VOA慢速英语2014 伊拉克总统谋求组建新政府

 

Iraqi President Moves to Form New Government 伊拉克总统谋求组建新政府

Iraqi President Fouad Massoum has asked a deputy speaker of parliament to form a new government. If he is successful, Haider al-Abadi would take the place of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Kurds, Sunnis and his fellow Shi’ites have asked Mr. Maliki to leave office. But he says he will seek a third term as Prime Minister.

Separately, the United States continued airstrikes against Islamic State militants¹ in northern Iraq. U.S. Secretary of Defense² Chuck Hagel said the three days of airstrikes have been, in his words, “very effective” in stopping the militants from moving toward the city of Irbil.

New Cease-Fire Between Israel and Hamas

Israel and Hamas have begun a new 72-hour cease-fire. The two sides will now have another chance to negotiate an end to a month of fighting that has caused the deaths of 2,000 people.

Egypt helped the two sides reach the cease-fire agreement. It took effect early Monday. Both sides are now meeting in Cairo to try to reach a long-term agreement to end the fighting.

An earlier 72-hour cease-fire ended Friday with no progress toward a longer-term truce³. It ended with Hamas restarting its rocket attacks on Israel and the Israeli military carrying out new airstrikes in Gaza.

President Obama, Ukraine’s President Talk

President Barack Obama spoke⁴ with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko by telephone on Monday. He said any Russian involvement in Ukraine without permission from the Ukrainian government would be a violation⁵ of international law.

Earlier Monday, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the alliance has seen no signs of Russian forces pulling back from the border with Ukraine. He said there is, in his words, a “high probability” that Russia will send troops into eastern Ukraine.

Nigeria Confirms Ebola Case

Nigeria’s health ministry⁶ says it has confirmed a new case of Ebola in the capital Lagos. Officials in Nigeria say there are now 10 confirmed cases of the virus in the city. They say two people have died.

Nigeria, Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone have been working hard to control the spread of the disease. More than 960 people have died since the outbreak began earlier this year.

1 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。

2 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

3 truce   

n.休战，(争执，烦恼等的)缓和；v.以停战结束

参考例句：

• The hot weather gave the old man a truce from rheumatism.热天使这位老人暂时免受风湿病之苦。
• She had thought of flying out to breathe the fresh air in an interval of truce.她想跑出去呼吸一下休战期间的新鲜空气。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 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。

6 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。