美国有线新闻 CNN 2013-01-17

 What you¡¯re looking at right here, pictures from the nation of Mali. These are police officers on patrol in the capital city. They are getting support from France and other countries including the U.S. are considering getting involved too. That is because Malian government forces are fighting against rebels. The rebels are radical¹ Islamic militants². They have links to the al-Qaeda terrorist group, they¡¯ve been gaining control of territory in Mali for months now. We¡¯re going to take a look at where exactly this is happening. On the map here, you¡¯re going to see Mali. It¡¯s in Western Africa, it¡¯s about twice the size of the U.S. State of Texas, and it¡¯s home to more than 15 million people. 

This conflict started last year when a group of soldiers overthrew³ the government. When that happened, the northern part of the country, which is mostly desert, was kind of left out there on its own. And that¡¯s where the militants started their takeover. We mentioned France is already involved in this conflict. They have hundreds of troops on the ground and they are using jets to launch airstrikes on rebel training camps and other targets. A spokesman for the rebels says, quote, ¡°The war is only started.¡±

Next up, Cuba. The island nation is less than 100 miles away from the U.S., just a short flight or boat ride, but getting from one country to the other has been severely⁴ limited for decades. When Fidel Castro took control of Cuba in 1959, and set up the nation¡¯s communist government, he put laws in place that restricted Cubans from traveling outside their country. So let¡¯s say you lived in Cuba and had a family member who escaped to the United States. There was a good chance you wouldn¡¯t see that person for years, because you wouldn¡¯t be allowed to leave Cuba. Fidel¡¯s brother Raul Castro is president now. He¡¯s lifting some of those travel restrictions⁶, although the new rules won¡¯t be the same for all Cubans. 

Sport stars, doctors and military officials still face restriction⁵, because of the value to Cuban society. But most Cubans now will be able to stay abroad for up to two years without losing the right to return, and for the first time, can take young children with them. Reforms that were welcomed outside this Havana immigration office. 

This is good, they should have done it years ago. But at least now things will be easier, I suppose. 

I sincerely think Raul is doing things better than his brother, but they left him a lot of problems to fix.

1 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

2 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。

3 overthrew   

overthrow的过去式

参考例句：

• The people finally rose up and overthrew the reactionary regime. 人们终于起来把反动的政权推翻了。
• They overthrew their King. 他们推翻了国王。

4 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

5 restriction   

n.限制，约束

参考例句：

• The park is open to the public without restriction.这个公园对公众开放，没有任何限制。
• The 30 mph speed restriction applies in all built-up areas.每小时限速30英里适用于所有建筑物聚集区。

6 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制