VOA标准英语2009年-US Cites Pakistani 'Assurances' on Released Nuc

A senior State Department official says Pakistan has given the United States assurances that nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan - released from five years of house arrest last week for selling nuclear secrets - will no longer pose a proliferation risk. U.S. special envoy¹ Richard Holbrooke, now in Islamabad, is expected to raise the issue with Pakistani leaders.
　
Disgraced Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan waves to media at his home in Islamabad, Pakistan, 06 Feb 2009

The State Department, alarmed over last week's court-ordered released of A.Q. Khan, says Pakistani authorities have provided assurances that he will be barred from further proliferation activity and the United States intends to make sure that those promises are kept.

Khan, revered² in Pakistan as the father of the country's nuclear program, was put under house arrest in 2003 after admitting he had sold nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea. In a surprise move last Friday, the Islamabad High Court said he was not involved in any criminal activity and ruled his detention³ unlawful.

The United States, which had helped compile the evidence that led to his detention, complained immediately, with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton saying she was very much concerned about the release and a spokesman insisting Khan remained a serious proliferation risk.

A senior State Department official who spoke⁴ to reporters said U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Anne Patterson met senior Pakistani officials Sunday in Islamabad and they outlined steps being taken to assure that Khan is not able to re-establish his proliferation network or share nuclear information outside of Pakistan.

The official gave no details of the restrictions⁵ but the Washington Post quoted Pakistani officials as saying Khan's telephone calls, visitors and activities will be monitored and that he will be barred from traveling outside the country.

Asked if the United States is satisfied with the assurances, the official said the commitments are fine at face value, but he said the United States "wants to do better than that and make sure that they live up to their words."

Earlier, State Department Acting⁶ Spokesman Robert Wood said the Obama administration remains⁷ very concerned with the Pakistani court decision and will continue to discuss the matter with Islamabad officials.

"A.Q. Khan's track record has been one of great concern to us and a number of other countries around the world," he said. "And we are going to do what we can to try to make sure that the types of kind of activities that have been undertaken in the past do not continue. And we will be in touch, as I said, we are in a dialogue with the Pakistani government about A.Q. Khan, and we remain concerned about the potential that he poses for further proliferation."

The senior official said U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke, who arrived Monday in Islamabad on his first trip to the region, would likely raise the A.Q. Khan case with senior Pakistani officials.

Holbrooke, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, is in the area to discuss the Afghan conflict as part of the Obama administration's policy review on Afghanistan. But the State Department has said he is empowered to discuss the entire range of issues on the U.S.-Pakistani agenda.

1 envoy   

n.使节，使者，代表，公使

参考例句：

• Their envoy showed no sign of responding to our proposals.他们的代表对我方的提议毫无回应的迹象。
• The government has not yet appointed an envoy to the area.政府尚未向这一地区派过外交官。

2 revered   

v.崇敬，尊崇，敬畏( revere的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• A number of institutions revered and respected in earlier times have become Aunt Sally for the present generation. 一些早年受到尊崇的惯例，现在已经成了这代人嘲弄的对象了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Chinese revered corn as a gift from heaven. 中国人将谷物奉为上天的恩赐。 来自辞典例句

3 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

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 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

6 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

7 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。