VOA常速英语2007-Gates Expects Poland to Continue Missile Defense

By Al Pessin
Prague
22 October 2007

U.S. Defense¹ Secretary Robert Gates says he expects Poland's new government to continue to discuss hosting a U.S. missile defense site. The secretary is now in the Czech Republic, which officials say is close to agreeing to host a radar² installation for the missile system. VOA's Al Pessin reports from Prague.

Secretary Gates says it is too early to fully³ assess the impact of Sunday's Polish election, which put the opposition⁴ party in power. But he said he hopes Poland will continue working with the United States on missile defense, as well as in the military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Regardless of the composition of the government, I expect that cooperation to continue," he said. "But, obviously, we will have to have discussions with the new government in Poland, in terms of their specific future plans."

A senior U.S. defense official says the United States wants to finish its negotiations⁵ with both Poland and the Czech Republic in time for their parliaments to consider the treaties early next year, and for construction to begin later in the year. But he says the talks with Poland are not as far along as the negotiations with the Czech Republic.

The senior official, who spoke⁶ on condition of anonymity⁷, says the talks will continue in spite of Russia's opposition to the U.S. plan to put the missile defense facilities in Central Europe. During a visit to Moscow earlier this month, Secretary Gates presented some secret proposals designed to ease Russian concerns. The U.S. official says Russia had not responded to the ideas by the end of last week.

After his meetings with Czech officials on missile defense and other issues Tuesday, Secretary Gates travels on to the Netherlands for a NATO defense ministers meeting. He says he will press the allies to live up to their commitments to send troops to the NATO-led security effort in Afghanistan.

1 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。

2 radar   

n.雷达，无线电探测器

参考例句：

• They are following the flight of an aircraft by radar.他们正在用雷达追踪一架飞机的飞行。
• Enemy ships were detected on the radar.敌舰的影像已显现在雷达上。

3 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。

4 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

5 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

6 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。

7 anonymity   

n.the condition of being anonymous

参考例句：

• Names of people in the book were changed to preserve anonymity. 为了姓名保密，书中的人用的都是化名。
• Our company promises to preserve the anonymity of all its clients. 我们公司承诺不公开客户的姓名。