国家地理:Explorer: Inside North Korea 解码北韩

1:45 AM, the 38th parallel, along the border of North and South Korea. The 148-mile-long border is the most heavily militarized in the world. This joint¹ South Korean-American platoon is on constant alert for infiltrators from the North. Behind these fences, North Korea has a million-man army, and now nuclear weapons, which they could use or possibly give away to terrorists. The soldiers can monitor every sound and movement close to the border, but what makes this place so dangerous is the uncertainty² of what lies on the other side of the divide.

North Korea is one of the most secretive countries on Earth. It's regarded as an intelligence black hole. But we know some basic facts. North Korea is roughly the size of Mississippi. It has 23 million people, a showcase capital Pyongyang, and is completely controlled by Kim Jong-il. The Dear Leader is an absolute dictator, worshiped in a personality cult³ perhaps more extreme than any other in history.

"Kim Jong-il is the Son of God in North Korea. He is the state. The notion of questioning his ability to rule or what he does doesn't enter into things."

Everyone is trained from birth to love the Dear Leader. And no outside sources of information are allowed. Newspapers and television are controlled by the state. There is no Internet. Cell phones have been banned. And many don't even know a man has walked on the moon.

"There is no freedom. It's a country run in tyranny and dictatorship. I don't think anyone can understand North Korea until they experience it."

North Korea is known as the "hermit⁴ kingdom" because of its extreme isolation⁵ from the rest of the world. But on the other side of Asia, one man is literally⁶ planning to bring light to the darkness of North Korea. Nepalese eye surgeon Dr. Sanduk Ruit travels the world setting up eye clinics in developing countries. Dubbed⁷ "a miracle doctor" by the media, Ruit trains local doctors in inexpensive and effective treatments for cataracts⁸. North Korea may be his biggest challenge yet. Thousands of people go blind due to a lack of even the most basic medical facilities.

"The annual number of surgeries performed is just, just very little, and the blindness magnitude is one of the highest in the world."

Ruit plans to travel from Nepal to North Korea to do more than 1,000 surgeries in less than 10 days. His mission is purely⁹ humanitarian¹⁰. What the North Koreans don't know is that our camera crew is going with him.

"So what do you think of the cameras so far, Dr. Ruit?"

"I think it's big."

"You think these cameras are big?"

Our camera crew is posing as members of Dr. Ruit's medical team. We are going to document his work and show the world what life is like inside North Korea. (Send it back. Be sure you won't be in trouble.) This meeting in a Katmandu hotel room will be the last time our team can converse¹¹ in private.

"So there would be a North Korean man traveling with us the entire time (yes) from here to Pyongyang."

"From here to Pyongyang and back to Katmandu."

infiltrator: someone who takes up a position surreptitiously for the purpose of espionage

cataract: opacity of the lens or capsule of the eye, causing impairment of vision or blindness

1 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

2 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

3 cult   

n.异教，邪教；时尚，狂热的崇拜

参考例句：

• Her books aren't bestsellers,but they have a certain cult following.她的书算不上畅销书，但有一定的崇拜者。
• The cult of sun worship is probably the most primitive one.太阳崇拜仪式或许是最为原始的一种。

4 hermit   

n.隐士，修道者；隐居

参考例句：

• He became a hermit after he was dismissed from office.他被解职后成了隐士。
• Chinese ancient landscape poetry was in natural connections with hermit culture.中国古代山水诗与隐士文化有着天然联系。

5 isolation   

n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离

参考例句：

• The millionaire lived in complete isolation from the outside world.这位富翁过着与世隔绝的生活。
• He retired and lived in relative isolation.他退休后，生活比较孤寂。

6 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

7 dubbed   

v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制

参考例句：

• Mathematics was once dubbed the handmaiden of the sciences. 数学曾一度被视为各门科学的基础。
• Is the movie dubbed or does it have subtitles? 这部电影是配音的还是打字幕的？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 cataracts   

n.大瀑布( cataract的名词复数 )；白内障

参考例句：

• The rotor cataracts water over the top of the machines. 回转轮将水从机器顶上注入。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Cataracts of rain flooded the streets. 倾盆大雨弄得街道淹水。 来自辞典例句

9 purely   

adv.纯粹地，完全地

参考例句：

• I helped him purely and simply out of friendship.我帮他纯粹是出于友情。
• This disproves the theory that children are purely imitative.这证明认为儿童只会单纯地模仿的理论是站不住脚的。

10 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• 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。

11 converse   

vi.谈话，谈天，闲聊；adv.相反的，相反

参考例句：

• He can converse in three languages.他可以用3种语言谈话。
• I wanted to appear friendly and approachable but I think I gave the converse impression.我想显得友好、平易近人些,却发觉给人的印象恰恰相反。