时间:2019-01-31 作者:英语课 分类:VOA常速英语2008年(二月)


英语课
By Kurt Achin
Seoul
26 February 2008



North Koreans applauded the historic first performance in their capital by a U.S. symphony orchestra. VOA Seoul Correspondent Kurt Achin looks at an event some call a watershed 1 in thawing 2 chilled ties between the two countries.


Members of the New York Philharmonic brought the North Korean audience to their feet from the first few notes, when they played the communist state's anthem 3.


Then, they moved on to what many view as a historic first; the orchestra played the U.S. national anthem, the Star Spangled Banner, as the event was broadcast live to television and radio audiences all over North Korea.


North Korean government propaganda has always portrayed 4 the United States as a hostile aggressor. The orchestra's visit is being widely described as a form of music diplomacy 5, with similarities to ping-pong diplomacy opened by the Nixon administration toward China in the 1970s.


After playing Czech composer Antonin Dvorak's "New World Symphony", Philharmonic Conductor Lorin Maazel used humor to introduce a performance of George Gershwin's "An American in Paris."


"Someday a composer may write a work entitled 'Americans in Pyongyang," said Maazel.


North Korean leader Kim Jong Il did not attend the performance. Other senior North Korean officials were in the audience.


The repertoire 6 concluded with an arrangement of Arirang - a Korean folk song that doubles as a sort of unofficial national anthem in both North and South Korea.


Experts point out that much has changed in North Korea since it began dramatically increasing contacts with South Korea, beginning with a summit in 2000. They say the country is not as isolated 7 as it once was, and events like the Philharmonic performance make vital inroads in opening the North even further.


But Brian Myers, a specialist in North Korean official propaganda at South Korea's Dongseo University, says the concert was more about giving Americans an illusion of rapprochement than changing North Korea. He points out that months after the event was confirmed, Pyongyang's official media still called for a "blood reckoning" with the United States.


Myers says Kim Jong Il needs anti-American sentiment to shift the blame for the North's extreme poverty, caused by decades of economic mismanagement.


"If he surrenders his anti-Americanism he simply puts himself in the position of being somebody who is simply directing the distribution of aid from overseas, and that is not a charismatic position for a leader to be in," explained Myers. "And, it eliminates all reason for North Korea to exist as a separate state."


South Korea's Foreign Ministry 8 issued a statement praising the concert as a chance to improve mutual 9 understanding and trust between North Korea and the United States.




n.转折点,分水岭,分界线
  • Our marriage was at a watershed.我们的婚姻到了一个转折关头。
  • It forms the watershed between the two rivers.它成了两条河流的分水岭。
n.熔化,融化v.(气候)解冻( thaw的现在分词 );(态度、感情等)缓和;(冰、雪及冷冻食物)溶化;软化
  • The ice is thawing. 冰在融化。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
  • It had been snowing and thawing and the streets were sloppy. 天一直在下雪,雪又一直在融化,街上泥泞不堪。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
n.圣歌,赞美诗,颂歌
  • All those present were standing solemnly when the national anthem was played.奏国歌时全场肃立。
  • As he stood on the winner's rostrum,he sang the words of the national anthem.他站在冠军领奖台上,唱起了国歌。
v.画像( portray的过去式和过去分词 );描述;描绘;描画
  • Throughout the trial, he portrayed himself as the victim. 在审讯过程中,他始终把自己说成是受害者。
  • The author portrayed his father as a vicious drunkard. 作者把他父亲描绘成一个可恶的酒鬼。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
n.外交;外交手腕,交际手腕
  • The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
  • This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。
n.(准备好演出的)节目,保留剧目;(计算机的)指令表,指令系统, <美>(某个人的)全部技能;清单,指令表
  • There is an extensive repertoire of music written for the flute.有很多供长笛演奏的曲目。
  • He has added considerably to his piano repertoire.他的钢琴演奏曲目大大增加了。
adj.与世隔绝的
  • His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
  • Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。
n.(政府的)部;牧师
  • They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
  • We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。
adj.相互的,彼此的;共同的,共有的
  • We must pull together for mutual interest.我们必须为相互的利益而通力合作。
  • Mutual interests tied us together.相互的利害关系把我们联系在一起。
学英语单词
absolute magnetic permeability
absolute-value sign
acceleration mechanism
aeolophilous
air vents
aldebarans
area of diagram
axial flow storage pump
backward-looking
basis of activity priority
battery-life
bead unseating test
beag
Bergshausen
Breton language
bronchial spasm
by preference
Calamitina
clearing summer-heat and damp
cokkagaisse (toppfjellet)
cole-tit
completion of a topological group
conflict theory
crew coordination
davil
deplantation
dialytic osteopathy
direct cases
directional dominance
disinflame
dominant personality
ea-d
engleimous
enzyme membrane
excess concentration technique
financial product
five of a kind
forswing
frame inheritance
germanosiloxane
Gorey
gravitational vector
groucher
hair root
half-cubic parabola
have one's weather eye open
heisler chart
Hydrocharitales
hyperkalaemia
inhibitory phase
knapsack compressed air type sprayer
lateral geniculate bodies
lethaline
lymphatic obstruction
material requirement planning system
meteorograph
mirror spectrophotometer
Moshenskoye
multigalactic
mustulent
myelauxe
native pears
natural theologies
nonlinear vibration
Nordic
oil tank pitch
orophotus ochreceus
orvietoes
ostrow mazowiecka
oxalinast
perigee
pluviillignosa
pretrigger
productivity rating index
propyl acetoacetate
put one's finger in one's eye
pygmy sperm whale
rank-order
reactor core baffle
Russian bath
sample on-line pretreatment
Sendai virus
shutdown amplifier
solutio per aes et libram
specularly
sprightliest
ss? kan
subcuboid
subsequent production
support staff
swimfin
switching centre
terminator record
triexifenidila
unintense
VHF radar
Villaseco de los Reyes
waithe
water-borne commerce
Wister, Owen
worm pulley block
yunans