2006年VOA标准英语-US Official Hopeful Indian Nuclear Deal Will Pa

By Anjana Pasricha
New Delhi
07 December 2006

U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns has expressed hopes that a civilian¹ nuclear-cooperation deal with India will be passed soon by the U.S. Congress. Anjana Pasricha reports from New Delhi, where Mr. Burns has met senior Indian officials in connection with the landmark² deal.

Nicholas Burns and Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon in New Delhi, 7 Dec 2006

Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns says he has not seen a final version of the civilian nuclear bill that is expected to be voted on by both houses of Congress soon, but is confident of a positive outcome.

The House and the Senate have passed different versions of the legislation and are expected to reconcile their differences to give final approval to the bill by the end of the week.

The agreement, if passed, would end a three-decade ban on nuclear-technology exchanges and allow India to buy U.S. nuclear fuel and reactors³.

Burns told reporters in New Delhi, he is confident the final version of the legislation will be acceptable to India.

"We anticipate a very supportive bill," he said. "The United States intends to meet all the commitments that we made to the Indian government on July 18, 2005 and March 2, 2006, and that includes the commitments we made on fuel assurances. We believe this bill will be within the parameters⁴ as I said of the two agreements, and therefore we will welcome the bill I am sure."

Burns came to India in an effort to calm concerns in New Delhi that some of the language in the legislation would run counter to agreements reached by President Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

India has opposed provisions meant to ensure the deal does not advance its weapons program.

New Delhi has also opposed any suggestion that the deal should be subject to annual presidential certification or be explicitly⁵ linked to its cooperation in international efforts to prevent Iran developing a nuclear-weapons program.

Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon said New Delhi would wait to see the final version of the bill before commenting on whether it conforms to the agreement between the leaders of the two countries.

1 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

2 landmark   

n.陆标，划时代的事，地界标

参考例句：

• The Russian Revolution represents a landmark in world history.俄国革命是世界历史上的一个里程碑。
• The tower was once a landmark for ships.这座塔曾是船只的陆标。

3 reactors   

起反应的人( reactor的名词复数 )； 反应装置； 原子炉； 核反应堆

参考例句：

• The TMI nuclear facility has two reactors. 三哩岛核设施有两个反应堆。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• The earliest production reactors necessarily used normal uranium as fuel. 最早为生产用的反应堆，必须使用普通铀作为燃料。

4 parameters   

因素，特征； 界限； （限定性的）因素( parameter的名词复数 )； 参量； 参项； 决定因素

参考例句：

• We have to work within the parameters of time. 我们的工作受时间所限。
• See parameters.cpp for a compilable example. This is part of the Spirit distribution. 可编译例子见parameters.cpp.这是Spirit分发包的组成部分。

5 explicitly   

ad.明确地，显然地

参考例句：

• The plan does not explicitly endorse the private ownership of land. 该计划没有明确地支持土地私有制。
• SARA amended section 113 to provide explicitly for a right to contribution. 《最高基金修正与再授权法案》修正了第123条，清楚地规定了分配权。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法