VOA常速英语:U.S. Will Defend Against North Korean Threat

The United States will defend itself and its allies from any threat from North Korea.
美国将保护本国及其盟国免受朝鲜的任何威胁。

Senior U.S. officials repeated that iron-clad position following North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s New Year’s Day claim that his country “has soared as a nuclear power” and is now in the last stages of preparing to test an intercontinental ballistic missile.
美国高级官员重申了坚定立场，针对朝鲜领导人金正恩在新年致辞中提到的，他的国家是“已经崛起的核强国”，现在正处于准备测试洲际弹道导弹的最后阶段。

White House spokesperson Josh Earnest pointed out that “there are radar facilities and antiballistic missile facilities that have been installed in places like Japan and Guam and in Alaska. There are naval vessels, ballistic missile defense ships that are patrolling the Pacific Ocean.”
白宫发言人乔希·欧内斯特指出，“我们在日本、关岛和阿拉斯加等地已经部署好了雷达和反弹道导弹设施。还有海军舰艇和弹道导弹防御舰在太平洋上巡逻。”

To address the threat from North Korea’s extended range SCUDs and No Dong medium-range ballistic missiles,the United States is also working with South Korea to install as quickly and efficiently as possible the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD system,aimed at defending against North Korean ballistic missile threats.
为了应对来自朝鲜的远程飞毛腿导弹和芦洞中程弹道导弹的威胁，美国还与韩国合作，力求快速而高效地安装末段高空区域防御系统，或称萨德反导系统，旨在防御朝鲜弹道导弹威胁。

In addition to the defenses that are in place to protect the United States and its allies,Mr. Earnest noted that “progress has been made in building important diplomatic support to apply pressure to the North Korean regime to limit their ability to continue to develop this program.”
除了为保护美国及其盟国而设立的防御外，欧内斯特先生指出，“我们已经取得了不少进展，建立起了重要的外交支持，向朝鲜政权施加压力，限制其继续发展导弹项目的能力。”

In November, the U.N. Security Council imposed new and expanded sanctions on North Korea, targeted at undermining Pyongyang’s ability to raise the hard currency it needs for its nuclear program.State Department Spokesperson John Kirby called the new sanctions “the most stringent” that have been imposed on North Korea in decades,and observed they show that “the international community is clearly galvanized as it hasn’t been before.”
11月，联合国安全理事会扩大了对朝鲜的制裁，目的是破坏平壤推进核计划所需的硬通货能力。国务院发言人约翰·柯比称，这是几十年来对朝鲜实施的“最严格”的新制裁，并观察到，这表明“国际社会显然已经开始以前没有过的行动”。

After a trilateral meeting in Washington January 5th with Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Shinsuke Sugiyama and South Korea’s First Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam,U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters the international community has sent a clear message that it “will not accept North Korea as a nuclear power.”
一月五日在华盛顿，在与日本外交部副部长杉山晋辅和韩国第一副外长林圣南举行三方会谈后，美国副国务卿安东尼·布林肯对记者表示，国际社会发出了一个明确的信号，“不会接受朝鲜的核强国地位”。

“Our cooperation together and with other countries in making sure that we have in place the best possible defenses is critical and that will remain going forward,” said Mr. Blinken.“At the same time it’s absolutely, vitally important that we exercise sustained, comprehensive pressure on North Korea to get it to stop these programs, to come back to the negotiating table, and to engage in good faith on denuclearization…and I believe as long as we sustain it and build on it, the pressure will have an effect.”
“要确保我们有最好的防御措施，与其他国家的合作至关重要，并要不断向前推进，”布林肯先生说道。“与此同时，尤为重要的是，我们要持续、全面地对朝鲜施压，使其停止核计划，重新回到谈判桌上，并对无核化表现出诚意......我相信，只要我们坚持不懈，压力总会奏效的。”