VOA标准英语2010年-Iran Threatens to Produce Own Nuclear

Iran's president says his country is resolved to produce its own highly enriched uranium if the West is unwilling¹ to accept Iran's counter-proposal to a U.N. deal worked out last November.

After presenting his his budget proposals to parliament, Iran President Mahmud Ahmadinejad spoke² to journalists about Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
 
The Fars News Agency reported President Ahmadinejad said he would have "good news", next month, about Iran's domestic production of 20-percent high-grade nuclear fuel, a long-standing bone of contention³ between Tehran and the West:

He says that on the anniversary of the Iranian revolution we will inform people of this scientific development in order to give pride to the Iranian nation as well as free people across the world.

Iran analyst⁴ Mehrdad Khonsari of the London-based Center for Arab and Iranian Studies thinks Mr. Ahmadinejad is trying to appeal to Iranian's sense of nationalism in portraying⁵ the alleged⁶ successes of Tehran's nuclear program and is trying to divert domestic attention away from Iran's economic and political woes⁷:

"Ahmadinejad tries to put a spin that the Iranian people are unified⁸ in their support for the nuclear program, but I do not believe that is the case, because the Iranian people do not know what it entails," he said.  "And now that domestic troubles have spread, the cost of the nuclear program and the potential imposition of more sanctions on an already desperate economic situation puts everything in a different light. Ahmadinejad's aim is diversion, but how successful that ploy⁹ is, is another matter," he added.

Iranian technicians, work with foreign colleagues at the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, just outside the southern port city of Bushehr (File).

The West offered Iran a draft nuclear deal under the International Atomic Energy Agency last November.  It calls for Iran to trade about 80 percent of its domestically produced low-grade uranium for more highly enriched nuclear fuel from France and Russia.

Iran presented a counter-proposal late last year under which it would trade its low-grade uranium for the more highly enriched variety, but only on its soil, and not all at one time.  Iran has given Western powers until the end of January to accept its counter-proposal. 

Iranian officials have repeatedly insisted their nuclear program is for peaceful, civilian¹⁰ purposes, but the West suspects Tehran is working to produce atomic weapons.

Secretary of State Hilary Clinton recently warned Tehran the international community will "not back down" in the face of its defiant¹¹ refusal to accept the IAEA draft nuclear deal.  Western powers are discussing possible new economic sanctions on Tehran.

1 unwilling   

adj.不情愿的

参考例句：

• The natives were unwilling to be bent by colonial power.土著居民不愿受殖民势力的摆布。
• His tightfisted employer was unwilling to give him a raise.他那吝啬的雇主不肯给他加薪。

2 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。

3 contention   

n.争论，争辩，论战；论点，主张

参考例句：

• The pay increase is the key point of contention. 加薪是争论的焦点。
• The real bone of contention,as you know,is money.你知道，争论的真正焦点是钱的问题。

4 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

5 portraying   

v.画像( portray的现在分词 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• The artist has succeeded in portraying my father to the life. 那位画家把我的父亲画得惟妙惟肖。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Ding Ling was good at portraying figures through careful and refined description of human psychology. 《莎菲女士的日记》是丁玲的成名作，曾引起强烈的社会反响。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

6 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

7 woes   

困境( woe的名词复数 )； 悲伤； 我好苦哇； 某人就要倒霉

参考例句：

• Thanks for listening to my woes. 谢谢您听我诉说不幸的遭遇。
• She has cried the blues about its financial woes. 对于经济的困难她叫苦不迭。

8 unified   

(unify 的过去式和过去分词)； 统一的； 统一标准的； 一元化的

参考例句：

• The teacher unified the answer of her pupil with hers. 老师核对了学生的答案。
• The First Emperor of Qin unified China in 221 B.C. 秦始皇于公元前221年统一中国。

9 ploy   

n.花招，手段

参考例句：

• I think this is just a government ploy to deceive the public.我认为这只是政府欺骗公众的手段。
• Christmas should be a time of excitement and wonder,not a cynical marketing ploy.圣诞节应该是兴奋和美妙的时刻，而不该是一种肆无忌惮的营销策略。

10 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

11 defiant   

adj.无礼的，挑战的

参考例句：

• With a last defiant gesture,they sang a revolutionary song as they were led away to prison.他们被带走投入监狱时，仍以最后的反抗姿态唱起了一支革命歌曲。
• He assumed a defiant attitude toward his employer.他对雇主采取挑衅的态度。