(L-R) US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Russian figure skating coach Tatyana Tarasova watch Russian figure skaters perform at the CSKA ice arena¹ in Moscow.
 
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice turned down a chance Saturday to show off her ice-skating talents and warm up frosty US-Russian relations during a visit to a rink in Russia.

Rice, herself a former ice-skating champion, joked that it was 10 years since she last put on her skates and cut a figure on the ice.

"There is this theory that ice skating is like riding a bicycle: you just get back on it, you immediately know how to do it," she said, adding: "I'm not going to take that chance -- just in case it's not true!"

Rice met with around 30 young ice-skaters at the Russian Army Sports Club rink who gave the top US diplomat² a demonstration³ of their skills before posing⁴ for photographs.

Rice was a competitive⁵ ice skater between the ages of 12 and 17. She said she lost her skates in the move from Stanford University in California, where she was a lecturer, to Washington when she joined the Bush administration in 2000.

On Friday Russian and US differences were laid bare when the two countries failed to find a way forward on the proposed US anti-missile defence system in Europe.

 上周六，美国国务卿赖斯在参观俄罗斯一家滑冰场时婉言拒绝展示她的滑冰才华，美俄两国也因此失去了一次缓和关系的佳机。

曾经是滑冰冠军的赖斯开玩笑说，她已有十年没碰溜冰鞋了。

她说：“理论上说，溜冰就像骑自行车，你只要穿上溜冰鞋，马上就会知道该怎么做。但今天还是算了——万一这个理论不成立呢？”

当天，赖斯在俄罗斯中央陆军体育俱乐部滑冰场会见了约30名小滑冰选手。小选手们为赖斯进行了冰上表演，还有幸与这位美国高级外交官合影。

赖斯在12岁至17岁期间是一名很有实力的滑冰选手。她曾在加利福尼亚州的斯坦福大学任讲师，并于2000年加入布什政府。她说，她的溜冰鞋就是当时从加利福尼亚搬到华盛顿的途中弄丢了。

上周五，俄美两国就美国欲在欧洲部署反导弹防御系统问题进行磋商，但未取得实质性进展，俄美两国在这一问题上的分歧十分显著。

 
Vocabulary:

cut a figure:斩露头角；出风头