VOA标准英语2009年-US, China Pledge to Increase Economic, Pol

An unprecedented¹ two-day dialogue of top U.S. and Chinese officials ended in Washington Tuesday with pledges by the two governments to work more closely together on political, economic and environmental issues. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said China shares U.S. concerns about the prospect² of a nuclear-armed Iran.
　
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (r) and China's State Councilor Dai Bingguo at the State Department in Washington, 28 Jul 2009

The meeting, bringing together Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Treasury³ Secretary Timothy Geithner and their Chinese counterparts was dominated by the economic track, and the need for the two powers to coordinate⁴ efforts to overcome the global economic crisis and restore stability.

But Clinton, at a closing news conference, said she and Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo, the Beijing government's ranking foreign affairs adviser⁵, covered shared concerns about the North Korean and Iranian nuclear programs and that China is no less troubled than the United States about the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran.

"China shares our concerns about Iran becoming a nuclear weapons state," said Hillary Clinton. "The potential for de-stabilizing the Middle East and Gulf⁶ is viewed similarly by the Chinese as it is by us, if Iran, in its pursuit, triggers an arms race And we had some very useful exchanges of information there."

On the economic side, Treasury Secretary Geithner said his Chinese interlocutor - Vice⁷ Premier⁸ Wang Qishan - promised that Beijing would step up domestic economic demand so that its recovery from the global downturn would be less dependent on exports - to the United States and elsewhere.

He said the United States, in turn, would move to assuage⁹ Chinese concerns by reducing its huge budget deficits¹¹ as soon as economic conditions permit, to help shore up the dollar and protect the value of China's vast investments in the United States.

"As we move to raise private savings¹² in the United States, as we move to bring down our fiscal¹³ deficit¹⁰ in the future, as we move to put in place a more stable, more resilient financial system in the United States, we need to see actions in China, and other countries, to shift the source of growth to domestic demand," said Timothy Geithner. "Those are necessary complements¹⁴. They have to work together. And I think that's the most important strategic achievement here."

Treasury chief Geithner and Vice Premier Wang said the two countries would maintain economic stimulus¹⁵ efforts until recovery becomes evident. They gave no specifics about how the two governments intend to meet their commitments to rebalance their economies after recovery, and also avoided mention of sharp differences over currency valuations.

But earlier Tuesday, Vice Premier Wang warned the Obama administration against letting the dollar's value slide too far - saying that as a major reserve-currency nation, the United States should properly balance and properly handle the impact of the dollar supply on the world economy.

China, running huge surpluses in trade with the United States, is the largest single investor¹⁶ in U.S. Treasury bonds -more than $1 trillion worth. U.S. officials have said the trade imbalance is partly due to an artificially low valuation of China's currency, though Geithner avoided mention of that Tuesday.

The two sides signed a memorandum¹⁷ of understanding to boost cooperation on combating climate change, and pledged their support for free trade and a successful conclusion of the Doha round of world trade negotiations¹⁸.

Chinese State Councilor Dai said the dialogue, and the China trip planned by President Obama later this year, will be seen in retrospect¹⁹ as historic milestones²⁰ in the bilateral²¹ relationship.

1 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

2 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

3 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

4 coordinate   

adj.同等的，协调的；n.同等者；vt.协作，协调

参考例句：

• You must coordinate what you said with what you did.你必须使你的言行一致。
• Maybe we can coordinate the relation of them.或许我们可以调和他们之间的关系。

5 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

6 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

7 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

8 premier   

adj.首要的；n.总理，首相

参考例句：

• The Irish Premier is paying an official visit to Britain.爱尔兰总理正在对英国进行正式访问。
• He requested that the premier grant him an internview.他要求那位总理接见他一次。

9 assuage   

v.缓和，减轻，镇定

参考例句：

• The medicine is used to assuage pain.这种药用来止痛。
• Your messages of cheer should assuage her suffering.你带来的这些振奋人心的消息一定能减轻她的痛苦。

10 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

11 deficits   

n.不足额( deficit的名词复数 )；赤字；亏空；亏损

参考例句：

• The Ministry of Finance consistently overestimated its budget deficits. 财政部一贯高估预算赤字。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Many of the world's farmers are also incurring economic deficits. 世界上许多农民还在遭受经济上的亏损。 来自辞典例句

12 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

13 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

14 complements   

补充( complement的名词复数 )； 补足语； 补充物； 补集（数）

参考例句：

• His business skill complements her flair for design. 他的经营技巧和她的设计才能相辅相成。
• The isoseismal maps are valuable complements to the instrumental records. 等震线图是仪器记录有价值的补充资料。

15 stimulus   

n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物

参考例句：

• Regard each failure as a stimulus to further efforts.把每次失利看成对进一步努力的激励。
• Light is a stimulus to growth in plants.光是促进植物生长的一个因素。

16 investor   

n.投资者，投资人

参考例句：

• My nephew is a cautious investor.我侄子是个小心谨慎的投资者。
• The investor believes that his investment will pay off handsomely soon.这个投资者相信他的投资不久会有相当大的收益。

17 memorandum   

n.备忘录，便笺

参考例句：

• The memorandum was dated 23 August,2008.备忘录上注明的日期是2008年8月23日。
• The Secretary notes down the date of the meeting in her memorandum book.秘书把会议日期都写在记事本上。

18 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

19 retrospect   

n.回顾，追溯；v.回顾，回想，追溯

参考例句：

• One's school life seems happier in retrospect than in reality.学校生活回忆起来显得比实际上要快乐。
• In retrospect,it's easy to see why we were wrong.回顾过去就很容易明白我们的错处了。

20 milestones   

n.重要事件( milestone的名词复数 )；重要阶段；转折点；里程碑

参考例句：

• Several important milestones in foreign policy have been passed by this Congress and they can be chalked up as major accomplishments. 这次代表大会通过了对外政策中几起划时代的事件，并且它们可作为主要成就记录下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Dale: I really envy your milestones over the last few years, Don. 我真的很羡慕你在过去几年中所建立的丰功伟绩。 来自互联网

21 bilateral   

adj.双方的，两边的，两侧的

参考例句：

• They have been negotiating a bilateral trade deal.他们一直在商谈一项双边贸易协定。
• There was a wide gap between the views of the two statesmen on the bilateral cooperation.对双方合作的问题，两位政治家各自所持的看法差距甚大。