英闻天下——407 Syrians Mark Second Anniversary of Unrest

 　　Syrians are marking the second anniversary of the start of the civil war in the country.

 

　　The two-year-long conflict has cost almost 70-thousand lives and reportedly forced a million to flee the country.

 

　　The anniversary comes at the time when arming the Syrian rebels is being considered as a possible option.

 

　　Britain and France have been pressing other EU countries to back their proposal to lift an arms restriction¹ currently imposed on Syria, and the European Union is scheduled to review that embargo² in May.

 

　　The Syrian government though is describing the suggestion as a "flagrant violation³" of the principles of international law.

 

　　The Russian government has also opposed the suggestion, saying "it is not an option".

 

　　And Dong Manyuan, an international strategic analyst⁴ at China Institute of International Studies, says arming the rebels could make things worse.

 

　　"Arming the rebels will only further add fuel to the fire. It is not practical for the rebels to overthrow⁵ the Assad government, at least in the short term. The government still has wide support among citizens. Its control over the military forces, administrative⁶ organs and natural resources still prevails. It is difficult to break the power balance unless there is a direct military intervention⁷."

 

　　"Inside Syria, only the Free Syrian Army is the hardliner that is trying to force Assad to step down by force. Some opposition⁸ groups, or we can say at least half of the opposition groups, always believe a national dialogue is the right way to end the crisis. I think the international community should realize that peaceful dialogue is the only way to solve the problem."

 

　　Germany, Austria and Sweden are said to be among the EU countries reluctant to lift the arms embargo.

 

　　There's also been some suggestion from the United Nations that lifting the arms embargo will make the job of humanitarian⁹ agencies "more difficult".

1 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。

2 embargo   

n.禁运（令）；vt.对...实行禁运，禁止（通商）

参考例句：

• This country put an oil embargo on an enemy country.该国对敌国实行石油禁运。
• During the war,they laid an embargo on commerce with enemy countries.在战争期间，他们禁止与敌国通商。

3 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

4 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

5 overthrow   

v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆

参考例句：

• After the overthrow of the government,the country was in chaos.政府被推翻后，这个国家处于混乱中。
• The overthrow of his plans left him much discouraged.他的计划的失败使得他很气馁。

6 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。

7 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

8 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

9 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。