VOA标准英语2009年-Clinton: US is Not Shelving Missile Defens

By David Gollust
State Department
18 September 2009

 
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton responds during q&a session at Brookings Institution in Washington, 18 Sep 2009
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a policy speech Friday defended the Obama administration's new approach to missile defense¹ in Europe, saying it is not shelving its program but making it more relevant to threats actually posed by Iran. The secretary said Iran faces a choice soon as to whether it is prepared to deal with international concerns about is nuclear intentions.

Clinton's address at Washington's Brookings Institution was billed as an opportunity to outline the Obama administration's agenda for the new U.N. General Assembly that begins next week.

But she used the appearance to respond to criticism of President Obama's decision announced Thursday to scrap² plans to put a U.S. long-range missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic, in favor of a layered regional system aimed at countering the medium range missiles Iran currently has.

The abrupt³ end to the Bush administration project is said to have unsettled U.S. European allies and has triggered harsh criticism from U.S. conservatives that the Obama administration is wilting⁴ in the face of Russian objections to the program.

Clinton said the new plan, relying heavily at first on sea-based missile interceptors, will mean deployment⁵ of an effective defense system years earlier than what she said was an unproven and costly⁶ approach by the previous administration.

She reiterated⁷ the U.S. NATO commitment to the Warsaw and Prague governments and insisted Russian opposition⁸ hadn't played into President Obama's calculations.

"This decision was not about Russia. It was about Iran and the threat that its ballistic missile program posed," Clinton said. "And because of this position, we believe we will be in a far stronger position to deal with that threat, and to do so with technology that works and a higher degree of confidence that what we pledged to do, we can actually deliver."

Clinton will meet on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly next week with counterparts from the other permanent Security Council member countries and Germany in advance of a potentially-decisive meeting October first between diplomats⁹ of the P-Five-Plus-One and Iranian nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili.

She suggested again that time is running out for Iran to put to rest concerns that its nuclear program is weapons-related, or face further international sanctions and isolation¹⁰. She suggested the Tehran government's crackdown on internal dissent¹¹ only enhances doubts about is intentions.

"Since June, we have seen the Iranian government engaged in a campaign of politically-motivated arrests, show trials and suppression of free speech," Clinton said. "The Iranian government seeks a sense of justice in the world, but stands in the way of the justice it seeks. None-the-less we remain ready to engage with Iran - not as an end in itself but as a means of addressing the growing concerns that we and our international partners have about Iran's actions, especially on the nuclear issue."

The secretary said non-proliferation and disarmament, with the eventual¹² aim of eliminating nuclear weapons altogether, are key U.S. priorities at the United Nations, and will be underscored by unprecedented¹³ plans for President Obama to chair a special Security Council meeting on the subject next week.

She also cited food security and the empowerment of, and prevention of violence against, women as key American aims within the world body. While the United States took a skeptical¹⁴ approach toward the United Nations in recent years, Clinton said in the 21st century "we ignore and walk away from it at our own peril¹⁵."

1 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。

2 scrap   

n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废

参考例句：

• A man comes round regularly collecting scrap.有个男人定时来收废品。
• Sell that car for scrap.把那辆汽车当残品卖了吧。

3 abrupt   

adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的

参考例句：

• The river takes an abrupt bend to the west.这河突然向西转弯。
• His abrupt reply hurt our feelings.他粗鲁的回答伤了我们的感情。

4 wilting   

萎蔫

参考例句：

• The spectators were wilting visibly in the hot sun. 看得出观众在炎热的阳光下快支撑不住了。
• The petunias were already wilting in the hot sun. 在烈日下矮牵牛花已经开始枯萎了。

5 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。

6 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

7 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。

8 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

9 diplomats   

n.外交官( diplomat的名词复数 )；有手腕的人，善于交际的人

参考例句：

• These events led to the expulsion of senior diplomats from the country. 这些事件导致一些高级外交官被驱逐出境。
• The court has no jurisdiction over foreign diplomats living in this country. 法院对驻本国的外交官无裁判权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 isolation   

n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离

参考例句：

• The millionaire lived in complete isolation from the outside world.这位富翁过着与世隔绝的生活。
• He retired and lived in relative isolation.他退休后，生活比较孤寂。

11 dissent   

n./v.不同意，持异议

参考例句：

• It is too late now to make any dissent.现在提出异议太晚了。
• He felt her shoulders gave a wriggle of dissent.他感到她的肩膀因为不同意而动了一下。

12 eventual   

adj.最后的，结局的，最终的

参考例句：

• Several schools face eventual closure.几所学校面临最终关闭。
• Both parties expressed optimism about an eventual solution.双方对问题的最终解决都表示乐观。

13 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

14 skeptical   

adj.怀疑的，多疑的

参考例句：

• Others here are more skeptical about the chances for justice being done.这里的其他人更为怀疑正义能否得到伸张。
• Her look was skeptical and resigned.她的表情是将信将疑而又无可奈何。

15 peril   

n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物

参考例句：

• The refugees were in peril of death from hunger.难民有饿死的危险。
• The embankment is in great peril.河堤岌岌可危。