2006年VOA标准英语-UN Says Israel Shelled Lebanese Post Despite Pl

By Peter Heinlein
United Nations
27 July 2006

U.N. officials say they asked Israel to stop shelling a military outpost in Lebanon hours before it was destroyed, killing¹ four U.N. observers. Israel denies it deliberately² targeted the post.

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Photo released by United Nations Interim³ Force in Lebanon, shows U.N. observation post that was damaged after Israeli air strike, Tuesday  
  
Senior U.N. officials say they contacted Israeli authorities more than 10 times to plead for a halt to the shelling of a U.N. observer post Tuesday, in the hours before the post was destroyed by Israeli shell fire. Four U.N. military observers were killed in the incident, one each from China, Austria, Finland and Canada.

One senior official, briefing reporters on background, said Deputy Secretary General Mark Malloch Brown and Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Jane Holl Lute⁴ telephoned Israel's ambassador to the United Nations several times to enlist⁵ his help in having the shelling stopped.

They said the ambassador, Dan Gillerman, expressed concern and assured them that the U.N. was not a target. A spokeswoman for the Israeli U.N. mission confirmed the account for VOA.

China Wednesday asked Israel to apologize for the attack. The Chinese U.N. Ambassador Wang Guangya said the incident was 'inexcusable'. 
 

Wang Guangya talks to the press during Security Council consultations⁶, Wednesday  
  
"For China and for others, we condemn⁷ this,"the ambassador said. "Because I think any attack on the United Nations positions and United Nations personnel is inexcusable and unacceptable".

Secretary-General Kofi Annan initially⁸ issued a statement Wednesday calling the attack 'an apparently⁹ deliberate action'. He later told a news conference in Rome he had spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who expressed 'deep sorrow' for the incident. He said Mr. Olmert 'definitely believes it was a mistake'. Israel's defense¹⁰ ministry¹¹ described the incident as an accident.

Briefing a closed door Security Council meeting Wednesday, Assistant Secretary-General Lute described a virtual barrage¹² of missile and artillery¹³ fire around the observer mission in the hours before the fatal strike. She displayed pictures of the outpost to show it was well marked as a U.N. facility, and said that unlike other areas, there had been no firing by Hezbollah units in the area.

China asked the Security Council Wednesday to issue a statement condemning¹⁴ the attack. But diplomats¹⁵ say the approval of the statement was bogged¹⁶ down in disputes over wording.

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton said Washington would object to any attempt to politicize the incident.

John Bolton talks to the press during Security Council consultations, Wednesday   
  
"The objective of United States here is to make an appropriate statement in a very timely fashion about the deaths of the four UNIFIL observers and not to make this statement a backdoor way of getting into ceasefire or other larger political and military questions," he noted¹⁷. "That's not appropriate here."

A White House spokesman Wednesday said Israel should be taken at its word that the air strike was an accident. The spokesman also said it is important to find out what went wrong and to ensure it never happens again.

1 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。

2 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

3 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。

4 lute   

n.琵琶，鲁特琴

参考例句：

• He idly plucked the strings of the lute.他漫不经心地拨弄着鲁特琴的琴弦。
• He knows how to play the Chinese lute.他会弹琵琶。

5 enlist   

vt.谋取(支持等)，赢得；征募；vi.入伍

参考例句：

• They come here to enlist men for the army.他们来这儿是为了召兵。
• The conference will make further efforts to enlist the support of the international community for their just struggle. 会议必将进一步动员国际社会，支持他们的正义斗争。

6 consultations   

n.磋商（会议）( consultation的名词复数 )；商讨会；协商会；查找

参考例句：

• Consultations can be arranged at other times by appointment. 磋商可以通过预约安排在其他时间。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Consultations are under way. 正在进行磋商。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 condemn   

vt.谴责，指责；宣判(罪犯)，判刑

参考例句：

• Some praise him,whereas others condemn him.有些人赞扬他，而有些人谴责他。
• We mustn't condemn him on mere suppositions.我们不可全凭臆测来指责他。

8 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

9 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

10 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。

11 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。

12 barrage   

n.火力网，弹幕

参考例句：

• The attack jumped off under cover of a barrage.进攻在炮火的掩护下开始了。
• The fierce artillery barrage destroyed the most part of the city in a few minutes.猛烈的炮火几分钟内便毁灭了这座城市的大部分地区。

13 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。

14 condemning   

v.（通常因道义上的原因而）谴责( condemn的现在分词 )；宣判；宣布…不能使用；迫使…陷于不幸的境地

参考例句：

• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。
• I concur with the speaker in condemning what has been done. 我同意发言者对所做的事加以谴责。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

15 diplomats   

n.外交官( diplomat的名词复数 )；有手腕的人，善于交际的人

参考例句：

• These events led to the expulsion of senior diplomats from the country. 这些事件导致一些高级外交官被驱逐出境。
• The court has no jurisdiction over foreign diplomats living in this country. 法院对驻本国的外交官无裁判权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 bogged   

adj.陷于泥沼的v.（使）陷入泥沼， （使）陷入困境( bog的过去式和过去分词 )；妨碍，阻碍

参考例句：

• The professor bogged down in the middle of his speech. 教授的演讲只说了一半便讲不下去了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The tractor is bogged down in the mud. 拖拉机陷入了泥沼。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。