2006年VOA标准英语-House-Senate Conferees Work on Bill for US-Indi

By Dan Robinson
Capitol Hill
06 December 2006

House and Senate lawmakers are working to clear the way for final congressional approval of legislation required to implement¹ the U.S. - India Civil Nuclear Cooperation deal. VOA's Dan Robinson reports from Capitol Hill, the legislation has been the subject of strong disagreements between members of Congress and the Bush administration, and there has been a new expression of concern by India's Prime Minister.

The agreement, which would end a three-decade-long ban on nuclear technology exchanges, is a major priority for President Bush.

He wants the 109th Congress now nearing an end to work out remaining differences on enabling legislation and send him a bill to sign.

The administration sent Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs, Nicholas Burns, to India in attempt to calm some concerns of India, which has watched uncomfortably as lawmakers and the White House haggled² over language in the legislation.

Opening a House-Senate conference late Tuesday, (Republican) Congressman³ Henry Hyde said the bill, which changes U.S. law to permit implementation⁴, is the cornerstone of a new strategic partnership⁵ that should contribute to stability in South Asia.

He also mentioned a provision opposed by the Bush administration.

"This legislation will also contribute to our shared goal of strengthening the global nonproliferation regime, especially by enhancing cooperation to prevent Iran from acquiring a capacity to produce nuclear weapons," said Henry Hyde. "

The contentious⁶ provision would require India to fully⁷ and actively⁸ participate in U.S. and international efforts to dissuade⁹, sanction and contain Iran for its nuclear program.

The State Department said New Delhi would view this as an additional condition, and cited Indian cooperation with U.S. votes against Iran in the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The administration also pressed to soften¹⁰ or remove language in the Senate bill relating to the transfer of enrichment, reprocessing or heavy water technologies, which are not part of the deal but are mentioned.

Congressman Tom Lantos, who will head the House International Relations Committee in the next Congress, believes the legislation and the accord as a whole will not harm U.S. nonproliferation goals.

"The conference report on this legislation will advance our common interests with India, while at the same time protecting and advancing our global nonproliferation obligations and objectives," said Tom Lantos.

Critics of the U.S.-India deal and legislation nearing final consideration continued to lash¹¹ out.

Calling the U.S. - India deal a nuclear gift, Congressman Ed Markey urged conferees to ensure that India is, in his words, not able to simultaneously¹² reap the benefits of nuclear cooperation with the U.S. and others, while continuing to support Iran's efforts to maintain a renegade nuclear program.

India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (r) with President Bush (file photo)

Meanwhile, India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told Senate Republican leader Bill Frist that he had reservations about problematic provisions that depart from a U.S.-India understanding in July of last year.

Prime Minister Singh spoke¹³ by telephone with Frist, who said he assured the Indian leader of congressional approval by the end of this week.

Frist says he assured Prime Minister Singh that he would work personally in the House-Senate conference on the issues of concern to India.

1 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

2 haggled   

v.讨价还价( haggle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The cook and the grocer haggled over the price of eggs. 厨师和杂货商为蛋价计较个没完。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• After they had haggled for some time, the two men decided to close the bargain. 那两个人经过一番讨价还价以后，决定成交。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

4 implementation   

n.实施，贯彻

参考例句：

• Implementation of the program is now well underway.这一项目的实施现在行情看好。

5 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

6 contentious   

adj.好辩的，善争吵的

参考例句：

• She was really not of the contentious fighting sort.她委实不是好吵好闹的人。
• Since then they have tended to steer clear of contentious issues.从那时起，他们总想方设法避开有争议的问题。

7 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

8 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

9 dissuade   

v.劝阻，阻止

参考例句：

• You'd better dissuade him from doing that.你最好劝阻他别那样干。
• I tried to dissuade her from investing her money in stocks and shares.我曾设法劝她不要投资于股票交易。

10 soften   

v.(使)变柔软；(使)变柔和

参考例句：

• Plastics will soften when exposed to heat.塑料适当加热就可以软化。
• This special cream will help to soften up our skin.这种特殊的护肤霜有助于使皮肤变得柔软。

11 lash   

v.系牢；鞭打；猛烈抨击；n.鞭打；眼睫毛

参考例句：

• He received a lash of her hand on his cheek.他突然被她打了一记耳光。
• With a lash of its tail the tiger leaped at her.老虎把尾巴一甩朝她扑过来。

12 simultaneously   

adv.同时发生地，同时进行地

参考例句：

• The radar beam can track a number of targets almost simultaneously.雷达波几乎可以同时追着多个目标。
• The Windows allow a computer user to execute multiple programs simultaneously.Windows允许计算机用户同时运行多个程序。

13 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。