159 美国国防部并不看重轻武器

159 美国国防部并不看重轻武器

Pentagon Barely Takes Notice of Small Arms Issue
Alex Belida
Pentagon
13 Jul 2001 16:15 UTC

Ask Pentagon officials about the 1)perils of 2)proliferation and they will almost always focus on such large-scale threats as missiles, bombers¹, and 3)submarines, or nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons.
But when it comes to the proliferation of small arms and light weapons, automatic rifles, machine guns, mortars², and the like, the Pentagon appears to 4)draw a blank.
Rear Admiral Craig Quigley is the Pentagon spokesman. This is what he said when asked about the position taken by U.S. defense³ officials ahead of the United Nations conference that began this week in New York on the 5)illicit trade in small arms. "It's just an issue we have not been involved in on the world stage, and I am not aware of the Department of Defense having a policy position in that regard," he said.
Aides to the spokesman later told VOA the Pentagon's top expert on small arms questions was a relatively⁴ low-ranking officer who was out of the building and possibly on 6)vacation.
In fact, VOA subsequently established the officer was a listed member of the U.S. 7)delegation at the U.N. conference in New York, one of seven Pentagon representatives. But the group included only one other military officer, again relatively low-ranking. The five member civilian⁵ 8)contingent included three individuals with less than imposing⁶ defense positions: an intern⁷, a policy fellow, and a research analyst⁸.
Despite the apparent lack of serious interest, Pentagon officials acknowledge 9)privately that U.S. military personnel are probably in greater danger worldwide from small arms like the AK-47 10)assault rifle than they are from a 11)ballistic missile attack.
The private Small Arms Survey group estimates that 500,000 people die each year at the hands of small arms. It calls them "the real weapons of mass destruction" and says they "12)exacerbate conflicts, cause much human suffering, and undermine economic development across the globe."
The United States is considered the world's largest exporter of small arms with recent annual sales of over $1.2 billion, but U.S. officials are quick to point out all such sales take place under strict controls.
Nevertheless, the United States has come under criticism at the small arms conference for saying it will not support various ideas, including measures to restrict the legal trade and manufacture of light weapons, measures to bar 13)civilian possession of small arms, or moves to limit the trade in small arms to governments only.

(1) peril[5perIl]n.危险
(2) proliferation[prEJ9lIfE`reIFEn]n.增殖
(3) submarine[sQbmE5ri:n, 5sQbmEri:n]n.潜水艇, 潜艇adj.水下的, 海底的
(4) draw a blank v.抽空签, 一无所获
(5) illicit[I5lIsIt]adj.违法的
(6) vacation[vE5keIF(E)n; (?@) veI-]n.假期, 休假v.度假, 休假
(7) delegation[delI5^eIF(E)n]n.代表团, 授权, 委托
(8) contingent[kEn5tIndVEnt]adj.可能发生的,暂时的n.偶然的事情, 分遣队
(9) privately adv.私下地, 秘密地
(10) assault[E5sC:lt]n.攻击, 袭击v.袭击
(11) ballistic missile n.弹道飞弹
(12) exacerbate[ek5sAsEbeIt]vt.恶化, 增剧, 激怒, 使加剧, 使烦恼
(13) civilian[sI5vIlIEn]n.平民, 公务员, 文官adj.民间的, 民用的

 

1 bombers   

n.轰炸机( bomber的名词复数 )；投弹手；安非他明胶囊；大麻叶香烟

参考例句：

• Enemy bombers carried out a blitz on the city. 敌军轰炸机对这座城市进行了突袭。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Royal Airforce sill remained dangerously short of bombers. 英国皇家空军仍未脱离极为缺乏轰炸机的危境。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 mortars   

n.迫击炮( mortar的名词复数 )；砂浆；房产；研钵

参考例句：

• They could not move their heavy mortars over the swampy ground. 他们无法把重型迫击炮移过那片沼泽地。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Where the hell are his mortars? 他有迫击炮吗？ 来自教父部分

3 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。

4 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

5 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

6 imposing   

adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的

参考例句：

• The fortress is an imposing building.这座城堡是一座宏伟的建筑。
• He has lost his imposing appearance.他已失去堂堂仪表。

7 intern   

v.拘禁，软禁；n.实习生

参考例句：

• I worked as an intern in that firm last summer.去年夏天我在那家商行实习。
• The intern bandaged the cut as the nurse looked on.这位实习生在护士的照看下给病人包扎伤口。

8 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。