VOA常速英语2007-US Defense Secretary Concerned About Slow US Arm

By Al Pessin
Santiago
04 October 2007

U.S. Defense¹ Secretary Robert Gates has expressed concern that the slow process of approval for U.S. arms sales is forcing some countries, including Iraq, to buy weapons elsewhere. VOA's Al Pessin reports from Santiago, Chile, where Secretary Gates is visiting.

Frustration² over the slow approval process resulted in a $100 million Iraqi arms purchase from China, announced in Washington Wednesday by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani. The light weapons are for Iraq's police forces. Secretary Gates says that causes him some concern.

"We have been concerned that our process is taking too long. On the other hand, the first request we received from the Iraqis for weapons was in January. We have already delivered over $600 million worth of weapons," he said.

Secretary Gates says another two-to-three-billion dollars worth of Iraqi purchases are in the process of being approved. The secretary says he is not particularly concerned that the Iraqi police purchase went to China, but he says the United States needs to improve its Foreign Military Sales Program for all its customers.

"This is an issue that we have to look into and see what we can do in the United States to be more responsive and to be able to react more quickly to the requirements of our friends," said Gates.

The secretary said the issue even came up during his talks with Chilean Defense Minister Jose Goni.

The two leaders reported they also discussed ways to broaden³ the already strong U.S.-Chilean defense relationship, including some advanced training for Chilean troops.

"Some of the areas that we are looking at are further exchanges between our military academies and educational institutions," said Goni. "We are looking at further cooperation on demining. We are looking at further exercises together. There is an interest in some specialized⁴ kinds of training on the part of the Chileans that we are going to look into."

Secretary Gates said he and Minister Goni also discussed the possibility of expanding Chile's international peacekeeping operations in what he called "new and different ways." But Goni expressed some reluctance⁵ to expand Chile's peacekeeping operations beyond their current scope⁶, which includes more than 500 troops in Haiti and smaller numbers in the Balkans and elsewhere.

The minister said Chile is proud of its peacekeeping reputation, and does not want to expand into areas where it may not be able to perform at a high level.

1 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

2 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

3 broaden   

v.放宽，变宽，扩大

参考例句：

• We broaden in experiences by traveling.旅行增长我们的经验。
• Let's broaden out the discussion to talk about education as a whole.我们来扩大一下讨论范围，全面谈谈教育问题。

4 specialized   

adj.专门的，专业化的

参考例句：

• There are many specialized agencies in the United Nations.联合国有许多专门机构。
• These tools are very specialized.这些是专用工具。

5 reluctance   

n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿

参考例句：

• The police released Andrew with reluctance.警方勉强把安德鲁放走了。
• He showed the greatest reluctance to make a reply.他表示很不愿意答复。

6 scope   

n.（处理、研究事物的）范围，余地，机会

参考例句：

• There is limited scope for creativity in my job.我的工作中发挥创造力的空间有限。
• There is little scope for initiative in this job.这工作几乎没有发挥主动性的余地。