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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
On Board the USS Nimitz, Sea of Japan
03 March 2008
North Korea is warning this week's large-scale military exercises between the United States and South Korea could damage diplomatic efforts to end the North's nuclear weapons programs. VOA's Kurt Achin reports from the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier, where U.S. Navy pilots are supporting the annual military drills with round-the-clock flight missions.
One after another, U.S. F-18 fighter jets soared from the deck of the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier, catapulting from a total standstill to speeds of about 300 kilometers an hour in just three seconds.
The maneuvers1, taking place all week in waters east of the South Korean city of Busan, are part of the annual military drill named "Key Resolve." As they do every year, U.S. and South Korean forces are fine-tuning their cooperation in defending South Korea against a potential North Korean attack.
North Korea invaded the South in 1950. An armistice2 was signed three years later, but there was never a formal peace treaty to conclude the conflict.
On Monday, the communist North repeated its condemnation3 of the exercises, which it views as aggressive. The North's official news agency quoted a Foreign Ministry4 official in Pyongyang as saying the maneuvers "will only put a brake on the process of the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."
Pyongyang is already three months overdue5 in providing a declaration of its nuclear activities it promised to produce by the end of 2007. The declaration is part of a broader deal to trade financial aid and diplomatic incentives6 for the North's gradual elimination7 of its nuclear arsenal8.
U.S. officials reject accusations9 this week's drills are offensive in nature. Rear Admiral Terence Blake, commander of the Nimitz strike group, says the vessels10' mission is the same wherever it is deployed11.
"To promote peace, stability, prosperity, in any region it [Nimitz] goes into. That is our goal," he said. "When we go out and we do these exercises the idea behind the exercises is to promote those three concepts. That is it."
North Korea conducted its first nuclear test in October 2006. As it has done frequently in the past, North Korean media said the U.S. military drills may lead it to bolster12 what Pyongyang calls its nuclear "deterrent13."
1 maneuvers | |
n.策略,谋略,花招( maneuver的名词复数 ) | |
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2 armistice | |
n.休战,停战协定 | |
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3 condemnation | |
n.谴责; 定罪 | |
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4 ministry | |
n.(政府的)部;牧师 | |
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5 overdue | |
adj.过期的,到期未付的;早该有的,迟到的 | |
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6 incentives | |
激励某人做某事的事物( incentive的名词复数 ); 刺激; 诱因; 动机 | |
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7 elimination | |
n.排除,消除,消灭 | |
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8 arsenal | |
n.兵工厂,军械库 | |
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9 accusations | |
n.指责( accusation的名词复数 );指控;控告;(被告发、控告的)罪名 | |
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10 vessels | |
n.血管( vessel的名词复数 );船;容器;(具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的)人 | |
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11 deployed | |
(尤指军事行动)使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 ); 施展; 部署; 有效地利用 | |
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12 bolster | |
n.枕垫;v.支持,鼓励 | |
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13 deterrent | |
n.阻碍物,制止物;adj.威慑的,遏制的 | |
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