2007年VOA标准英语-North, South Korea Postpone Rare Summit, Citing

By Kurt Achin
Seoul
18 August 2007

North and South Korea have postponed¹ a summit planned for later this month.  North Korea asked for the delay until October because of extensive flood damage in the impoverished² communist nation. VOA's Kurt Achin reports from Seoul.

South Korean Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung, second from left, holds a emergency meeting with senior officers to discuss the postponed Koreas Summit, 18 Aug 2007

South Korean presidential spokesman Cheon Ho-seon says the North-South summit, originally planned for later this month, is now scheduled to take place from October 2-4.

He says the North requested the delay due to heavy flooding damage, and the South accepted.

International relief agencies corroborate³ North Korean media reports that weeks of flooding have taken a serious toll⁴ on the country's agriculture and infrastructure⁵.

North Korea says 11 percent of the country's rice and cornfields have been destroyed, and more than 300,000 people have been made homeless.

On Friday, South Korea announced a $7 million package of emergency aid supplies for the North.  The United States is pledging $100,000 in new aid to relief agencies, which will devote the funds to purchasing emergency flood supplies for North Korea.

A building flooded with water from the Taedong River in Pyongyang, 14 Aug 2007

The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) says the flood damage will probably make North Korea's already serious food shortages even worse. 

WFP officials say even in a normal year, North Korean food production falls far short of its needs.  The organization is mobilizing emergency food rations⁶, and says it will consult with donors⁷ on easing the longer-range impact of the damage.

Experts say North Korea's food crisis, which reached a peak in the mid-1990s with the starvation deaths of hundreds of thousands, is the result of decades of economic mismanagement.  Annual floods take such a severe toll on the North mainly because impoverished residents have clear-cut mountainsides of any vegetation that can be eaten or burned as fuel.

South Korea has become one of the North's most important economic partners since the two countries held their first and only summit in 2000.  Seoul regularly sends millions of dollars worth of rice, fertilizer, and other humanitarian⁸ aid across the border, often drawing criticism that the transfers are not sufficiently⁹ monitored.

The two Koreas are, in legal terms, still at war.  Fighting was halted by a 1953 armistice¹⁰ three years after North Korea invaded the South.  South Korean officials say they hope the upcoming summit between South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il will lay the groundwork for a formal peace.

1 postponed   

vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发）

参考例句：

• The trial was postponed indefinitely. 审讯无限期延迟。
• The game has already been postponed three times. 这场比赛已经三度延期了。

2 impoverished   

adj.穷困的，无力的，用尽了的v.使（某人）贫穷( impoverish的过去式和过去分词 )；使（某物）贫瘠或恶化

参考例句：

• the impoverished areas of the city 这个城市的贫民区
• They were impoverished by a prolonged spell of unemployment. 他们因长期失业而一贫如洗。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 corroborate   

v.支持，证实，确定

参考例句：

• He looked at me anxiously,as if he hoped I'd corroborate this.他神色不安地看着我，仿佛他希望我证实地的话。
• It appeared that what he said went to corroborate my account.看来他所说的和我叙述的相符。

4 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

5 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

6 rations   

定量( ration的名词复数 )； 配给量； 正常量； 合理的量

参考例句：

• They are provisioned with seven days' rations. 他们得到了7天的给养。
• The soldiers complained that they were getting short rations. 士兵们抱怨他们得到的配给不够数。

7 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 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。

9 sufficiently   

adv.足够地，充分地

参考例句：

• It turned out he had not insured the house sufficiently.原来他没有给房屋投足保险。
• The new policy was sufficiently elastic to accommodate both views.新政策充分灵活地适用两种观点。

10 armistice   

n.休战，停战协定

参考例句：

• The two nations signed an armistice.两国签署了停火协议。
• The Italian armistice is nothing but a clumsy trap.意大利的停战不过是一个笨拙的陷阱。