VOA标准英语2009年-Clinton in Asia on First Trip as US Secretary o

Hillary Clinton arrives Monday in Japan, the first of four stops in Asia - her first official foreign travel as secretary of state. She will also visit South Korea, Indonesia and China to build partnerships¹ she says will transcend² geographic³ and political boundaries. The visit comes as North Korea is suspected of preparing to conduct a missile launch and Japan announces that its economy shrank in the fourth quarter of last year.
　
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrives in Tokyo, 16 Feb 2009

Secretary Clinton's visit to Japan comes on the heels of Tokyo's announcement that Asia's leading economy shrank by more than three percent in the last three months of 2008, as exports and factory output fell. It was the third straight quarterly decline in Japan's gross domestic product and the economy's worst quarterly performance in 35 years.

Last week, Secretary Clinton told an audience at the Asia Society in New York that she will use what she called "smart power" diplomacy⁴ - seeking stronger bilateral⁵, regional and global cooperation to deal with world issues like the economic crisis.

"The global financial crisis requires every nation to look inward for solutions. But none of us can afford to become so introspective that we overlook the critical role that international partnerships must play in stabilizing⁶ the world's economy and putting all of us back on the path to prosperity," she said. "And we cannot respond with a race to erect⁷ trade and other barriers; we must remain committed to a system of open and fair trade."

Shortly after Clinton departed for Asia, North Korea's official news agency suggested that the country is preparing a missile launch, insisting that the communist state has a right to pursue "space development". U.S. and South Korean officials say they believe Pyongyang is preparing to test its long-range Taepodong-2 ballistic missile.

Clinton has called North Korea's nuclear program Northeast Asia's most acute challenge. She says President Barack Obama is committed to working through the six-party talks, involving the United States, China, Russia, Japan and North and South Korea, and that her trip is intended to move the process forward. Last week at the Asia Society, she urged Pyongyang to refrain from what she called "any provocative⁸ action" and "unhelpful rhetoric⁹".

"The North Korean government has committed to abandoning all nuclear weapons and to return at an early date to the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. We continue to hold them to those commitments," Clinton said. "If North Korea is genuinely prepared to completely and verifiably eliminate their nuclear weapons program, the Obama administration will be willing to normalize bilateral relations, replace the [Korean] Peninsula's long-standing armistice¹⁰ agreements with a permanent peace treaty, and assist in meeting the energy and other economic needs of the North Korean people."

While in Japan, Clinton is expected to meet with family members of Japanese citizens who have been abducted¹¹ by North Korea. Pyongyang has admitted to kidnapping at least 13 Japanese nationals during the 1970's and 1980's to train as spies. North Korea has allowed five to return home in recent years and has said the others have died. But Japan says more people were abducted and that it wants information about their fate.

Previous U.S. administrations, in their first diplomatic forays, have tended to focus on Europe and the Middle East. Hillary Clinton's first official trip takes her to Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and China where she says she hopes to signal the United States needs strong partners across the Pacific Ocean. The United States, she says, is both a transatlantic as well as transpacific power. She says each stop represents partners who, in her words, are "indispensable to America's security and prosperity".

1 partnerships   

n.伙伴关系( partnership的名词复数 )；合伙人身份；合作关系

参考例句：

• Partnerships suffer another major disadvantage: decision-making is shared. 合伙企业的另一主要缺点是决定要由大家来作。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• It involved selling off limited partnerships. 它涉及到售出有限的合伙权。 来自辞典例句

2 transcend   

vt.超出，超越(理性等)的范围

参考例句：

• We can't transcend the limitations of the ego.我们无法超越自我的局限性。
• Everyone knows that the speed of airplanes transcend that of ships.人人都知道飞机的速度快于轮船的速度。

3 geographic   

adj.地理学的，地理的

参考例句：

• The city's success owes much to its geographic position. 这座城市的成功很大程度上归功于它的地理位置。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Environmental problems pay no heed to these geographic lines. 环境问题并不理会这些地理界限。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

4 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。

5 bilateral   

adj.双方的，两边的，两侧的

参考例句：

• They have been negotiating a bilateral trade deal.他们一直在商谈一项双边贸易协定。
• There was a wide gap between the views of the two statesmen on the bilateral cooperation.对双方合作的问题，两位政治家各自所持的看法差距甚大。

6 stabilizing   

n.稳定化处理[退火]v.（使）稳定， （使）稳固( stabilize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The disulfide bridges might then be viewed primarily as stabilizing components. 二硫桥可以被看作是初级的稳定因素。 来自辞典例句
• These stabilizing design changes are usually not desirable for steady-state operation. 这些增加稳定性的设计改变通常不太符合稳态工作的要求。 来自辞典例句

7 erect   

n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的

参考例句：

• She held her head erect and her back straight.她昂着头，把背挺得笔直。
• Soldiers are trained to stand erect.士兵们训练站得笔直。

8 provocative   

adj.挑衅的，煽动的，刺激的，挑逗的

参考例句：

• She wore a very provocative dress.她穿了一件非常性感的裙子。
• His provocative words only fueled the argument further.他的挑衅性讲话只能使争论进一步激化。

9 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

10 armistice   

n.休战，停战协定

参考例句：

• The two nations signed an armistice.两国签署了停火协议。
• The Italian armistice is nothing but a clumsy trap.意大利的停战不过是一个笨拙的陷阱。

11 abducted   

劫持，诱拐( abduct的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（肢体等）外展

参考例句：

• Detectives have not ruled out the possibility that she was abducted. 侦探尚未排除她被绑架的可能性。
• The kid was abducted at the gate of kindergarten. 那小孩在幼儿园大门口被绑架走了。