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2017考研英语拓展阅读：朝鲜驻伦敦大使馆外交官“叛逃”

　　The diplomat, Thae Yong Ho, had served as deputy to the ambassador and was responsible for promoting the image of his country to British audiences.

　　这名外交官名叫泰永和，在大使馆担任副大使一职，负责向英国民众宣传推动朝鲜的形象。

　　He had reportedly lived in the UK for 10 years with his wife and family and disappeared from his home in west London several weeks ago.

　　据报道，泰永和及其妻子与家人已经在英国居住了10年之久，而几周前，他在西伦敦地区失踪了。

　　Neither the Foreign Office nor the embassy has commented.

　　外交部和大使馆都尚未就此事作出评论。

　　"A DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] diplomat in London is going through procedures to seek asylum in a third country," a report in the South Korean newspaper JoongAng Ilbo said.

　　韩国报纸《中央日报》一篇报道说道：“一名朝鲜驻伦敦外交官正在通过程序向第三国寻求政治庇护。”

　　"The DPRK Embassy made belated attempts to figure out the diplomat’s whereabouts, but has failed," the paper’s report added, citing an anonymous source.

　　该份报纸还引述了一位匿名消息人士的话讲：“朝鲜大使姗姗来迟，想要找出泰永和的下落，但是他失败了。”

　　The paper said that in this context "a third country" means one that is neither North nor South Korea.

　　该份报纸还指出，本文所指“第三国”意味着既不是朝鲜也不是韩国。

　　Mr Thae’s main mission in London had been to spread the message that North Korea and its leadership under Kim Jong-un had been misreported and misunderstood.

　　泰永和在伦敦的主要任务是要宣传这样的信息--朝鲜、以及在金正恩带领下的领导管理一直被错误报道和错误理解。

　　In one speech, he argued that it was the British who had been brainwashed by their ruling class. "If the people in this country, or in America, knew that there is a country in the world, where there is a free education, free housing, free medical care, then they’d have second thoughts," he said, to laughter from his audience.

　　在一次演讲中，泰永和驳斥说，英国人才被他们的统治阶级洗脑了。为回应观众们的嘲笑，泰永和说道：“如果英国和美国的民众知道世界上有这样一个国家，那里有免费的教育、免费的住房和免费的医疗，那么他们也许就会有不同的想法看。”

　　"That is the reason why the mass media creates all those shocking, terrifying stories about my country."

　　“那也正是为什么大众媒体们要编造那些关于我国令人震惊、恐惧的故事的原因了。”

　　The BBC’s diplomatic correspondent James Robbins says it now looks as if Mr Thae’s heart may not have been in the task of defending North Korea - one of the poorest and most authoritarian countries in the world.

　　BBC外交记者詹姆斯·罗宾斯指出，现在看来泰永和的心可能没有放在为这个全世界最贫穷、最独裁的国家之一--朝鲜辩护的任务之上。

　　’Prove valuable’

　　“证明有价值”。

　　"A high-level defection, if confirmed, will be deeply embarrassing for the regime," said John Nilsson-Wright, an expert on Asian affairs at the London-based Chatham House think tank.

　　伦敦查塔姆研究所智库亚洲事务专家约翰·尼尔森·赖特表示说：“一名高级官员叛逃，如果被证实，那么将是朝鲜政权一个巨大的耻辱。”

　　"London has always been an important diplomatic priority for the DPRK given the amount of personnel stationed there and the considerable resources devoted by the regime to maintaining its presence there," he added.

　　赖特补充说道：“从朝鲜驻扎在伦敦的人员数量、以及该政权耗费相当大资源以维护其在伦敦的存在的做法来看，伦敦一直是朝鲜一个重要的外交优先地。”

　　"The intelligence benefits to the UK and its allies from such a defection are likely to prove valuable."

　　“来自这样一个叛逃高管的情报如果对英国及其盟友有利，那么将是很有价值的。”