May 16, 1986

Soviet arms negotiators in Geneva today presented a draft treaty on eliminating medium-range nuclear weapons in Europe, the White House said. The White House spokesman, Larry Speakes, said the United States hoped the presentation of the draft was a sign that the Soviet Union was ''becoming serious'' about negotiations. The text was offered one day after Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the Soviet leader, accused the West in a television speech of trying to exploit the Chernobyl nuclear accident for propaganda purposes. Mr. Speakes said the text ''appears at first glance to be a more formal codification of previous Soviet statements.'' The chief American arms negotiator, Max M. Kampelman, also said the Russians' proposal ''was merely a formal treaty carrying out statements previously made to us.''

IF you think grilling is a California phenomenon or that grazing - snacking on a sampling of foods instead of eating a formal meal - is something new, take a stroll along Ninth Avenue from 37th to 57th Streets tomorrow or Sunday. The grazers will be out in full force, as they have been since 1974 when grazing was called noshing and the Ninth Avenue International Festival of Food started. This year, 250,000 appetites are expected tomorrow, half a million on Sunday. As for grilling, at approximately 75 different locations along the 20-block stretch, something to eat will be grilled, the sizzle adding to the hubbub and the tantalizing aroma mingling with the typical street-fair smells of Chinese eggrolls, hot dogs, pizza and cotton candy. Starting with Giovanni Esposito's pork barbecue at 38th Street, the Filipino shish kebab stand at 39th Street, and the skewers of kokoretsi - Greek lamb morsels - sharing the street with the tender baby lambs and crackling-skinned suckling pigs on spits at Ninth Avenue International Foods at 40th Street, grilling is the dominant method of cooking at the festival, followed by frying. In all, about 150 food stands are participating.

Six teen-agers and two of their teachers, who had been buried more than three days under deep snow, were found today after a survivor, on a hunch, led search teams to an ice cave where they had taken refuge. The eight were airlifted off Mount Hood to hospitals in Portland, 60 miles west of here. Two students were ''alive and conscious,'' one of the searchers said. Two other members of the climbing party were later pronounced dead at hospitals. Of the remaining four, rescue officials said at least two showed signs of breathing when they were brought down from the 8,200-foot level.

An article on May 12 about the PEN American Center awards carried an incorrect title provided by PEN for the winner of the poetry translation prize. It is ''Popol Vuh: The Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life,'' by Dennis Tedlock.

An article in Business Day on May 8 about lawsuits against the Financial Corporation of America incompletely described the status of Charles W. Knapp, the company's former chairman, in a suit now on trial. He was an original defendant but won a summary judgment and is no longer a party in the proceedings.