美国有线新闻 CNN 叙利亚内战仍在持续 政府继续轰炸反对派

 

Jumping right in as always, with news out of the Middle Eastern country of Syria leading off today's show. It's been at civil war since 2011.

Ceasefires have come and gone, no end is in sight.

At one time, the Syrian city of Aleppo was the largest in the country. But now, after four years of battle there, it's estimated to have only one-tenth the population it had before the war. The eastern part of the city is controlled by rebels fighting the Syrian government. It's been under siege by government forces. It's been bombed on numerous occasions.

Syria's government says it's targeting terrorist positions in eastern Aleppo and it sent text messages to residents, telling them to evacuate¹ before new assaults begin.

Because so many civilians² are caught in the crossfire³ and because food, water and medical supplies are running low in eastern Aleppo, the situation has become a humanitarian⁴ catastrophe⁵.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We've been talking to people in rebel-held east Aleppo who say they feel as if the international community has forgotten them and they also feel the Syrian regime supported by that Russian flotilla just off the Syrian coast is timing⁶ this final offensive to coincide with the distraction⁷ of the U.S. presidential transition.

They feel that the world is looking the other way and they're fearful that the explosions that happened on Tuesday, the huge explosions that rocked several different neighborhoods around east Aleppo are just going to be the beginning of another horrific onslaught — much like what they saw just three weeks ago when there was that month of continuous bombing when 500 people died including far too many children.

The airstrikes that happened on Tuesday, according to the Syrian regime, were specifically targeting terrorist locations. That's what the state media said, a Syrian state media reporter described the bombing as unprecedented⁸ in terms of the number of continuous explosions, a very fearful day and evening for people as they're afraid that their homes might be hit. They're also fearful for hospitals, market places and other soft targets that we've seen from our own on-the-ground reporting often are collateral⁹ damage or perhaps intentional¹⁰ targets in this bombing campaign.

We've seen the Syrian regime used this technique in the past where the aerial bombardment coincides with ground troops surrounding the rebel-held area, not allowing in any food or medicine, and also not allowing in any munitions¹¹. So, the bombardment would continue, people become hungry and more desperate. And then they send a message basically saying, you can either starve and be bombed, or get on busses, leave your homes and go elsewhere.

1 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。

2 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

3 crossfire   

n.被卷进争端

参考例句：

• They say they are caught in the crossfire between the education establishment and the government.他们称自己被卷进了教育机构与政府之间的争端。
• When two industrial giants clash,small companies can get caught in the crossfire.两大工业企业争斗之下，小公司遭受池鱼之殃。

4 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

5 catastrophe   

n.大灾难，大祸

参考例句：

• I owe it to you that I survived the catastrophe.亏得你我才大难不死。
• This is a catastrophe beyond human control.这是一场人类无法控制的灾难。

6 timing   

n.时间安排，时间选择

参考例句：

• The timing of the meeting is not convenient.会议的时间安排不合适。
• The timing of our statement is very opportune.我们发表声明选择的时机很恰当。

7 distraction   

n.精神涣散，精神不集中，消遣，娱乐

参考例句：

• Total concentration is required with no distractions.要全神贯注，不能有丝毫分神。
• Their national distraction is going to the disco.他们的全民消遣就是去蹦迪。

8 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

9 collateral   

adj.平行的；旁系的；n.担保品

参考例句：

• Many people use personal assets as collateral for small business loans.很多人把个人财产用作小额商业贷款的抵押品。
• Most people here cannot borrow from banks because they lack collateral.由于拿不出东西作为抵押，这里大部分人无法从银行贷款。

10 intentional   

adj.故意的，有意（识）的

参考例句：

• Let me assure you that it was not intentional.我向你保证那不是故意的。
• His insult was intentional.他的侮辱是有意的。

11 munitions   

n.军火，弹药；v.供应…军需品

参考例句：

• The army used precision-guided munitions to blow up enemy targets.军队用精确瞄准的枪炮炸掉敌方目标。
• He rose [made a career for himself] by dealing in munitions.他是靠贩卖军火发迹的。