voa标准英语2008年-Israeli Air Strike Kills More Palestinians in G

Four Palestinian militants² have been killed in an upsurge of violence in and around the Gaza Strip. Robert Berger reports from the VOA bureau in Jerusalem.
　

Palestinians evacuate3 the body of a Palestinian into Shifa hospital in Gaza City, Sunday 16 Nov. 2008, following an Israeli airstrike

Israel launched a deadly air strike against Palestinian militants who were firing mortar⁴ shells across the Gaza border. The air raid also followed a Palestinian rocket attack.

The Islamic militant¹ group Hamas that rules Gaza promised retaliation⁵.

"Today's crime will not pass without punishment," said Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum.

But Hamas stopped short of saying that the five-month-old Gaza ceasefire is over, despite nearly two weeks of tit-for-tat attacks. During that period, 170 rockets and mortars⁶ have been fired at Israel and 15 Palestinian militants have been killed.

Israel also wants to preserve the cease-fire. But at the weekly Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he ordered the army to present plans for various operations against what he called the "Hamas terrorist regime."

Mr. Olmert said Israel is not eager for battle, but does not fear it.

In a bid to pressure Hamas to halt the rocket fire, Israel has shut its borders with Gaza since fighting erupted 12 days ago.

Chris Gunness, spokesman for the U.N. agency that feeds 750,000 Palestinians, says it is a catastrophe⁷.

"We have no food. Our warehouses⁸ are empty. I cannot say it any clearer than that," Gunness said.

The United Nations and European Union have called for Israel to immediately reopen its border crossings with Gaza to prevent a humanitarian⁹ crisis.

1 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

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 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。

4 mortar   

n.灰浆，灰泥；迫击炮；v.把…用灰浆涂接合

参考例句：

• The mason flushed the joint with mortar.泥工用灰浆把接缝处嵌平。
• The sound of mortar fire seemed to be closing in.迫击炮的吼声似乎正在逼近。

5 retaliation   

n.报复，反击

参考例句：

• retaliation against UN workers 对联合国工作人员的报复
• He never said a single word in retaliation. 他从未说过一句反击的话。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 mortars   

n.迫击炮( mortar的名词复数 )；砂浆；房产；研钵

参考例句：

• They could not move their heavy mortars over the swampy ground. 他们无法把重型迫击炮移过那片沼泽地。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Where the hell are his mortars? 他有迫击炮吗？ 来自教父部分

7 catastrophe   

n.大灾难，大祸

参考例句：

• I owe it to you that I survived the catastrophe.亏得你我才大难不死。
• This is a catastrophe beyond human control.这是一场人类无法控制的灾难。

8 warehouses   

仓库，货栈( warehouse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The whisky was taken to bonded warehouses at Port Dundee. 威士忌酒已送到邓迪港的保稅仓库。
• Row upon row of newly built warehouses line the waterfront. 江岸新建的仓库鳞次栉比。

9 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。