AS IT IS 2016-01-04 People ‘Die in Slow Motion’ as Assad Supporters Laugh

AS IT IS 2016-01-04 People ‘Die in Slow Motion’ as Assad Supporters Laugh

Social media is part of the war in Syria.

International aid trucks drove into the town of Madaya, which is held by rebels, on Monday. At the same time, supporters of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad used social media to mock starving residents.

The United Nations hopes to start peace talks between Assad’s regime and the opposition¹ leadership on January 25.

The social media campaign shows that it might be a difficult negotiation² in two weeks.

The Guardian³ newspaper reports that residents of Madaya had to eat leaves and grass to survive. This is because Assad’s forces prevented aid from entering the town.

A social worker in the town said the people were “dying in slow motion.”

Assad supporters posted photos of skeletons on Twitter. They added a hashtag that approved the starvation of residents of Madaya.

One television channel in Lebanon said the photos of starving residents of Madaya were not real.

A portion of the Hezbollah militant⁴ group based in Syria supports Assad. They say the residents of Madaya and the opposition forces brought the starvation campaign on themselves.

The food aid arrived on Monday. Workers left on Tuesday, promising⁵ to return soon with more help.

One aid worker from the International Red Cross called his first impression of the town “heartbreaking.”

The United Nations humanitarian⁶ office says up to 400 people may need to be evacuated⁸ for medical treatment. The UN says it is also concerned about 400,000 more Syrians in locations cut off by the war.

Syria is not the only Middle East country where civilians⁹ are suffering. On Monday, the Islamic State terror group carried out a series of attacks that killed at least 46 civilians. Another 100 people were injured.

IS militants¹⁰ said they were targeting Shi’ites. One attack killed at least 18 at a Baghdad shopping mall. In Muqdadiyah, at least 23 people were killed by a pair of suicide bombers¹¹.

Later, a car bomb exploded at a market in Baghdad, killing¹² five more.

The U.S. State Department called the attacks “barbaric acts of terrorism.”

Words in This Story

mock - v. to laugh or make fun of someone

resident - n. a person who lives in a place

skeleton - n. the bones that support the body of a person or animal

heartbreaking – adj. causing great sadness, disappointment, etc.

evacuate⁷ - v. to remove from a dangerous place

impression – n. the effect or influence that something or someone has on a person's thoughts or feelings

barbaric - adj. very cruel or offensive

1 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。

2 negotiation   

n.谈判，协商

参考例句：

• They closed the deal in sugar after a week of negotiation.经过一星期的谈判，他们的食糖生意成交了。
• The negotiation dragged on until July.谈判一直拖到7月份。

3 guardian   

n.监护人；守卫者，保护者

参考例句：

• The form must be signed by the child's parents or guardian. 这张表格须由孩子的家长或监护人签字。
• The press is a guardian of the public weal. 报刊是公共福利的卫护者。

4 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。

5 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

6 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。

7 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。

8 evacuated   

撤退者的

参考例句：

• Police evacuated nearby buildings. 警方已将附近大楼的居民疏散。
• The fireman evacuated the guests from the burning hotel. 消防队员把客人们从燃烧着的旅馆中撤出来。

9 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。

10 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。

11 bombers   

n.轰炸机( bomber的名词复数 )；投弹手；安非他明胶囊；大麻叶香烟

参考例句：

• Enemy bombers carried out a blitz on the city. 敌军轰炸机对这座城市进行了突袭。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Royal Airforce sill remained dangerously short of bombers. 英国皇家空军仍未脱离极为缺乏轰炸机的危境。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 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。