美国国家公共电台 NPR President Trump Is Going To Asia: What To Watch For At Each Stop

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

President Trump¹ is traveling to Asia this morning. And this likely will be the most consequential² trip of his presidency³ so far. The threat from North Korea's nuclear program will be top of the mind for the president and Asian leaders he'll be meeting with. NPR's Scott Horsley is going to be accompanying the president on the trip, and he joins us.

Hey there, Scott.

SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE⁴: Good morning, David.

GREENE: Let's just work through the itinerary⁵ here. After a quick stop in Hawaii, where the president's going to visit Pearl Harbor, he continues on to Tokyo and then to Seoul - important places, obviously. What's on the agenda?

HORSLEY: Well, you said it. It's the North Korean nuclear threat. That's the looming⁶ cloud on the horizon for this trip. You know, back in the campaign, Trump was sometimes critical of allies, like Japan and South Korea, suggesting they weren't contributing enough to their own defense⁷ and that the U.S. taxpayer⁸ was having to make up the difference. But since he's come into office, Trump has taken a more traditional stance. He has reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to protecting those allies, especially in the face of Kim Jong Un's nuclear threat.

So I think you can expect a fairly friendly visit in Tokyo. He's going to play a round of golf with his buddy⁹ the prime minister, Shinzo Abe. And in South Korea, Trump is going to visit a newly expanded military base that the South Koreans mostly paid for. It's eventually going to house many of the 28,000 American troops on the peninsula. And it is just beyond the range of North Korea's conventional artillery¹¹.

GREENE: You hear - you say South Korea mostly paid for them. Might be something we could hear the president emphasizing.

HORSLEY: Burden-sharing is the phrase.

GREENE: Burden-sharing (laughter).

So then it's China. And what a moment - I mean, Chinese President Xi Jinping just solidified¹² his grip on power, which wasn't a surprise at all. But it seems, you know, very important that now he is, you know, very solidly running that country and such an important country when it comes to the United States.

HORSLEY: Yeah. You've got Xi's platform now enshrined in the party constitution. And meanwhile, you have President Trump suffering some of his lowest approval ratings of his time in office. He's just endured a tough week with his former campaign chairman indicted¹³, news that a onetime foreign policy adviser¹⁴ pled guilty to criminal charges.

Despite that somewhat unequal footing, though, Trump seems to get along well with President Xi. And his national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, says while China has to do more to put the brakes on North Korea's nuclear program, the U.S. is actually pretty pleased with the steps China's taken so far.

(SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE)

H.R. MCMASTER: China recognizes this isn't the United States or anyone else asking China to do us a favor. China recognizes that it is clearly in China's interests - and all nations' interests - to denuclearize the peninsula.

HORSLEY: China is North Korea's No. 1 trading partner. And the U.S. believes Beijing has considerable economic leverage¹⁵ that it could use against Kim Jong Un.

GREENE: Well, Scott - stylistically, I mean - you mentioned that Trump gets along well with Xi. When he goes on then to Vietnam and the Philippines, it's going to be more of these international summit meetings. Those are forums¹⁶ that the president doesn't like as much. Right?

HORSLEY: He prefers to negotiate with other countries one on one rather than these big, multilateral settings. But in Vietnam, he's going to be attending the APEC summit. That's a gathering¹⁷ of countries from around the Pacific Rim¹⁰, many of which were party to that big trade deal that Trump pulled out of on one of his first days in office. Some of those other countries will be trying to revive that trade deal minus the U.S.

And then it's on to the Philippines, where Trump's going to be attending a gathering of Southeast Asian leaders and also meeting with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. Duterte, of course, has been criticized by a lot of human rights groups internationally for his extracurricular - extra - extralegal crackdown on drug traffickers. But the White House says Trump and he have a warm rapport¹⁸.

GREENE: And you're going on this trip. Right?

HORSLEY: I'll be on the way.

GREENE: All right, safe travels to you. NPR White House correspondent Scott Horsley - thanks, Scott.

HORSLEY: Good to be with you, David.

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 consequential   

adj.作为结果的，间接的；重要的

参考例句：

• She was injured and suffered a consequential loss of earnings.她受了伤因而收入受损。
• This new transformation is at least as consequential as that one was.这一新的转变至少和那次一样重要。

3 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 itinerary   

n.行程表，旅行路线；旅行计划

参考例句：

• The two sides have agreed on the itinerary of the visit.双方商定了访问日程。
• The next place on our itinerary was Silistra.我们行程的下一站是锡利斯特拉。

6 looming   

n.上现蜃景（光通过低层大气发生异常折射形成的一种海市蜃楼）v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的现在分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近

参考例句：

• The foothills were looming ahead through the haze. 丘陵地带透过薄雾朦胧地出现在眼前。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Then they looked up. Looming above them was Mount Proteome. 接着他们往上看，在其上隐约看到的是蛋白质组山。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 回顾与展望

7 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。

8 taxpayer   

n.纳税人

参考例句：

• The new scheme will run off with a lot of the taxpayer's money.这项新计划将用去纳税人许多钱。
• The taxpayer are unfavourably disposed towards the recent tax increase.纳税者对最近的增加税收十分反感。

9 buddy   

n.（美口）密友，伙伴

参考例句：

• Calm down,buddy.What's the trouble?压压气，老兄。有什么麻烦吗？
• Get out of my way,buddy!别挡道了，你这家伙！

10 rim   

n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界

参考例句：

• The water was even with the rim of the basin.盆里的水与盆边平齐了。
• She looked at him over the rim of her glass.她的目光越过玻璃杯的边沿看着他。

11 artillery   

n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队)

参考例句：

• This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
• The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。

12 solidified   

（使）成为固体，（使）变硬，（使）变得坚固( solidify的过去式和过去分词 )； 使团结一致； 充实，巩固； 具体化

参考例句：

• Her attitudes solidified through privilege and habit. 由于特权和习惯使然，她的看法变得越来越难以改变。
• When threatened, he fires spheres of solidified air from his launcher! 当危险来临，他就会发射它的弹药！

13 indicted   

控告，起诉( indict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The senator was indicted for murder. 那位参议员被控犯谋杀罪。
• He was indicted by a grand jury on two counts of murder. 他被大陪审团以两项谋杀罪名起诉。

14 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

15 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。

16 forums   

讨论会； 座谈会； 广播专题讲话节目； 集会的公共场所( forum的名词复数 )； 论坛，讨论会，专题讨论节目； 法庭

参考例句：

• A few of the forums were being closely monitored by the administrators. 有些论坛被管理员严密监控。
• It can cast a dark cloud over these forums. 它将是的论坛上空布满乌云。

17 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

18 rapport   

n.和睦，意见一致

参考例句：

• She has an excellent rapport with her staff.她跟她职员的关系非常融洽。
• We developed a high degree of trust and a considerable personal rapport.我们发展了高度的互相信任和不错的私人融洽关系。