俄罗斯客机在埃及坠毁

 　　A Russian passenger plane crashed Saturday in a mountainous part of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, killing¹ all 224 people on board, including 25 children.

　　The plane disappeared from radar² less than half an hour after taking off early Saturday from the resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh. Almost all the passengers were Russian tourists heading home to St. Petersburg.

　　Emergency workers had recovered 129 bodies so far, along with both of the plane's black boxes, which record all moments of the flight, including communications involving the pilots. Authorities are hoping the recorders can explain why the plane crashed.

　　Russian Jet Crashes in Egypt Sinai, Killing all 224 Aboard

　　Egyptian Civil Aviation chief Hossam Kamal said that safety checks before the flight did not turn up any problems with the aircraft and that the pilot did not issue an SOS before the plane disappeared. Unconfirmed reports, however, said the pilot reported trouble and asked for the nearest landing site just before controllers lost contact with the Airbus jet.

　　IS claim

　　The Islamic State militant³ group's Egyptian affiliate⁴ claimed responsibility for bringing the plane down, although it offered no evidence.

　　Russian Transport Minister Maksim Sokov said the IS claim could not be considered accurate. It is unlikely that IS militants⁵ operating in Sinai would have a missile capable of hitting a plane flying that high. The Airbus A-321 had reached cruising altitude of 9,100 meters (more than 29,000 feet) before it went down.

　　Despite the rejection⁶ of the militants' claim, two major European airlines — Germany's Lufthansa and Air France — announced they would stop flying over the area for safety reasons.

　　The Airbus had 217 tourists on board, along with seven crew members. Three of the passengers were Ukrainian nationals; all the other victims were Russians.

　　Flowers, memorial candles and toys were piling up outside the arrivals terminal at Pulkovo Airport in St. Petersburg. Doctors and grief counselors⁷ were on hand to help the families of the passengers.

　　Russia's President Vladimir Putin declared a national day of mourning Sunday for victims of the crash.

　　From Kyrgyzstan, where he began a tour of Central Asia on Saturday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry offered condolences to the families of those who were on board the plane.

　　The Metrojet charter flight was operated by the small Russian airline Kogalymavia, also known as Kolavia. It took off from Sharm El-Sheikh at 5:51 a.m. local time (0351 UTC), and disappeared 23 minutes later.

　　Prime Minister Sharif Ismail was in the city of Ismailiya when he learned of the crash. He interrupted his visit for emergency meetings with government and security officials.

　　The crash site was about 70 kilometers south of Al-Arish, the largest city in Sinai, on the Mediterranean⁸ coast. Egyptian security forces in northern Sinai have been battling a growing Islamic militant insurgency⁹ in the area, now led by local affiliates¹⁰ of the Islamic State group, but there have been no incidents involving commercial air traffic.

　　The area where the plane crashed, known as Hassana or Hasna, was the scene of a World War I battle in 1917 between Britain's Imperial Camel Corps¹¹ and the Turkish army.

1 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

2 radar   

n.雷达，无线电探测器

参考例句：

• They are following the flight of an aircraft by radar.他们正在用雷达追踪一架飞机的飞行。
• Enemy ships were detected on the radar.敌舰的影像已显现在雷达上。

3 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

4 affiliate   

vt.使隶(附)属于；n.附属机构，分公司

参考例句：

• Our New York company has an affiliate in Los Angeles.我们的纽约公司在洛杉矶有一个下属企业。
• What is the difference between affiliate and regular membership?固定会员和附属会员之间的区别是什么？

5 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

6 rejection   

n.拒绝，被拒，抛弃，被弃

参考例句：

• He decided not to approach her for fear of rejection.他因怕遭拒绝决定不再去找她。
• The rejection plunged her into the dark depths of despair.遭到拒绝使她陷入了绝望的深渊。

7 counselors   

n.顾问( counselor的名词复数 )；律师；（使馆等的）参赞；（协助学生解决问题的）指导老师

参考例句：

• Counselors began an inquiry into industrial needs. 顾问们开始调查工业方面的需要。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• We have experienced counselors available day and night. ) 这里有经验的法律顾问全天候值班。） 来自超越目标英语 第4册

8 Mediterranean   

adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的

参考例句：

• The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
• Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。

9 insurgency   

n.起义；暴动；叛变

参考例句：

• And as in China, unrest and even insurgency are widespread. 而在中国，动乱甚至暴乱都普遍存在。 来自互联网
• Dr Zyphur is part an insurgency against this idea. 塞弗博士是这一观点逆流的一部分。 来自互联网

10 affiliates   

附属企业( affiliate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She affiliates with an academic society. 她是某学术团体的成员。
• For example, these security affiliates participated in the floating of 19,000,000,000 of issues in 1927. 例如，这些证券发行机构在1927年的流通证券中，就提供了一百九十亿美元的证券。

11 corps   

n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组

参考例句：

• The medical corps were cited for bravery in combat.医疗队由于在战场上的英勇表现而受嘉奖。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。