English Quiz 150

(English Quiz 150)

1. Gibes from Clintonites over the recent deal are to be expected. But criticism has come from the right as well as the left. John Bolton, Bush's former ambassador to the U.N. and his lead negotiator in the early rounds of the six-party talks, told CNN the U.S. has sent a perilous signal to proliferators that they'll be rewarded for bad behavior. "It's a bad deal," Bolton declared. State Department officials deny they've let North Korea off the hook. "He's just wrong," Rice sniffed in response to Bolton's criticisms. The Administration argues that their deal is much stronger than the one negotiated in '94 because it effectively isolates Kim. The Agreed Framework was bilateral, the argument goes, whereas this time North Korea's neighbors—including its closest ally and major benefactor, China—are signatories to the deal, which should force Pyongyang to keep its promises and continue to bargain in good faith. The Chinese were infuriated by Kim's October nuclear blast; President Hu Jintao had publicly warned against such a test. This "deal has muscle," argues Michael Green, a former NSC adviser on East Asian affairs in the Bush Administration, "because the Chinese have been very unhappy with the North's provocations."
Q: 試翻 "Gibes from Clintonites ... as well as the left."

2. Most of the deal's critics, in fact, concede that it is at least better than the status quo: a North Korea bent on producing more weapons. Former Clinton negotiator Dan Poneman likened the latest agreement to putting a "tourniquet" on the plutonium program. If the Yongbyon reactor is shut down, the North's ability to make more plutonium-fueled nukes is crippled. And although Pyongyang has not agreed to dismantle its nuclear program, a path for further negotiations has been set. This is likely the best deal the U.S. could get right now, and the fact that Bush's team took it means "they have come to face reality," says former NSC adviser Samore, rather than holding out for greater concessions that seemed increasingly unfeasible.
Q: 試翻 "This is likely ... increasingly unfeasible."

3. In two months, Rice and other foreign ministers will gather in Beijing to assess whether both sides have lived up to their initial promises. If they have, Rice says she will meet face-to-face with her North Korean counterpart for the first time during Bush's presidency. That could set the stage for historic discussions about normalizing relations between two implacable enemies. Indeed, the Administration's rhetoric about seeking a sweeping solution to the North Korea nuclear quagmire—with regime change as one of its options—has faded. Instead, the U.S. now seems willing to take a more modest, measured approach in pursuit of the ultimate goal of a denuclearized North. The first step was to halt the forward progress of Kim's nuclear program. It will be harder getting him to reverse course.
Q: 試翻 "That could set the stage ... between two implacable enemies."