VOA标准英语2008年-US Officials Visit North Korea to Arrange Possi
时间：2019-02-04 作者：英语课 分类：VOA标准英语2008年（五月）
Seoul
06 May 2008
A team of United States officials is visiting North Korea to survey the country's desperate food shortage. The visit is a possible prelude 1 to the United States supplying food aid. VOA Seoul Correspondent Kurt Achin has more.
The U.S. visit to North Korea comes amidst the country's dire 2 shortage of basic food staples 3.
South Korean Foreign Ministry 4 spokesman Moon Tae-young said Tuesday, the American envoys 5 are looking to help.
He points out that last year's massive flooding caused a poor harvest in North Korea. Also, a spike 6 in world grain prices means less grain is available, worldwide. He says the U.S. team has been assigned to assess conditions and discuss means of providing aid.
Warnings about the North Korean situation are coming from many sides. The United Nations World Food Program says the North's food production is likely to fall at least 40 percent short of the minimum its citizens need to survive.
Last week, the Washington-based Peterson Institute for International Economics warned the North is facing its most "precarious 7 situation" since a mid-1990s famine, when hundreds of thousands of people are believed to have died of starvation. The South Korean aid group "Good Friends" says rations 8 have been sharply reduced or eliminated, even in Pyongyang, among the usually privileged political elite 9.
Relations between the two Koreas have been chilled since the February inauguration 10 of conservative President Lee Myung-bak, who ended previous administration policies of unconditional 11 food aid. Mr. Lee has said humanitarian 12 aid from Seoul is contingent 13 on North Korean progress in eliminating its nuclear weapons.
In recent days, the Lee administration has softened 14 that stance, saying it will come forward with food aid, but only if North Korea formally requests it. Analysts 15 say North Korea might view doing so as a loss of face, after recent public declarations it could easily do without the South's handouts 16.
Multinational talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear weapons are expected to reconvene later this month. American officials may use that occasion to announce measures aimed at easing the North's food crisis.
- The prelude to the musical composition is very long.这首乐曲的序曲很长。
- The German invasion of Poland was a prelude to World War II.德国入侵波兰是第二次世界大战的序幕。
- There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
- We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。
- The anvil onto which the staples are pressed was not assemble correctly. 订书机上的铁砧安装错位。 来自辞典例句
- I'm trying to make an analysis of the staples of his talk. 我在试行分析他的谈话的要旨。 来自辞典例句
- 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。
- the routine tit for tat when countries expel each other's envoys 国家相互驱逐对方使节这种惯常的报复行动
- Marco Polo's travelogue mentions that Kublai Khan sent envoys to Malgache. 马可波罗游记中提到忽必烈曾派使节到马尔加什。
- The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
- They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。
- Our financial situation had become precarious.我们的财务状况已变得不稳定了。
- He earned a precarious living as an artist.作为一个艺术家，他过得是朝不保夕的生活。
- 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。
- The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
- We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。
- The inauguration of a President of the United States takes place on January 20.美国总统的就职典礼于一月二十日举行。
- Three celebrated tenors sang at the president's inauguration.3位著名的男高音歌手在总统就职仪式上演唱。
- The victorious army demanded unconditional surrender.胜方要求敌人无条件投降。
- My love for all my children is unconditional.我对自己所有孩子的爱都是无条件的。
- 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。
- The contingent marched in the direction of the Western Hills.队伍朝西山的方向前进。
- Whether or not we arrive on time is contingent on the weather.我们是否按时到达要视天气情况而定。
- His smile softened slightly. 他的微笑稍柔和了些。
- The ice cream softened and began to melt. 冰淇淋开始变软并开始融化。
- City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
- I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。