2007年VOA标准英语-Lebanese Army Intensifies Campaign Against Mili

By Margaret Besheer
Nahr El-Bared, Lebanon
02 June 2007

For a second day, the Lebanese Army intensified¹ its shelling of Islamist militants² holed-up in a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon. The army is trying to bring the two week-long standoff to an end. Officials say at least three soldiers and an unknown number of militants were killed in Saturday's fighting. From the camp's outskirts³, VOA's Margaret Besheer has more.

An explosion strikes a building in Nahr el-Bared refugee camp near Tripoli, Lebanon, 2 June 2007

After a lull⁴ in fighting Friday evening, the army renewed its offensive on Saturday with artillery⁵ and machine gun fire, sending plumes⁶ of smoke over the camp.

A helicopter belonging to the country's small air force also fired missiles and machine guns at targets on the western side of Nahr el-Bared along the Mediterranean⁷ coast.

While Palestinian negotiators try to find a peaceful solution, the Lebanese government has demanded that the Islamic militants surrender and face justice. Fatah al-Islam's leader says they will fight to the death.

The Lebanese government says Fatah al-Islam triggered the fighting when it attacked army positions around the camp and in Lebanon's second largest city, Tripoli, two weeks ago.

Nahr el-Bared camp, established in 1948, is a labyrinth⁸ of buildings along narrow streets. Until May 20, it was home to more than 40,000 Palestinians.  Aid agencies say about 10,000 remain in worsening conditions.

VOA spoke⁹ via telephone with a resident who is still inside Nahr el-Bared. Milad Salami is a nurse at one of only two clinics still open. He says conditions are deteriorating¹⁰ and that dead animals and garbage are rotting in the streets.

He says they received food and water two days ago before the heavy bombardments began. There has been no electricity since fighting began two weeks ago, and there is no tap water, because the water tanks on the buildings were destroyed in the shelling.

Salami confirms reports from other refugees that several buildings housing civilians¹² have collapsed¹³ from the shelling.

He says they were able to rescue some people, but could not reach everyone because of the bombardments.

Under a 1969 Accord, the Lebanese Army is restricted from entering Palestinian refugee camps. Much of the fighting has been going on at the camp's edges. The army has accused the militants of taking up positions in mosques¹⁴ and mingling¹⁵ among the civilian¹¹ population, using them as human shields. The army has warned the Palestinian residents not to harbor the terrorists.

Salami says he is located in the center of the camp, and that no one there is sheltering militants. He says residents on the edges of the camp are certainly harboring them.

Salami and his family remain in their home, along with two other families they have taken in. He tells VOA he does not want to go to Nahr el-Bared's few shelters, because they are over-crowded.

With incoming fire heard in the background, Salami said his home has been hit seven times and he does not know how much longer it will stand.

1 intensified   

v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Violence intensified during the night. 在夜间暴力活动加剧了。
• The drought has intensified. 旱情加剧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 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。

3 outskirts   

n.郊外，郊区

参考例句：

• Our car broke down on the outskirts of the city.我们的汽车在市郊出了故障。
• They mostly live on the outskirts of a town.他们大多住在近郊。

4 lull   

v.使安静，使入睡，缓和，哄骗；n.暂停，间歇

参考例句：

• The drug put Simpson in a lull for thirty minutes.药物使辛普森安静了30分钟。
• Ground fighting flared up again after a two-week lull.经过两个星期的平静之后，地面战又突然爆发了。

5 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。

6 plumes   

羽毛( plume的名词复数 )； 羽毛饰； 羽毛状物； 升上空中的羽状物

参考例句：

• The dancer wore a headdress of pink ostrich plumes. 那位舞蹈演员戴着粉色鸵鸟毛制作的头饰。
• The plumes on her bonnet barely moved as she nodded. 她点点头，那帽子的羽毛在一个劲儿颤动。

7 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。

8 labyrinth   

n.迷宫；难解的事物；迷路

参考例句：

• He wandered through the labyrinth of the alleyways.他在迷宫似的小巷中闲逛。
• The human mind is a labyrinth.人的心灵是一座迷宫。

9 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。

10 deteriorating   

恶化，变坏( deteriorate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The weather conditions are deteriorating. 天气变得越来越糟。
• I was well aware of the bad morale and the deteriorating factories. 我很清楚，大家情绪低落，各个工厂越搞越坏。

11 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

12 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

13 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

14 mosques   

清真寺； 伊斯兰教寺院，清真寺； 清真寺，伊斯兰教寺院( mosque的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Why make us believe that this tunnel runs underneath the mosques? 为什么要让我们相信这条隧洞是在清真寺下？
• The city's three biggest mosques, long fallen into disrepair, have been renovated. 城里最大的三座清真寺，过去年久失修，现在已经修复。

15 mingling   

adj.混合的

参考例句：

• There was a spring of bitterness mingling with that fountain of sweets. 在这个甜蜜的源泉中间，已经掺和进苦涩的山水了。
• The mingling of inconsequence belongs to us all. 这场矛盾混和物是我们大家所共有的。