美国国家公共电台 NPR VX: The Nerve Agent Used To Kill Kim Jong Nam Is Rare And Deadly

 

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

There are fresh twists today in the apparent assassination¹ of the half-brother of North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un. The brother, Kim Jong Nam, died last week at an airport in Malaysia. Security footage showed that two women poisoned him. Now today, Malaysian authorities revealed it wasn't just any poison but a chemical weapon known as VX.

Joining me to discuss what to make of this is NPR science editor Geoff Brumfiel. Hey there, Geoff.

GEOFF BRUMFIEL, BYLINE²: Hi, there.

CORNISH: So start just by telling me, what is VX?

BRUMFIEL: Well, VX is a colorless, odorless liquid. It's about the consistency³ of motor oil, and it is extremely deadly. Less than a drop of this stuff on your skin - it'll absorb straight through, and within minutes, you'll start to feel headaches, nausea⁴, tightness in the chest. What it actually does is it disrupts signals between nerves and muscles. That ultimately leads to the paralysis⁵ in the muscles you use to breathe and you suffocate⁶. It's a nasty way to go.

CORNISH: How could you use something like that in an airport and have no one else be harmed?

BRUMFIEL: Well, this is the interesting thing about VX. It's a chemical weapon, and when you disperse⁷ it, you can hurt a lot of people. But in its liquid form, it's actually kind of safe, I guess you could say. That's because it's very stable. It doesn't sort of off-gas, so no one nearby can be exposed to it. And you can seal it in a bottle and transport it around, take it through airport security. It's very unlikely to go detected. So in a way, it's sort of the perfect weapon for assassinating⁸ a single person when it's used in a particular way.

CORNISH: Now, does the use of VX tell us anything about whether North Korea specifically was involved?

BRUMFIEL: Yeah because this is not just any poison. This is a chemical weapon that has been banned under the Chemical Weapons Convention. And most countries, you know, have vowed⁹ never to use it. North Korea is one of the few countries that hasn't signed up to the Chemical Weapons Convention. It's believed to have lots of chemical weapons, including VX. So if this use of VX is verified, that would kind of point the finger at the North Korean state in particular as a suspect in this crime.

CORNISH: In the meantime, what more have we learned about why North Korea would want Kim Jong Nam dead?

BRUMFIEL: This is a real mystery. There's not much evidence that this Kim brother was a particular threat. He lived most of his life outside of North Korea. He was a bit of a playboy. Now, there is a theory that China wanting Kim Jong Nam around in case something happened to Kim Jong Un, the current leader of North Korea, the idea being that Kim Jong Nam is part of the dynasty that has ruled North Korea and could be brought in if something happened or to prevent the collapse¹⁰ of the regime.

Kim Jong Un may not have liked that idea and may have wanted to try and head it off by getting rid of his half-brother. Certainly Kim Jong Un has assassinated¹¹ political rivals within North Korea. We know he's capable of it.

CORNISH: You know, we hear so much about North Korea whenever it tests a missile obviously or a nuclear weapon. Is there any connection between those stories and what happened in Malaysia?

BRUMFIEL: I think there is a way to think about these things all together. I think it's important not to take one's eye off the ball here. I mean the real threat here is North Korea's missile and nuclear program. They have been developing very rapidly. You know, North Korea now has ballistic missiles that pose a significant threat to some of the U.S.'s allies in the region. It's thought that soon they'll have an intercontinental ballistic missile that could reach anywhere inside the continental¹² United States.

And so I think it's important to understand that what we're looking at here is a regime that is increasingly isolated¹³, that is, you know, doing all sorts of things that are on the fringe of what the global community considers acceptable. And it's a dangerous situation.

CORNISH: That's NPR's science editor Geoff Brumfiel. Geoff, thanks so much.

BRUMFIEL: Thank you.

1 assassination   

n.暗杀；暗杀事件

参考例句：

• The assassination of the president brought matters to a head.总统遭暗杀使事态到了严重关头。
• Lincoln's assassination in 1865 shocked the whole nation.1865年，林肯遇刺事件震惊全美国。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 consistency   

n.一贯性，前后一致，稳定性；(液体的)浓度

参考例句：

• Your behaviour lacks consistency.你的行为缺乏一贯性。
• We appreciate the consistency and stability in China and in Chinese politics.我们赞赏中国及其政策的连续性和稳定性。

4 nausea   

n.作呕，恶心；极端的憎恶(或厌恶)

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕期常有恶心的现象。
• He experienced nausea after eating octopus.吃了章鱼后他感到恶心。

5 paralysis   

n.麻痹(症)；瘫痪(症)

参考例句：

• The paralysis affects his right leg and he can only walk with difficulty.他右腿瘫痪步履维艰。
• The paralysis affects his right leg and he can only walk with difficulty.他右腿瘫痪步履维艰。

6 suffocate   

vt.使窒息，使缺氧，阻碍；vi.窒息，窒息而亡，阻碍发展

参考例句：

• If you shut all the windows,I will suffocate.如果你把窗户全部关起来，我就会闷死。
• The stale air made us suffocate.浑浊的空气使我们感到窒息。

7 disperse   

vi.使分散；使消失；vt.分散；驱散

参考例句：

• The cattle were swinging their tails to disperse the flies.那些牛甩动着尾巴驱赶苍蝇。
• The children disperse for the holidays.孩子们放假了。

8 assassinating   

v.暗杀( assassinate的现在分词 )；中伤；诋毁；破坏

参考例句：

• They struck a blow for freedom by assassinating the colonial governor. 他们为了自由而奋力一博，暗杀了那位殖民地总督。 来自互联网

9 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。

10 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

11 assassinated   

v.暗杀( assassinate的过去式和过去分词 )；中伤；诋毁；破坏

参考例句：

• The prime minister was assassinated by extremists. 首相遭极端分子暗杀。
• Then, just two days later, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. 跟着在两天以后，肯尼迪总统在达拉斯被人暗杀。 来自辞典例句

12 continental   

adj.大陆的，大陆性的，欧洲大陆的

参考例句：

• A continental climate is different from an insular one.大陆性气候不同于岛屿气候。
• The most ancient parts of the continental crust are 4000 million years old.大陆地壳最古老的部分有40亿年历史。

13 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。