双语新闻：朝鲜的核威胁能力远超伊朗

英语自学网

　　North Korea Eclipses Iran As Nuclear-Arms Threat
        　　The twin nuclear crises the Obama administration faces in Asia and the Middle East underline a harsh reality for U.S. strategists: North Korea's weapons capabilities are far more advanced than Iran's.
        　　奥巴马政府在亚洲和中东面对的两场核危机凸显出摆在美国战略家面前的严酷现实：朝鲜的武器装备要远比伊朗的先进。
        　　Pyongyang, as a result of decades of covert atomic work, is close to mastering the technology to mount one of its estimated dozen nuclear warheads atop medium-range missiles that are capable of striking U.S. allies South Korea and Japan, American officials and international nuclear experts believe.
        　　美国官员和国际核专家认为，平壤在经过了数十年的秘密核武器研制后，目前接近掌握在可攻击美国盟友韩国和日本的中程导弹上携带核弹头的技术。外界估计朝鲜目前拥有十多枚核弹头。
        　　Iran, by comparison, has no atomic bombs in its military arsenal, nor the ability to deliver them, say U.S. and United Nations experts. Iran says its nuclear program is strictly for civilian purposes, although the Obama administration has charged Tehran with trying to develop nuclear weapons.
        　　美国和联合国(United Nations)专家说，相比之下，伊朗没有原子弹，也没有发射原子弹的能力。伊朗说，其核计划严格用于民用目的，不过奥巴马政府一直指控德黑兰试图研制核武器。
        　　'By many estimates, North Korea will have the ability to deliver nuclear weapons using long-range ballistic missiles to distant targets within four to five years,' said Evans Revere, a former senior State Department official who follows Korean affairs at the Brookings Institution. 'This will drastically change the security environment in Asia.'
        　　前美国国务院高级官员、目前在布鲁金斯学会(Brookings Institution)研究朝鲜问题的李维亚(Evans Revere)说，据很多人估计，四到五年内，朝鲜将有能力用远程弹道导弹向远距离目标发射核武器。这将极大地改变亚洲的安全格局。
        　　North Korea also is able to produce dozens more nuclear bombs by employing two separate programs to create weapons-grade fuel─plutonium and highly enriched uranium, said U.S. and U.N. officials.
        　　美国和联合国官员说，朝鲜通过其两个彼此独立的核项目可以生产出武器级核燃料口和高浓缩铀，这使得朝鲜能够再生产出几十枚核弹。
        　　Iran has so far only developed uranium-enrichment technology. The U.N. is concerned, though, that Tehran could begin separating plutonium from spent fuel produced by a nuclear reactor Iran is building in Arak.
        　　伊朗到目前为止仅开发了铀浓缩技术。但联合国担心，德黑兰有可能开始从其在阿拉卡(Arak)一座核反应堆的乏燃料中分离口。
        　　This gap between North Korea and Iran, which is widely recognized in Washington, is exposing what many Western diplomats and security analysts believe has been the U.S.'s muted response to Pyongyang's nuclear advances in recent years, as compared with Iran's.
        　　伊朗与朝鲜在核能力方面的差距在华盛顿得到了广泛承认。许多西方外交人士和安全分析人士认为，与美国对伊朗核项目的关注相比，美国对朝鲜近年来在核能力方面取得的进步一直未能作出强有力的回应。而伊朗与朝鲜在核能力上的差距正在暴露出这一点。