters to answer.我有一批信要回复。

6 impoverished   

adj.穷困的，无力的，用尽了的v.使（某人）贫穷( impoverish的过去式和过去分词 )；使（某物）贫瘠或恶化

参考例句：

• the impoverished areas of the city 这个城市的贫民区
• They were impoverished by a prolonged spell of unemployment. 他们因长期失业而一贫如洗。 来自《简明英汉词典》