VOA标准英语2009年-Russia Still Opposes US Plan for Missile S

Russia strongly opposes the U.S. plan to station a missile defense¹ system in Eastern Europe. That issue will be discussed during the upcoming summit meeting in Moscow between U.S. President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitri Medvedev.
　
Four Patriot² interceptor missiles like the one shown here can be fired from this mobile launcher between loadings

The Bush administration was wholeheartedly behind a proposed missile defense system made up of 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a radar³ facility in the Czech Republic. U.S. officials said the system was needed to defend Europe and the United States against potential threats from countries such as Iran.

However, Daryll Kimball, Executive Director of the Arms Control Association - a private research firm - says Iran does not pose an immediate⁴ danger.

"Iran does not have the capability⁵ of hitting Europe with a long-range missile," he said. "It does have some medium-range missile capabilities⁶ that could hit the eastern flanks of continental⁷ Europe."

"But we also have to keep in mind that Iran does not have a payload, particularly a nuclear payload that would make those missiles a real strategic threat. What's more, is that Iran also understands that if it were to strike another country, it opens itself up to retaliation⁸. And if it is going to be hitting any NATO country, that opens it up to retaliation from all of the NATO partners, including the United States," he added.

Kimball and other experts say the new Obama administration is not as committed to the missile defense shield as was President Bush.

"The Obama administration has been quite clear that it will pursue effective ballistic missile defenses," he said. "They have also said, however, that they are not going to move forward and deploy⁹ systems and spend billions of dollars on systems that have not been proven effective through flight testing."

"And the particular system that the Bush administration was rushing to try to deploy in Poland and the Czech Republic had not even been tested. It involves a two-stage interceptor that is scheduled to be flight tested three times in the next two and a half years - but that has not yet happened," he continued.

The missile defense shield will be discussed at the upcoming Moscow summit between presidents Obama and Medvedev. The Russians have been strongly critical of the system, saying it is targeted against Moscow - a view rejected by U.S. officials.

David Kramer was a former senior U.S. State Department official in the Bush administration. He is now with the German Marshall Fund in the United States.

"When I was working in the Bush administration, I can tell you definitively¹⁰ that that was not the design or plan or intent of putting 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar facility in the Czech Republic. That was designed to confront the possibility of a nuclear weapons threat emanating¹¹ from Iran. It had nothing to do with Russia," he said.

Robert Legvold from Columbia University says the Russians see the missile shield as the first step in a grandiose¹² plan.

"The Russians are not all that concerned about the immediate practical, military, strategic threat of these systems in central Europe, but see it as the camel's nose under the tent and believe that it's connected with other plans for deploying¹³ national missile defense in Alaska, potentially other missile sites in Europe that have been mentioned - toward the Balkans - conceivably a national missile or theater missile component¹⁴, ballistic missile component in the Far East - in Taiwan or other areas. So I think the Russians believe that this may be potentially a building block," he said.

David Kramer says there have been attempts to get Russia to participate in the missile defense shield.

"There is interest in cooperating with Russia in Armavir, in southern Russia as well as in Gabala, in Azerbaijan, with the radar facilities in both places," he said. "But Russia is insisting that cooperation there would obviate¹⁵ the need to establish sites in Poland and the Czech Republic. The Bush administration's policy was no, those could complement¹⁶ what we have in mind for Poland and the Czech Republic. The Obama administration's position on this is a little less clear."

Experts say it will be interesting to see if during the July Moscow summit presidents Obama and Medvedev will be able to narrow the differences and not allow the missile defense shield to be a major obstacle to better relations between Washington and Moscow.

 

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 patriot   

n.爱国者，爱国主义者

参考例句：

• He avowed himself a patriot.他自称自己是爱国者。
• He is a patriot who has won the admiration of the French already.他是一个已经赢得法国人敬仰的爱国者。

3 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。

4 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

5 capability   

n.能力；才能；(pl)可发展的能力或特性等

参考例句：

• She has the capability to become a very fine actress.她有潜力成为杰出演员。
• Organizing a whole department is beyond his capability.组织整个部门是他能力以外的事。

6 capabilities   

n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力

参考例句：

• He was somewhat pompous and had a high opinion of his own capabilities. 他有点自大，自视甚高。 来自辞典例句
• Some programmers use tabs to break complex product capabilities into smaller chunks. 一些程序员认为，标签可以将复杂的功能分为每个窗格一组简单的功能。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

7 continental   

adj.大陆的，大陆性的，欧洲大陆的

参考例句：

• A continental climate is different from an insular one.大陆性气候不同于岛屿气候。
• The most ancient parts of the continental crust are 4000 million years old.大陆地壳最古老的部分有40亿年历史。

8 retaliation   

n.报复，反击

参考例句：

• retaliation against UN workers 对联合国工作人员的报复
• He never said a single word in retaliation. 他从未说过一句反击的话。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 deploy   

v.（军）散开成战斗队形，布置，展开

参考例句：

• The infantry began to deploy at dawn.步兵黎明时开始进入战斗位置。
• The president said he had no intention of deploying ground troops.总统称并不打算部署地面部队。

10 definitively   

adv.决定性地，最后地

参考例句：

• None of the three super-states could be definitively conquered even by the other two in combination. 三个超级国家中的任何一国都不可能被任何两国的联盟所绝对打败。 来自英汉文学
• Therefore, nothing can ever be definitively proved with a photograph. 因此，没有什么可以明确了一张照片。 来自互联网

11 emanating   

v.从…处传出，传出( emanate的现在分词 )；产生，表现，显示

参考例句：

• Even so, there is a slight odour of potpourri emanating from Longfellow. 纵然如此，也还是可以闻到来自朗费罗的一种轻微的杂烩的味道。 来自辞典例句
• Many surface waters, particularly those emanating from swampy areas, are often colored to the extent. 许多地表水，特别是由沼泽地区流出的地表水常常染上一定程度的颜色。 来自辞典例句

12 grandiose   

adj.宏伟的，宏大的，堂皇的，铺张的

参考例句：

• His grandiose manner impressed those who met him for the first time.他那种夸大的举止给第一次遇见他的人留下了深刻的印象。
• As the fog vanished,a grandiose landscape unfolded before the tourists.雾气散去之后，一幅壮丽的景观展现在游客面前。

13 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。

14 component   

n.组成部分，成分，元件；adj.组成的，合成的

参考例句：

• Each component is carefully checked before assembly.每个零件在装配前都经过仔细检查。
• Blade and handle are the component parts of a knife.刀身和刀柄是一把刀的组成部分。

15 obviate   

v.除去，排除，避免，预防

参考例句：

• Improved public transportation would obviate the need tor everyone to have their own car.公共交通的改善消除了每人都要有车的必要性。
• This deferral would obviate pressure on the rouble exchange rate.这一延期将消除卢布汇率面临的压力。

16 complement   

n.补足物，船上的定员；补语；vt.补充，补足

参考例句：

• The two suggestions complement each other.这两条建议相互补充。
• They oppose each other also complement each other.它们相辅相成。