2007年VOA标准英语-Israel Launches Air Strikes as Palestinian Fact

By Robert Berger
Jerusalem
18 May 2007

Israeli Yair Elbaz reacts after a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip hit a house he owns and rents to students in the southern Israeli town of Sderot, 18 May 2007

Israel has launched air strikes on the Gaza Strip for the second straight day, killing¹ at least five Palestinians. And as Robert Berger reports from VOA's Jerusalem bureau, rival Palestinian factions³ have also been fighting each other.

Ambulances evacuated⁴ the wounded as Israeli aircraft blasted Hamas targets in Gaza. The army said it hit a Hamas headquarters and militants⁵ firing rockets. More than 100 Hamas rockets have crashed into Israel this week, terrifying residents of the border town of Sderot, which has mostly been evacuated.

Israeli spokeswoman Miri Eisen says the five-month old Gaza cease-fire is over.

"Hamas has tried to act as if they accepted the truce⁶ last November, but for the last few weeks, they have openly been accepting responsibility for terrorist acts," Eisen. said. "Hamas is a terrorist organization."

And she said, terrorist organizations must be fought.

Moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose Fatah party serves in a coalition⁷ government with Hamas, called Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and asked her to press Israel to halt the air strikes. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat appealed to both sides.

"I urge all to maintain the ceasefire and I urge Israel to maintain the cease-fire," Erekat said.

The air strikes are putting further pressure on Hamas, which has been locked in fierce fighting with the rival Palestinian Fatah faction².

On Friday, clashes erupted for the sixth straight day as Fatah forces attacked the Islamic University in Gaza City, a Hamas stronghold. Frightened residents huddled⁸ indoors to escape the line of fire, while masked gunmen roamed the streets. The fighting has raised fears of a Palestinian civil war.

The dangerous mix of Israeli air strikes and Palestinians battling each other is plunging⁹ Gaza further into chaos¹⁰.

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 faction   

n.宗派，小集团；派别；派系斗争

参考例句：

• Faction and self-interest appear to be the norm.派系之争和自私自利看来非常普遍。
• I now understood clearly that I was caught between the king and the Bunam's faction.我现在完全明白自己已陷入困境，在国王与布纳姆集团之间左右为难。

3 factions   

组织中的小派别，派系( faction的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The gens also lives on in the "factions." 氏族此外还继续存在于“factions〔“帮”〕中。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源
• rival factions within the administration 政府中的对立派别

4 evacuated   

撤退者的

参考例句：

• Police evacuated nearby buildings. 警方已将附近大楼的居民疏散。
• The fireman evacuated the guests from the burning hotel. 消防队员把客人们从燃烧着的旅馆中撤出来。

5 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。

6 truce   

n.休战，(争执，烦恼等的)缓和；v.以停战结束

参考例句：

• The hot weather gave the old man a truce from rheumatism.热天使这位老人暂时免受风湿病之苦。
• She had thought of flying out to breathe the fresh air in an interval of truce.她想跑出去呼吸一下休战期间的新鲜空气。

7 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

8 huddled   

挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• We huddled together for warmth. 我们挤在一块取暖。
• We huddled together to keep warm. 我们挤在一起来保暖。

9 plunging   

adj.跳进的，突进的v.颠簸( plunge的现在分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• War broke out again, plunging the people into misery and suffering. 战祸复发，生灵涂炭。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He is plunging into an abyss of despair. 他陷入了绝望的深渊。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。