2006年VOA标准英语-Israel Sees Lebanon Conflict Linked Directly to

By Sonja Pace
Jerusalem
20 July 2006

For over a week now - day after day - Israeli missiles and artillery¹ shells have struck deep into Lebanon, while Katyusha rockets rained down on cities and towns of northern Israel. Israel says its aim is to retrieve² two Israeli soldiers kidnapped by Hezbollah last week and to eliminate the threat the militant³ group poses to Israel.

-----

 
Israeli army vehicles advance towards the Israeli-Lebanese border 
  
The kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah July 12 and the kidnapping of another soldier by Palestinian militants⁴ in Gaza a few weeks earlier may have been the spark that ignited the fighting, but Israeli and American leaders clearly believe that the militants were acting⁵ under orders from Syria and Iran.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was blunt in making that connection when he spoke⁶ before parliament Monday evening.

"The terror organizations working out of Lebanon and Gaza are nothing but sub-contractors working under authorization⁷ and encouraged and financed by governments supporting terrorism, governments that oppose peace. There is an evil road running from Tehran to Damascus," he said.

Prime Minister Olmert accused Syria and Iran of stirring up trouble, using Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza to do so.

Retired⁸ Israeli Major-General Yaakov Amidror agrees.  He says Syria wants to regain⁹ its influence in Lebanon after its troops were forced out by Lebanese and international pressure over a year ago. For Iran, he says, it is all about international pressure and nuclear ambitions.

"When you look at Iran and the threats from Iran as a response to the efforts to stop Iran from being nuclear, you say, OK, how they will do it?  When you look at the tools the Iranians have today, Hezbollah is the most important tool," he said.

General Amidror is program director for the Institute for Contemporary Affairs in Jerusalem, which describes itself as an independent, non-partisan research forum¹⁰.  Amidror says it is vital that Israel be allowed to, what he calls, finish the job, in Lebanon to curb¹¹ the influence of Damascus and Tehran.

Israel, the United States and other countries categorize Hezbollah and Hamas as terrorist organizations, something both those groups deny.

Yaakov Amidror also sees an even broader context for this conflict, the war against terrorism and what he calls the wave of radical¹² Islam around the world, buoyed¹³ by political victories and by Israel's withdrawal¹⁴ from southern Lebanon in 2000 and from Gaza in 2005.

"The success of Hezbollah to push us [Israel] out of Lebanon, the success of Hamas to push us out of Gaza, the success of the insurgency¹⁵ in Iraq fighting the Americans, the success of bin-Laden to survive against all odds¹⁶ after 9/11, the success of Hamas in the election of the Palestinian Authority [in January 2006] and so and so forth¹⁷.  I think this war [in Lebanon] may be the last station to stop the running train of radical Islam," he explained.

A baby tricycle is left behind among the rubble¹⁸ of destroyed buildings in the suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon  
  
Not everyone agrees. Israeli political commentator¹⁹, Akiva Eldar of the liberal Haaretz newspaper sees a danger in broadening the goals of the conflict.

"The thing is the government is defining the objectives of this war while it was still going on and moving forward and I'm afraid that they are too ambitious," he said.

Eldar says no one doubts Israel's right to defend itself against the threat of Hezbollah. Recent opinion polls show the vast majority of Israelis support their government's military action. But Eldar warns if Israel ends up in a brutal²⁰, drawn-out war, both domestic and international support could quickly fade.

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 retrieve   

vt.重新得到，收回；挽回，补救；检索

参考例句：

• He was determined to retrieve his honor.他决心恢复名誉。
• The men were trying to retrieve weapons left when the army abandoned the island.士兵们正试图找回军队从该岛撤退时留下的武器。

3 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。

4 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。

5 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

6 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。

7 authorization   

n.授权，委任状

参考例句：

• Anglers are required to obtain prior authorization from the park keeper.垂钓者必须事先得到公园管理者的许可。
• You cannot take a day off without authorization.未经批准你不得休假。

8 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

9 regain   

vt.重新获得，收复，恢复

参考例句：

• He is making a bid to regain his World No.1 ranking.他正为重登世界排名第一位而努力。
• The government is desperate to regain credibility with the public.政府急于重新获取公众的信任。

10 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

11 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

12 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

13 buoyed   

v.使浮起( buoy的过去式和过去分词 )；支持；为…设浮标；振奋…的精神

参考例句：

• Buoyed by their win yesterday the team feel confident of further success. 在昨天胜利的鼓舞下，该队有信心再次获胜。
• His encouragement buoyed her up during that difficult period. 他的鼓励使她在那段困难时期恢复了乐观的情绪。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。

15 insurgency   

n.起义；暴动；叛变

参考例句：

• And as in China, unrest and even insurgency are widespread. 而在中国，动乱甚至暴乱都普遍存在。 来自互联网
• Dr Zyphur is part an insurgency against this idea. 塞弗博士是这一观点逆流的一部分。 来自互联网

16 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

17 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

18 rubble   

n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾

参考例句：

• After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
• After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。

19 commentator   

n.注释者，解说者；实况广播评论员

参考例句：

• He is a good commentator because he can get across the game.他能简单地解说这场比赛，是个好的解说者。
• The commentator made a big mistake during the live broadcast.在直播节目中评论员犯了个大错误。

20 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。