News Spotlight (2)

News Spotlight 1 (2)

North Korea says it will 1)reactivate nuclear facilities, which were frozen under an agreement with the United States in 1994. A statement from the official North Korean News Agency said the move was required for power generation in response to an American decision last month to suspend oil shipments. The South Korean government has called an emergency security meeting. 

According to a North Korean statement, issued through the country’s state-controlled news agency, the regime will immediately end a freeze of its nuclear program, because of a US-led decision to suspend oil shipments to the state. An unnamed foreign ministry 2 official was quoted as saying, “The authorities had no choice but to reactivate the program which was needed for power production because a key element of a nuclear accord with the US had not been honored.” Under a 1994 deal, the north was to receive 500,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil a year while an international 2)consortium built two safer, light-water reactors 3. In return, Pyongyang had agreed to 3)mothball its existing nuclear facilities.

The White House has described as “regrettable” the announcement by North Korea that it is reactivating nuclear power facilities. A White House spokesman said that the decision flewit in the face of North Korea” commitment to dismantle 4 its nuclear program.  Japan and South Korea have also voiced strong misgivings 5. In a statement, Seoul said it was concerned that lifting the nuclear freeze would increase tension on the Korean peninsula. The North Korean news agencies said the move was needed to generate power after the United States, Japan and South Korea decided 6 last month to suspend oil shipments. 

Opposition 7 leaders in Venezuela said a general strike against the government of President, Hugo Chavez, has now entered a phase of total resistance. The head of the largest labor 8 confederation said, the 4)stoppage, now in its eleventh day, would continue until Mr. Chavez resigned. Mr. Chavez is accused of economic mismanagement and authoritarian 9 rules. But he dismissed the allegations as a plot to topple him.

European Union leaders, meeting in Copenhagen, have agreed to start membership talks with Turkey two years from now, provided its political conditions meet EU 5)criteria 10.

European Union leaders have decided that Turkey will have to wait until December 2004 at the earliest before it’S invited to start talks on joining the EU, 6)dashing Turkey’s hopes of negotiation 11 next year. The decision emerged from a dinner at the EU summit in Copenhagen. It was announced by the Danish Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen.  

Rasmussen: We have made the following decision tonight. If the European Council in December 2004, on the basis of a report and a recommendation from the Commission, decides that Turkey fulfils the Copenhagen political criteria, the European Union will open accession negotiations 12 with Turkey. 

A BBC correspondent at the summit says that ten new members of the EU will have joined before any talks start, possibly complicating 13 the negotiations. And he says the decision will make it more difficult to reach a deal on reunifying Cyprus, which has been divided between the Greek Cypriot and the Turkish Cypriot communities since 1974.

The American Secretary of State, Colin Powell, has announced an initiative to spread democracy, education and free markets across the Middle East. Mr. Powell pledged twenty-nine million dollars towards the project, saying it was a way of broadening Washington’s approach to the region.

Colin Powell described this initiative as a way of broadening America’s approach to the Middle East. He said, “The spread of democracy and free markets around the world largely left the Middle East behind.” The Secretary of State painted a picture of economic stagnation 14 and unresponsive political systems. He criticized the 7)marginalization of women and the lack of educational opportunities for millions of girls and boys in the region. America’s answer is what it calls “The US-Middle East Partnership 15 Initiative”.  Twenty-nine million dollars will be spent on education, projects to expand political participation 16, and to encourage small businesses. 

The Ivory Coast army is making a second attempt at a recruiting drive after an attempt earlier this week was 8)swamped by people eager to sign up. On Tuesday, thousands of young people demonstrated outside the army headquarters in Abidjan, demanding the right to fight rebel groups. 

On the playing fields in the center of the Jandahn school there is an amazing sight.  Thousands of people are lined up to get their names on one side of the complex. On the other, thousands more men, naked, ready for a medical, queuing patiently to see if they will be one of the 3,000 accepted for the army. Since before dawn, people have been heading towards this 9)barracks in their thousands to join up. The army were overwhelmed when they began their recruitment program on Tuesday and had to delay it till today. Outside the doors of the barracks - outside the main gate - a huge, excited and angry crowd waiting to get in, are 10)hurling abuse at foreign journalists who approach.

An Arian-5 rocket, carrying two satellites, has crashed into the Atlantic just three minutes after taking off from French Guiana. A spokesman for the Arian’s consortium, Claude Sanchez, said the rocket had blasted off as planned but gone off course shortly after reaching an altitude of about 100 kilometers. Mr. Sanchez said that in such cases, the craft destroyed themselves automatically.

新闻报道

1 政治

朝鲜称，它将启封核设施，这些设施是在1994年与美国达成协议时被冻结的。朝鲜官方新闻机构发表一项声明说，此次行动是对上月美国决定延缓油船后因能源生产需求而作出的。韩国政府为此召开了一次紧急安全会议。

朝鲜一家国家新闻机构发表的声明中称，朝鲜将立即解除对核计划的冻结，因为以美国为首的国家作出延缓开往朝鲜的油船的决议。一位不知名的外交部官员说，朝鲜官方别无选择，只得重新启动计划，以获得能源，因为朝鲜与美国达成的核协议的一个关键因素没有得到贯彻。根据1994年的协议，朝鲜每年可收到五十万桶重油，同时，一国际财团则允诺为朝鲜建立两个更安全的轻水反应堆。作为交换，平壤方面同意封存它已有的核设施。

美国对朝鲜重新启动核设施的宣告表示遗憾。一位白宫发言人说，这个决定是对朝鲜所作的废止核计划的承诺的公然对抗。日本和韩国也都表示强烈担忧。在一项声明中，汉城方面表示担忧说，核解冻计划将使朝鲜半岛的局势更加紧张。而朝鲜新闻机构则说，此项举措是在美国、日本和韩国上月决定延缓油船后为获得能源而不得不实行的。

2 政治

委内瑞拉反对党领袖称，一次反对乌戈·查韦斯总统的总罢工现在已经上升到一个完全抵抗的阶段。最大的劳动联盟领导人称，总罢工已经持续了十一天，并将继续持续下去，直到查韦斯总统辞职。查韦斯总统被指控经济管理不善，并有独裁行为。但查韦斯本人表示，这些言论是妄图倾覆他的阴谋。

3 政治

在哥本哈根开会的欧盟领导人决定，如果土耳其的政治条件符合欧盟的标准，欧盟将在两年后与土耳其展开加入欧盟的会谈。

欧盟领导人决定，土耳其最早必须等到2004年十二月才会被邀请参加加入欧盟的会谈，这一决定使得土耳其明年(2003年)开始谈判的希望落空。这一决定是于欧盟哥本哈根峰会的一次晚餐会上做出的，由丹麦首相安诺斯·福格·拉斯穆森宣布。

拉斯穆森∶我们今晚做出了以下决定：如果2004年十二月，欧洲理事会在收到委员会的报告和推荐书后，认为土耳其达到哥本哈根政治标准，欧盟将就土耳其加入的问题与其展开谈判。

高峰会上一名英国广播公司的记者说，欧盟的十名新成员将不展开任何会谈而直接加入欧盟，这也许使谈判变得更复杂。他还说，这个决定将使为统一塞浦路斯而达成一项协议的进程变得更加困难，塞浦路斯是在1974年分裂为希腊塞浦路斯人和土耳其塞浦路斯人两大阵营的。

4 经济

美国国务卿柯林·鲍威尔宣布将在中东地区一带传播民主、教育和自由市场观念。鲍威尔保证这项计划将获得两千九百万美元的资金，并说通过这种方式来将美国理念扩展到这些地区。

柯林·鲍威尔认为此举可将美国理念扩展到这些地区。他说，全球的民主化和自由市场化已将中东地区远远抛在了后面。鲍威尔描述了经济停滞和反应迟钝的政治机构，批评了这些地区对妇女的排斥以及成百万的少男少女缺乏受教育机会的状况。美国的回答是它所谓的“美国--中东合作意向”。 两千九百万美元的资金将被用在发展教育、扩大政治参与以及鼓励小型企业的计划上。

5 军事

象牙海岸军队在本周早些时候发起一次征兵行动后，又发起了第二次征募行动，前来报名的人人潮汹涌，多不可数。星期二，成千上万的年轻人来到阿比让军队总部，要求与叛军作战。

在贾单学校的体育场中心的一幅景象令人感到惊讶。在房屋的一边，成千上万的人排队报名。而另一边，更多的成千上万的男子赤裸着身体，准备接受体格检查，耐心地排队等候看自己能否成为军队即将招募的三千士兵中的一员。从拂晓开始，成千上万的人就陆续来到这座兵营，要求参军。军队在星期二开始征兵时被人潮淹没，并不得不延期至今。在军营的大门外--一大群兴奋而愤怒的人等着进去，而对前来的外国记者恶言相向。

6 科技

一艘载有两颗人造卫星的阿里乌斯五号火箭在法属圭亚那起飞后仅三分钟就坠入大西洋。阿里乌斯组织的一个发言人克劳德·桑切斯说，火箭按计划点火升空，但在到达海拔约一百公里的高空后不久就偏离了轨道。桑切斯说，在这种情况下，火箭会自动引爆。

注释:

1) reactivate [ri5Aktiveit] v. 使恢复活动

2) consortium [kEn5sC:tjEm] n. 协会；（为金融活动提供大量资金的）财团

3) mothball [5mCW7bC:l] v. 封存

4) stoppage [5stCpidV] n. （活动的）中止；停止

5) criteria [krai5tiEriE] n. criterion的复数形式，（进行批评、判断、检验或评论的）标准，准则

6) dash [dAF] v. 冲撞，猛击

7) marginalization [7mB:dVinElai5zeiFEn] n. 使脱离社会发展进程，使处于社会边缘；忽视，排斥

8) swamp [swCmp] v. 淹没；覆没

9) barrack [5bArEk] n. 兵营       

10) hurl 17 [hE:l] v. 猛投