2006年VOA标准英语-Lebanon Coastline Becomes Casualty of War

By Margaret Besheer
Beirut
22 August 2006

More than a month of bombing and fighting in Lebanon between Hezbollah militants¹ and Israel killed more than a thousand Lebanese and destroyed much of the nation's infrastructure². The Mediterranean³ country's coastline is another casualty of the war.

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		Layer of crude oil covers Ramlet el-Beida public beach in Beirut, July 28, 2006

In mid-July, Israeli air strikes on a power station south of Beirut resulted in between 10,000 and 15,000 tons of heavy fuel oil being spilled into the Mediterranean Sea.

Lebanese officials and international experts estimate that the spill has damaged 150 kilometers of Lebanon's coast. The slick has been moving north, and there are reports of damage to Syria's coastline as well. But Lebanon's Ministry⁴ of Environment spokeswoman Ghada Mitri says a full assessment⁵ has not yet been possible.

"Israel has not given back control of our territorial⁶ waters, so we actually cannot go onsite in the sea to assess the situation there; we are forced to work with satellite imagery," she said.

The environmental group Greenpeace recently sent a diver into the sea near the Jiyyeh power plant, where the oil spill happened. Greenpeace documented a huge amount of oil that has sunk to the bottom of the sea, carpeting an area about 100 meters in length and dozens of meters wide.

Basma Badran, a Greenpeace spokeswoman, says sunken slicks are not very common in oil spills. She says this one is the result of having to wait for hostilities⁷ to cease before containment⁸ and clean up could begin.

"Usually in such kinds of spills you have 72 hours and you have it surrounded and monitored. This was not the case in the Lebanese situation, because under fire nobody could really react quickly," noted⁹ Badran.

Before the conflict, Lebanon's beaches were a major tourist attraction. But officials worry that the longer-term effects of the oil spill will deal a further blow the country's tourism industry, which provides Lebanon with about $2 billion a year in revenue.

The country's fishing industry has also been seriously hurt because the oil slick has poisoned fish and other sea creatures. Environmental experts are also concerned about the spills effect on the endangered sea turtle population, as the spill happened during breeding season. Greenpeace spokeswoman Basma Badran says the oil may have polluted some beaches where the turtles lay their eggs.

"That could cause the suffocation¹⁰ of the eggs, themselves, or even it would prevent the baby turtles either from going back to the sea which is already polluted, or just being killed immediately," she added.

The Ministry of Environment's Ghada Mitri says the cost of the clean up is expected to exceed $64 million and take at least a year.

"But that does not mean that within a year the Lebanese coast is going to be back to what it was," continued Mitri.

Mitri says some governments and international organizations have pledged funds, equipment and expertise¹¹, but efforts are continuing to secure the millions of dollars needed to save Lebanon's coastline.

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 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

3 Mediterranean   

adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的

参考例句：

• The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
• Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。

4 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。

5 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

6 territorial   

adj.领土的，领地的

参考例句：

• The country is fighting to preserve its territorial integrity.该国在为保持领土的完整而进行斗争。
• They were not allowed to fish in our territorial waters.不允许他们在我国领海捕鱼。

7 hostilities   

n.战争；敌意(hostility的复数)；敌对状态；战事

参考例句：

• Mexico called for an immediate cessation of hostilities. 墨西哥要求立即停止敌对行动。
• All the old hostilities resurfaced when they met again. 他们再次碰面时，过去的种种敌意又都冒了出来。

8 containment   

n.阻止，遏制；容量

参考例句：

• Your list might include such things as cost containment,quality,or customer satisfaction.你的清单上应列有诸如成本控制、产品质量、客户满意程度等内容。
• Insularity and self-containment,it is argued,go hand in hand.他们争论说，心胸狭窄和自我封闭是并存的。

9 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。

10 suffocation   

n.窒息

参考例句：

• The greatest dangers of pyroclastic avalanches are probably heat and suffocation. 火成碎屑崩落的最大危害可能是炽热和窒息作用。 来自辞典例句
• The room was hot to suffocation. 房间热得闷人。 来自辞典例句

11 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。