万花筒2008-02-23:北京回应美国打卫星事件

Beijing is asking Washington to provide more information about the destruction of a U.S. satellite. CNN's John Vause reports

Officials in Beijing have been choosing their words carefully, playing up their concern about any harm the satellite shoot-down may have done to outer space as well as other countries and demanding more information from the United States.  

China further requests that the U. S. fulfill¹ its international obligations in earnest and promptly² provide to the international community the necessary information and relevant data so that relevant countries can take precautions.  

But the Chinese conducted a successful test of a satellite-killing weapon just over a year ago, at the time, they were harshly criticized by a number of countries and the U. S. administration launched a formal diplomatic protest. 

And so today in the overseas edition of People's Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Party, there was a very blunt front-page editorial, accusing the U. S. of hypocrisy³ and of having dangerous space ambitions. 

Adding to all of this tension, earlier this month, both Russia and China had proposed a treaty to ban weapons in space, but that was rejected by Washington. On the satellite shoot-down, U. S. officials are pointing out that they announced their plans well ahead of time, whereas the Chinese test last year was conducted in secret, and they only fessed up once they were caught out by US intelligence.  

John Vause, CNN, Beijing.   

WORDS IN THE NEWS     

1. play up : phase verb

If you play up something, you emphasize it and try to make people believe that it is important.

2. hypocrisy : n-var disapproval⁴

If you accuse someone of hypocrisy, you mean that they pretend to have qualities, beliefs, or feelings that they do not really have.

 3. fess up

To recognize, often reluctantly, the reality or truth of……

1 fulfill   

vt.履行，实现，完成；满足，使满意

参考例句：

• If you make a promise you should fulfill it.如果你许诺了，你就要履行你的诺言。
• This company should be able to fulfill our requirements.这家公司应该能够满足我们的要求。

2 promptly   

adv.及时地，敏捷地

参考例句：

• He paid the money back promptly.他立即还了钱。
• She promptly seized the opportunity his absence gave her.她立即抓住了因他不在场给她创造的机会。

3 hypocrisy   

n.伪善，虚伪

参考例句：

• He railed against hypocrisy and greed.他痛斥伪善和贪婪的行为。
• He accused newspapers of hypocrisy in their treatment of the story.他指责了报纸在报道该新闻时的虚伪。

4 disapproval   

n.反对，不赞成

参考例句：

• The teacher made an outward show of disapproval.老师表面上表示不同意。
• They shouted their disapproval.他们喊叫表示反对。