VOA标准英语2010年-US Defense Department Backs Quick Rati

US President Barack Obama, left, shake hands with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev, right, after signing the newly completed "New START" treaty reducing long-range nuclear weapons at the Prague Castle in Prague, Czech Republic, 8 Apr 2010

Top Pentagon officials on Wednesday urged U.S. lawmakers to ratify¹ a new nuclear weapons treaty with Russia. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitri Medvedev signed the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty last April in Prague, to replace a 1991 treaty between their two countries.

Defense² Department Undersecretary James Miller³ told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the new START treaty will not limit the U.S. from developing a missile defense system to guard against missile attacks by Iran, North Korea or any other country.

 

"The new START treaty does not constrain⁴ the United States from deploying⁵ the most effective missile defenses as possible nor does it add any additional cost or inconvenience. It enables this president and his successors to develop the missile defenses needed to defend the nation, our deployed⁶ forces abroad and our allies and partners from the threat of ballistic missile attacks," said Miller.

The treaty, if ratified⁷ by both sides, would reduce U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals⁸ by 30 percent, leaving each side with about 1,500 strategic nuclear weapons. But opposition⁹ Republican Party Senator James Risch expressed doubts. He asked Patrick O'Reilly, the director of the missile defense agency, if Russia believed that under the treaty the U.S. could not defend itself or its allies using certain missile defense systems. 

RISCH: "Would you agree with me that is what that unilateral statement says?"
O' REILLY: "My understanding of the statement is that we would not develop a ballistic missile systems to counter their strategic balance of forces with us. The treaty does not limit my ability to develop the most cost effective missile defense as possible."

The Pentagon officials also told lawmakers that the longer it takes Washington to ratify the new arms control treaty with Moscow, the greater the uncertainty¹⁰ with understanding Russia's strategic weapons systems.

 

1 ratify   

v.批准，认可，追认

参考例句：

• The heads of two governments met to ratify the peace treaty.两国政府首脑会晤批准和平条约。
• The agreement have to be ratify by the board.该协议必须由董事会批准。

2 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。

3 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

4 constrain   

vt.限制，约束；克制，抑制

参考例句：

• She tried to constrain herself from a cough in class.上课时她竭力忍住不咳嗽。
• The study will examine the factors which constrain local economic growth.这项研究将考查抑制当地经济发展的因素。

5 deploying   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
• Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。

6 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

7 ratified   

v.批准，签认（合约等）( ratify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The treaty was declared invalid because it had not been ratified. 条约没有得到批准，因此被宣布无效。
• The treaty was ratified by all the member states. 这个条约得到了所有成员国的批准。

8 arsenals   

n.兵工厂，军火库( arsenal的名词复数 )；任何事物的集成

参考例句：

• We possess-each of us-nuclear arsenals capable of annihilating humanity. 我们两国都拥有能够毁灭全人类的核武库。 来自辞典例句
• Arsenals are factories that produce weapons. 军工厂是生产武器的工厂。 来自互联网

9 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

10 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。