VOA标准英语2009年-South Korean Official Questions North's Mo

South Korea remains¹ dissatisfied with Pyongyang's explanation of a deadly flood that resulted from a dam opening in North Korean territory. Seoul's chief official on North Korean policy is beginning to question publicly Pyongyang's motives².
　
South Korean Army soldiers, rescue team members search for missing people at Imjin River in Yeoncheon, north of Seoul, 8 Sep 2009

South Korean Unification Minister Hyun In-taek told lawmakers in Seoul Wednesday that the government is still evaluating why North Korea unleashed³ a deadly surge of floodwaters.

He says the South Korean government views the release as intentional⁴ but that the North's "real motives are unclear" for the time being.

North Korea opened floodgates Sunday morning on a hydropower dam on its side of the North-South border. Six South Koreans were killed when the water in the shared Imjin River rose quickly to twice its usual level. Recovery workers said Wednesday they had recovered the final three bodies, including that of an eight-year-old boy.

In a two-sentence letter Monday, North Korea said it had ordered the release on an "emergency" basis because water levels behind the dam had risen too high. Pyongyang also promised to alert the South if similar situations arise in the future.

The South's Minister Hyun says he finds it particularly disturbing that North Korea has not mentioned the loss of six South Korean lives.

He says the appropriate authorities in the North need to better explain this and make an apology.

Some North Korea analysts⁵ in Seoul suspect the North deliberately⁶ released the water to cause damage in the South. South Korean authorities have been careful to avoid explicitly⁷ labeling the release as a "water attack." Still, Hyun's rejection⁸ of the North's explanation is a sign the South does not rule that possibility out.

Some assert that the placement of several North Korean dams so close to the South's border shows that Pyongyang built them with such acts of sabotage⁹ in mind.

Yang Moo-jin is a professor at Seoul's University of North Korean Studies. He thinks the North intentionally¹⁰ flooded the South as a means of forcing diplomacy¹¹.

Yang says the South will probably suggest working level talks on flood control, and the North will try to use its leverage¹² in those talks for a more comprehensive deal to resume economic assistance from the South.

North and South Korea remain technically¹³ at war with each other, with only a 1953 armistice¹⁴ having paused fighting between the two sides.

1 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。

2 motives   

n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• to impeach sb's motives 怀疑某人的动机
• His motives are unclear. 他的用意不明。

3 unleashed   

v.把（感情、力量等）释放出来，发泄( unleash的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The government's proposals unleashed a storm of protest in the press. 政府的提案引发了新闻界的抗议浪潮。
• The full force of his rage was unleashed against me. 他把所有的怒气都发泄在我身上。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 intentional   

adj.故意的，有意（识）的

参考例句：

• Let me assure you that it was not intentional.我向你保证那不是故意的。
• His insult was intentional.他的侮辱是有意的。

5 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

6 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

7 explicitly   

ad.明确地，显然地

参考例句：

• The plan does not explicitly endorse the private ownership of land. 该计划没有明确地支持土地私有制。
• SARA amended section 113 to provide explicitly for a right to contribution. 《最高基金修正与再授权法案》修正了第123条，清楚地规定了分配权。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

8 rejection   

n.拒绝，被拒，抛弃，被弃

参考例句：

• He decided not to approach her for fear of rejection.他因怕遭拒绝决定不再去找她。
• The rejection plunged her into the dark depths of despair.遭到拒绝使她陷入了绝望的深渊。

9 sabotage   

n.怠工，破坏活动，破坏；v.从事破坏活动，妨害，破坏

参考例句：

• They tried to sabotage my birthday party.他们企图破坏我的生日晚会。
• The fire at the factory was caused by sabotage.那家工厂的火灾是有人蓄意破坏引起的。

10 intentionally   

ad.故意地，有意地

参考例句：

• I didn't say it intentionally. 我是无心说的。
• The local authority ruled that he had made himself intentionally homeless and was therefore not entitled to be rehoused. 当地政府裁定他是有意居无定所，因此没有资格再获得提供住房。

11 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。

12 leverage   

n.力量，影响；杠杆作用，杠杆的力量

参考例句：

• We'll have to use leverage to move this huge rock.我们不得不借助杠杆之力来移动这块巨石。
• He failed in the project because he could gain no leverage. 因为他没有影响力，他的计划失败了。

13 technically   

adv.专门地，技术上地

参考例句：

• Technically it is the most advanced equipment ever.从技术上说，这是最先进的设备。
• The tomato is technically a fruit,although it is eaten as a vegetable.严格地说，西红柿是一种水果，尽管它是当作蔬菜吃的。

14 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。