美国有线新闻 CNN 美国航母战斗群驶向朝鲜 半岛局势高度紧张

 

The Pentagon says it's sending a U.S. aircraft carrier strike group to the waters near the Korean Peninsula. This involves the USS Carl Vinson and the ships escorting it which include destroyers that are capable of shooting down missiles. The group was originally headed from Singapore to Australia, but it changed direction. The reason: provocations¹ by North Korea, according to U.S. defense² official.

Tensions on the peninsula are high. South Korea is a U.S. ally. It says the situation is grave and that North Korea might be planning another nuclear test and missile launch in the days ahead.

Japan is a U.S. ally. It says it's getting harder to maintain security in the region and that having U.S. ships in the area is an important deterrent³ to North Korea.

The communist country has blamed what it calls U.S. aggression⁴ for the reason it's trying to develop nuclear weapons. But its program is considered illegal by other countries. As far as the U.S. strike group goes, "The Navy Times", a U.S. military publication, says it's rare for American officials to announce the movements of U.S. aircraft carriers, but that when it is done, it's meant to send a message.

How is North Korea responding?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We've been speaking with North Korean officials here in Pyongyang and they tell us that they are receiving the message the United States is sending by deploying⁵ that carrier strike group to the waters off the Korean Peninsula and they also believe that the missile attack on that Syrian air base was a direct warning from the Trump⁶ administration not only to China but also to North Korea.

But their response may not be what the Trump administration is intending to be. They say, instead of backing down, they want to accelerate their nuclear program and their weapons development. They had said for a long time that they believe the U.S. is hypocritical because it possesses nuclear weapon. It's the only country that has ever used nuclear weapons on civilians⁷.

And they look at what has happened in other countries, like Iraq and Syria, regimes that have been taken down by the U.S. and its allies. They look at the chaos⁸ that's happening in Syria and they do not want to see a repeat of that here in North Korea. They say that if the Trump administration would have launched some sort of a preemptive strike here, they would retaliate⁹ and that could potentially be very devastating¹⁰ even with the weapons that North Korea possesses right now.

There are tens of millions of people in the greater Seoul area, some 30 miles from the demilitarized zone, well within range of North Korea's conventional weapons, including artillery¹¹, that could a lot of damage and kill a lot of people. But it could be even bigger than that, because U.S. and South Korean officials have thought for several weeks now that North Korea is really ready at any time to push the button on its sixth nuclear test.

1 provocations   

n.挑衅( provocation的名词复数 )；激怒；刺激；愤怒的原因

参考例句：

• We cannot ignore such provocations. 对于这种挑衅，我们不能置之不理。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• They must immediately cease all their provocations. 他们必须停止一切挑衅。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 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。

3 deterrent   

n.阻碍物，制止物；adj.威慑的，遏制的

参考例句：

• Large fines act as a deterrent to motorists.高额罚款是对开车的人的制约。
• I put a net over my strawberries as a deterrent to the birds.我在草莓上罩了网，免得鸟歇上去。

4 aggression   

n.进攻，侵略，侵犯，侵害

参考例句：

• So long as we are firmly united, we need fear no aggression.只要我们紧密地团结，就不必惧怕外来侵略。
• Her view is that aggression is part of human nature.她认为攻击性是人类本性的一部份。

5 deploying   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
• Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。

6 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。

7 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

8 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

9 retaliate   

v.报复，反击

参考例句：

• He sought every opportunity to retaliate against his enemy.他找机会向他的敌人反击。
• It is strictly forbidden to retaliate against the quality inspectors.严禁对质量检验人员进行打击报复。

10 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

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。