VOA标准英语2008年-Poland, US Sign Missile Agreement

The United States and Poland have formally signed a deal to deploy¹ American missiles in the east European nation. The United States says the missiles are needed to guard against attacks from rogue² states like Iran; Russia says the deployment³ threatens its own security. VOA's Sonja Pace reports from London.
　
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski shake hands after signing missile deal, 20 Aug 2008

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was in Warsaw to sign off on the deal with her Polish counterpart, Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski. Rice says the agreement will help both countries guard against the threats of the 21st century.

"It is an agreement that deepens the defense⁴ cooperation between Poland and the United States," she explained. "It does so, of course, in the context of our great alliance with NATO and our Article-5 commitments to one another in that alliance."

The United States is to place up to 10 interceptor missiles in Poland by 2013. The deployment is part of a broader missile shield that includes a radar⁵ facility in the Czech Republic, alongside facilities in place in the United States, Greenland and Britain.

The United States has long argued the missile shield is necessary to defend against long-range missile attacks from rogue states.

Speaking in Warsaw, Secretary Rice again made the point.

"Missile defense, of course, is aimed at no one. It is in our defense that we do this," Rice said.

Russia rejects that reasoning and has said the missile shield deployment in Europe is instead designed to undermine Russia's own missile capability⁶ and threatens its security.

The signing of the agreement comes amid heightened tensions with Russia about the conflict in Georgia and amid growing western pressure on Moscow to withdraw its troops from Georgian territory.

On the surface, it was Georgia's military actions against pro-Russian separatist forces in its breakaway region of South Ossetia that sparked the conflict with Russia. But, Russia's overwhelming military response is widely seen as designed to teach the Georgians a lesson for aspiring⁷ to join both the European Union and NATO.

Speaking at a NATO meeting in Brussels Tuesday, Rice said it was not up to Russia to decide who might join the Western alliance. And, in Warsaw, she applauded Poland's own journey from the former Soviet⁸ bloc⁹ to its now staunch membership in the EU and NATO.

The missile defense agreement with Poland must now be ratified¹⁰ by that country's parliament.

 

1 deploy   

v.（军）散开成战斗队形，布置，展开

参考例句：

• The infantry began to deploy at dawn.步兵黎明时开始进入战斗位置。
• The president said he had no intention of deploying ground troops.总统称并不打算部署地面部队。

2 rogue   

n.流氓；v.游手好闲

参考例句：

• The little rogue had his grandpa's glasses on.这淘气鬼带上了他祖父的眼镜。
• They defined him as a rogue.他们确定他为骗子。

3 deployment   

n. 部署,展开

参考例句：

• He has inquired out the deployment of the enemy troops. 他已查出敌军的兵力部署情况。
• Quality function deployment (QFD) is a widely used customer-driven quality, design and manufacturing management tool. 质量功能展开(quality function deployment,QFD)是一个广泛应用的顾客需求驱动的设计、制造和质量管理工具。

4 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

5 radar   

n.雷达，无线电探测器

参考例句：

• They are following the flight of an aircraft by radar.他们正在用雷达追踪一架飞机的飞行。
• Enemy ships were detected on the radar.敌舰的影像已显现在雷达上。

6 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。

7 aspiring   

adj.有志气的；有抱负的；高耸的v.渴望；追求

参考例句：

• Aspiring musicians need hours of practice every day. 想当音乐家就要每天练许多小时。
• He came from an aspiring working-class background. 他出身于有抱负的工人阶级家庭。 来自辞典例句

8 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

9 bloc   

n.集团；联盟

参考例句：

• A solid bloc of union members support the decision.工会会员团结起来支持该决定。
• There have been growing tensions within the trading bloc.贸易同盟国的关系越来越紧张。

10 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。