VOA常速英语2007年-Vietnam Releases 3 US Citizens Accused of Terro

12 December 2007

Vietnam has released three of the four Vietnamese-born United States citizens it arrested in November and accused of involvement in terrorism. The release comes a day after the U.S. ambassador criticized the detentions¹. Matt Steinglass reports from Hanoi.

Vietnamese television reported Wednesday morning that Leon Truong had left Vietnam, bound for his home in the United States. Truong had been arrested in Ho Chi Minh City November 17 with five other activists² from the Viet Tan party, a U.S.-based pro-democracy group.

Also released were Le Van Phan and his wife Nguyen Thi Thinh, arrested at Ho Chi Minh City's airport November 23 after a gun was allegedly found in their luggage. They were scheduled to return to the U.S. today.

The U.S. Embassy in Hanoi said Wednesday it welcomed the releases.

In a press conference Tuesday, U.S. Ambassador Michael Michalak had said that if the Americans were not released, the U.S. would protest.

Michalak expressed the view that the U.S. citizens had been detained for peaceful political activism, and questioned Vietnam's terrorism allegations.

"Vietnam has said that Viet Tan is on their list of terrorist organizations. Viet Tan is not on any list that I know of, of American terrorist organizations," he said.

One American Viet Tan member, Quoc Quan Nguyen, has not been released.

Vietnamese officials say, and a U.S. Embassy official acknowledged, that Nguyen had entered Vietnam using a forged Cambodian passport, complicating⁴ the charges against him.

The release of Phan and Thinh leaves unsolved the question of the gun they are alleged³ to have imported into Vietnam. Vietnamese press reports say the couple confessed to carrying the gun, but Michalak said Thinh had denied the charge.

The United States enjoys increasingly warm relations with Vietnam, and has been seeking Vietnamese cooperation on counter-terrorism efforts and on efforts to halt nuclear proliferation.

1 detentions   

拘留( detention的名词复数 )； 扣押； 监禁； 放学后留校

参考例句：

• Teachers may assign detention tasks as they wish and some detentions have been actually dangerous. 老师可能随心所欲指派关禁闭的形式，有些禁闭事实上很危险。
• Intimidation, beatings and administrative detentions are often enough to prevent them from trying again. 恐吓，拷打和行政拘留足以阻止请愿者二次进京的脚步。

2 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

4 complicating   

使复杂化( complicate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• High spiking fever with chills is suggestive of a complicating pylephlebitis. 伴有寒战的高热，暗示合并门静脉炎。
• In America these actions become executive puberty rites, complicating relationships that are already complicated enough. 在美国，这些行动成了行政青春期的惯例，使本来已经够复杂的关系变得更复杂了。