VOA标准英语2009年-Israel, Iran Reportedly Held Secret Nuclea

By Robert Berger
Jerusalem
22 October 2009

 
Iranian technicians work at a facility near Isfahan, south of Tehran, that produces uranium fuel for a heavy-water nuclear reactor¹ (File)
Several eyewitnesses² and news reports say Israeli and Iranian representatives spoke³ directly during a multi-national conference on nuclear disarmament last month in Egypt.

Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported Israeli and Iranian delegates directly engaged each other during a meeting of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament held behind closed doors at a Cairo hotel last month.

The Reuters news agency reported an Israeli official who wished to remain unidentified said the Cairo talks were unusual in that they featured a direct dialogue. AFP, the French news agency, reports an unnamed Egyptian official who attended the conference as saying Israel and Iran were involved in "round-table" and "cross-table" discussions "with accusations⁴."

But, a spokesman for Iran's Atomic Energy Organization denied the Iranian and Israeli representatives engaged in any sort of dialogue at the event. Ali Shirzadian reiterated⁵ that Iran views Israel as "illegitimate."

Israel and Iran do not have diplomatic ties and the meeting would be among the few official contacts between the two countries in the past 30 years.

Israeli analyst⁶ Eldad Pardo says the possibility of talks could be a sign that Iran is feeling the pressure from the international community to come clean on its nuclear program. "Iran wants some respite⁷. They need some time off in order to handle the deep crisis that they are in. They try to draw the conclusion and apply a more pragmatic policy at least in the short run," he said.

Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. But Israel believes the Islamic Republic is seeking nuclear weapons, which it sees a threat. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has threatened to wipe the Jewish state off the map, and Israel has said that if diplomacy⁸ fails it might launch a pre-emptive strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.

Pardo believes a meeting could ease tensions. "This is really exceptional. I think it is also a kind of declaration that there is a change in atmosphere and the region moves more into a dialogue atmosphere," he said.

Israel is widely believed to be the only Middle Eastern country that has nuclear weapons, but it has never admitted it. According to Ha'aretz, when the Iranian representative asked directly whether Israel has nuclear weapons, his Israeli counterpart just smiled and did not respond.

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 eyewitnesses   

目击者( eyewitness的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The examination of all the eyewitnesses took a week. 对所有证人的质询用了一周的时间。
• Several eyewitnesses testified that they saw the officers hit Miller in the face. 几位目击证人证明他们看见那几个警官打了米勒的脸。

3 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。

4 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

5 reiterated   

反复地说，重申( reiterate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• "Well, I want to know about it,'she reiterated. “嗯，我一定要知道你的休假日期，"她重复说。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• Some twenty-two years later President Polk reiterated and elaborated upon these principles. 大约二十二年之后，波尔克总统重申这些原则并且刻意阐释一番。

6 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

7 respite   

n.休息，中止，暂缓

参考例句：

• She was interrogated without respite for twenty-four hours.她被不间断地审问了二十四小时。
• Devaluation would only give the economy a brief respite.贬值只能让经济得到暂时的缓解。

8 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。