美国在伊拉克建立第一个全美火力基地

AS IT IS 2016-03-23 US Sets Up First All-American Fire Base in Iraq 美国在伊拉克建立第一个全美火力基地

The U.S. military has built the first all-American fire base in Iraq.

A fire base is an area in a war zone where artillery¹ can be massed to provide firepower in support of other military units.

The fire base is near the town of Makhmur, in northern Iraq. About 200 U.S. Marines have been assigned to the base. Their mission is to protect American advisers³ and Iraqis who are at a nearby Iraqi military base.

An American spokesman, Colonel Steve Warren, said: “This is the first time that we’ve established a spot that’s only American.”  Warren continued to say deploying⁴ the Marines to a U.S.-only base was “a tactical decision” made “because of space” restrictions⁵.

The Iraqis are preparing an offensive to capture Mosul. The town has been occupied by the Islamic State for nearly two years.

The fire base is behind the front lines, and the American base has been attacked. Islamic State fighters fired small arms at the base Monday. Two IS fighters were killed. No Americans were wounded.

The arms exchange took place two days after U.S. Marine² Staff Sergeant⁶ Louis Cardin was killed at the base. IS fighters fired two rockets during that assault.

Words in This Story

firepower – n. the amount or strength of military weapons that can be used against an enemy

mission – n. a specific military or naval⁷ task

tactical – adj. used for a specific plan that is created to achieve a particular goal in war

assault – n. a military attack

1 artillery   

n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队)

参考例句：

• This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
• The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。

2 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

3 advisers   

顾问，劝告者( adviser的名词复数 )； （指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• a member of the President's favoured circle of advisers 总统宠爱的顾问班子中的一员
• She withdrew to confer with her advisers before announcing a decision. 她先去请教顾问然后再宣布决定。

4 deploying   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
• Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。

5 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

6 sergeant   

n.警官，中士

参考例句：

• His elder brother is a sergeant.他哥哥是个警官。
• How many stripes are there on the sleeve of a sergeant?陆军中士的袖子上有多少条纹？

7 naval   

adj.海军的，军舰的，船的

参考例句：

• He took part in a great naval battle.他参加了一次大海战。
• The harbour is an important naval base.该港是一个重要的海军基地。