2007年VOA标准英语-Indian PM Reassures Leftist Politicians About U

By Anjana Pasricha
New Delhi
31 August 2007

India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is pushing for international cooperation to enhance India's nuclear energy capability¹. His remarks come amid a political furor² over a controversial civilian³ nuclear energy deal concluded by his government with the United States. Anjana Pasricha reports from VOA's New Delhi bureau.

Manmohan Singh greets members of the audience at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) Training School in Mumbai,  31 Aug 2007

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says nuclear energy is critical for India's economic development, and the country must not fall behind the rest of the world in developing this key energy source.

He spoke⁴ Friday at the commissioning of two new nuclear reactors⁵ at the Tarapur facility near Mumbai.

"We cannot afford to miss the bus or lag behind those global developments," he said. "We need to pave the way for India to benefit from nuclear commerce without restriction⁶."

He said India can double the amount of nuclear power it can generate by opening up to international cooperation.

Mr. Singh's strong pitch for nuclear energy comes amid domestic controversy⁷ over a nuclear cooperation deal with the United States.

Thursday, the Congress Party-led government ordered a review of the deal to address objections from its communist allies.

The deal would give energy-starved India access to U.S. civilian nuclear technology in exchange for opening up its civilian nuclear facilities to inspection⁸.

Left-wing politicians object to the conditions saying they compromise India's sovereignty and will bring India into a strategic alliance with the United States.

Mr. Singh downplayed those concerns. He says India will seek nuclear cooperation with many countries including the United States, Russia and France.

"This will signal the end of our international isolation⁹ of the past few decades," he said. "India is now too important a country to remain outside the international mainstream¹⁰ in this critical area."

But analysts¹¹ doubt Mr. Singh's communist allies or opposition¹² parties will be satisfied with such assurances.

During the past two weeks, parliament has been repeatedly disrupted by lawmakers who want a rethink on the pact¹³.

The two-year-old deal - which still needs to be ratified¹⁴ by the U.S. Congress and approved by international nuclear agencies - surprised many. India had long been denied U.S. nuclear cooperation because it had not signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

1 capability   

n.能力；才能；(pl)可发展的能力或特性等

参考例句：

• She has the capability to become a very fine actress.她有潜力成为杰出演员。
• Organizing a whole department is beyond his capability.组织整个部门是他能力以外的事。

2 furor   

n.狂热；大骚动

参考例句：

• His choice of words created quite a furor.他的措辞引起了相当大的轰动。
• The half hour lecture caused an enormous furor.那半小时的演讲引起了极大的轰动。

3 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

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 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 restriction   

n.限制，约束

参考例句：

• The park is open to the public without restriction.这个公园对公众开放，没有任何限制。
• The 30 mph speed restriction applies in all built-up areas.每小时限速30英里适用于所有建筑物聚集区。

7 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

8 inspection   

n.检查，审查，检阅

参考例句：

• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。
• The soldiers lined up for their daily inspection by their officers.士兵们列队接受军官的日常检阅。

9 isolation   

n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离

参考例句：

• The millionaire lived in complete isolation from the outside world.这位富翁过着与世隔绝的生活。
• He retired and lived in relative isolation.他退休后，生活比较孤寂。

10 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

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 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

13 pact   

n.合同，条约，公约，协定

参考例句：

• The two opposition parties made an electoral pact.那两个反对党订了一个有关选举的协定。
• The trade pact between those two countries came to an end.那两国的通商协定宣告结束。

14 ratified   

v.批准，签认（合约等）( ratify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The treaty was declared invalid because it had not been ratified. 条约没有得到批准，因此被宣布无效。
• The treaty was ratified by all the member states. 这个条约得到了所有成员国的批准。