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THE DOOR to the Oval Office clicked shut.
总统办公室的门咔哒一声关上了。
The South Korean envoy had told Trump that Kim Jong Un wanted to meet him as soon as possible.
韩国特使告诉特朗普，金正恩希望尽快与他会面。
Would Trump accept?
特朗普会接受吗？
The President turned to the handful of senior advisers
总统将目光投向了他的资深顾问团队，
and jutted out his chin in what aides have come to recognize as a sign that he’s about to say something provocative.
通过他翘起的下巴，助手们意识到，他又要发表挑衅性的言论了。
“I’m inclined to do it,” Trump said. “What do you think?”
“我倾向于同意，”特朗普说。“你们觉得呢？”
There were a million reasons to say no,
助手们有一百万个不赞成的理由，
and as the South Korean envoy cooled his heels across the hall in the Roosevelt Room, Trump’s aides took turns listing them,
他们轮番上阵列举各种不赞成的理由，韩国特使在罗斯福厅对面等了许久，
according to two U.S. officials briefed on the meeting.
据两名了解会议情况的美国官员透露。
For years, the U.S. had refused to reward North Korea’s treaty-violating pursuit of nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles;
多年来，美国一直拒绝认可朝鲜违反条约，发展核武器和洲际弹道导弹的做法；
a face-to-face meeting would seem to do just that.
而同意双方进行面对面的会谈似乎就等于认可了他们的这一做法。
Moreover, with little time to plan tactics and strategy, or to demand concessions,
此外，由于没有时间安排战术和战略，也没有时间要求朝鲜做出让步，
there was no way to tell what Kim might give up in return.
金正恩可能会做出怎样的让步我们完全无从得知。
Worst of all, if talks proved that there could be no diplomatic solution to the stand-off,
最糟糕的是，如果谈判表明无法通过外交途径解决僵局，
then military conflict—even nuclear war—could become more likely.
那么，发生军事冲突——甚至是核战——的概率就会增加。
But in a matter of minutes, Trump had made up his mind.
然而，短短几分钟，特朗普就下定了决心。
By quickly saying yes to a meeting, the President thought,
总统以为，同时迅速答应举行会议，
he would test Kim’s intentions and put him off-balance, explains a close aide.
他就能打乱金正恩的阵脚，试探出他的意图，一位亲密的助手解释道。
Trump summoned the South Korean diplomats into the Oval Office and beamed.
特朗普把韩国大使叫到了总统办公室，脸上带着笑容。
“Let’s do it, fellas,” the President said.
“伙计们，那就这么办吧，”总统说。
Trump wasn’t done surprising his staff or his South Korean guests.
特朗普打起工作人员或韩国来宾措手不及来总是没完没了。
He had, in some ways, internalized the concerns of his aides.
在某种程度上讲，他已经将助手们的担忧内化到了骨子里。
The South Koreans assured Trump that Kim was open to giving up his nukes,
韩国大使向特朗普保证，金正恩不仅愿意放弃核武器，
wouldn’t object to U.S.- Korean military exercises and promised to stop nuclear and missile tests.
不反对美-朝演习，还承诺停止核试验和导弹试验。
But none of that was in writing.
问题是，这些承诺都没有落到纸上。
译文由可可原创，仅供学习交流使用，未经许可请勿转载。
