236 美国否决一项禁止生物武器的提案

236 美国否决一项禁止生物武器的提案

US Calls Bio Weapons Proposal 'Flawed'
Lisa Schlein
Geneva
25 Jul 2001 17:28 UTC

The United States has rejected a proposal that is designed to strengthen a treaty that bans biological and 1)toxin weapons. A U.S. 2)representative told 3)delegates at a final negotiating session that the draft agreement is flawed and would not 4)enhance security.
The U.S. chief negotiator on biological weapons, Donald Mahley, told delegates that the proposed change to the Biological Weapons Convention, or BWC, is not strong enough to make sure that countries are not secretly making biological weapons. Therefore, he said, the United States will not enable to support the current text. "The draft protocol¹ will not improve our ability to verify BWC (Biological Weapons Convention) compliance²," Mr. Mahley said. "It will not enhance our confidence in 5)compliance and will do little to deter³ those countries seeking to develop biological weapons. In our 6)assessment, the draft protocol would put national security and confidential⁴ business information at risk."
The draft 7)protocol has been under negotiation⁵ for nearly seven years. Its goal is to work out a system to verify and monitor compliance with the 1972 biological weapons treaty. It calls for inspection⁶ of sites suspected of developing these weapons, without 8)interfering with legitimate⁷ biological industries.
But U.S. Ambassador Mahley said the treaty would not protect commercially sensitive information. He said the United States would develop other ideas and different approaches that it believed would 9)result in a stronger, more effective agreement.
The United States is 10)virtually alone in rejecting the proposal. Over the past couple of days, more than 50 countries have urged support for the agreement. Mr. Mahley acknowledged that the U.S. decision is not a popular one. "I do not expect that the other countries involved in this negotiation are going to leap with joy that six and a half years worth of work is not going to come to 11)fruition." Mr. Mahley said.
Graham Pearson is a visiting professor of international security at the University of Bradford in Britain. He said that the United States, in rejecting the proposal, took a position that differed completely from one it has held for more than a decade. He said the proposal strengthens the ability of nations to counter the spread of biological weapons. He said the U.S. decision essentially⁸ kills the agreement. "They are sending the message that the international community does not care about biological weapons," Mr. Pearson says. "And, I fear that that would result in somebody using them to cause 12)immense harm. The use of disease as a weapon of war to 13)deliberately attack humans, animals, or plants is absolutely 14)horrendous. It has huge humanitarian⁹ consequences. And the United States should realize that it is making a huge mistake. It should reconsider its position."
Negotiators will be spending the next month in 15)finalizing the draft protocol. It is supposed to be reviewed at a conference in November. In light of the U.S. decision, many observers see this as an exercise in futility¹⁰.

(1) toxin[5tRksIn]n.[生化][生]毒素
(2) representative[reprI5zentEtIv]n.代表adj.典型的, 有代表性的
(3) delegate[5delI^Et]n.代表vt.委派...为代表
(4) enhance[In5hB:ns; (?@) In5hAns]vt.提高, 增强v.提高
(5) compliance[kEm5plaIEns]n.依从, 顺从
(6) assessment[E5sesmEnt]n.估价, 被估定的金额
(7) protocol[5prEJtEkRl; (?@) -kC:l]n.草案, 协议
(8) interfering[9IntE`fIErIN]vbl.妨碍
(9) result in v.导致
(10) virtually[5v:tjJElI]adv.事实上, 实质上
(11) fruition[fru:5IF(E)n]n.享用, 结果实, 成就, 实现
(12) immense[I5mens]adj.极广大的, 无边的
(13) deliberately[dI5lIbErEtlI]adv.故意地
(14) horrendous[hE5rendEs]adj.可怕的
(15) finalize[5faInElaIz]v.把(计划,稿件等)最后定下来, 定案

 

1 protocol   

n.议定书，草约，会谈记录，外交礼节

参考例句：

• We must observe the correct protocol.我们必须遵守应有的礼仪。
• The statesmen signed a protocol.那些政治家签了议定书。

2 compliance   

n.顺从；服从；附和；屈从

参考例句：

• I was surprised by his compliance with these terms.我对他竟然依从了这些条件而感到吃惊。
• She gave up the idea in compliance with his desire.她顺从他的愿望而放弃自己的主意。

3 deter   

vt.阻止，使不敢，吓住

参考例句：

• Failure did not deter us from trying it again.失败并没有能阻挡我们再次进行试验。
• Dogs can deter unwelcome intruders.狗能够阻拦不受欢迎的闯入者。

4 confidential   

adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的

参考例句：

• He refused to allow his secretary to handle confidential letters.他不让秘书处理机密文件。
• We have a confidential exchange of views.我们推心置腹地交换意见。

5 negotiation   

n.谈判，协商

参考例句：

• They closed the deal in sugar after a week of negotiation.经过一星期的谈判，他们的食糖生意成交了。
• The negotiation dragged on until July.谈判一直拖到7月份。

6 inspection   

n.检查，审查，检阅

参考例句：

• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。
• The soldiers lined up for their daily inspection by their officers.士兵们列队接受军官的日常检阅。

7 legitimate   

adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法

参考例句：

• Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。
• That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。

8 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

9 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

10 futility   

n.无用

参考例句：

• She could see the utter futility of trying to protest. 她明白抗议是完全无用的。
• The sheer futility of it all exasperates her. 它毫无用处，这让她很生气。