VOA常速英语2008年-Iraqi Security Forces Search for Kidnapped Jour

By Deborah Block
Irbil
12 February 2008

Iraq security forces have launched an intensive search for a British journalist and his Iraqi translator, kidnapped Sunday in the southern city of Basra.  On Tuesday, another journalist from Iraq was found shot to death in Baghdad.  Deborah Block reports from the northern Iraqi city of Irbil.

Witnesses say the kidnapping in Basra happened Sunday when about 10 gunmen stormed a hotel and seized the British reporter and his Iraqi interpreter.  Both were working for the U.S. television network CBS which has not released their names.  Witnesses say the reporter is a British photo-journalist who had previously¹ worked in Basra.  An Iraqi security official says one man has been detained in connection with the kidnapping.

Basra is Iraq's second-largest city and is predominately Shi'ite.  The province has been the scene of intense fighting between rival Shi'ite militias², the Mahdi Army of radical³ cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, and Badr Brigades of the Supreme⁴ Iraqi Islamic Council.
  
Harith al-Edhari, an official in Sadr's Basra office, says the kidnappers⁵ should release the two men.

He says that if the perpetrators belong to a resistance group, resistance does not target humanitarian⁶ workers and the journalists are humanitarian employees.

On Tuesday, an Iraqi journalist who works for a media watchdog group was found shot to death in Baghdad.  The man's employer, The Young Journalists League, says 27-year-old Hisham Michwit Hamdan went missing Sunday after leaving the group's offices.

A number of Iraqi and foreign journalists have been kidnapped or killed in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion.  The country is regarded as the most dangerous in the world for journalists.
  
Meanwhile, a police officer was killed and two others wounded Tuesday when gunmen in a speeding car attacked their patrol just south of Basra.

Also, gunmen opened fire on a school bus in central Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad, killing⁷ two girls and a boy and wounding the driver and two other students. 

Also in Diyala province, Iraqi police say a mass grave with 13 decomposed⁸ bodies was uncovered in an orchard⁹ near the city of Muqdadiyah.  A similar mass grave containing the bodies of 19 executed men was discovered near Muqdadiyah at the end of January.
  
Diyala is one of Iraq's most dangerous provinces and a stronghold of al-Qaida in Iraq.

1 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

2 militias   

n.民兵组织，民兵( militia的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The troops will not attempt to disarm the warring militias. 部队并不打算解除战斗中的民兵武装。 来自辞典例句
• The neighborhood was a battleground for Shiite and Sunni militias. 那里曾是什叶派和逊尼派武装分子的战场。 来自互联网

3 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

4 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

5 kidnappers   

n.拐子，绑匪( kidnapper的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They were freed yesterday by their kidnappers unharmed. 他们昨天被绑架者释放了，没有受到伤害。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The kidnappers had threatened to behead all four unless their jailed comrades were released. 帮匪们曾经威胁说如果印度方面不释放他们的同伙，他们就要将这四名人质全部斩首。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 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。

7 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。

8 decomposed   

已分解的，已腐烂的

参考例句：

• A liquid is decomposed when an electric current passes through it. 当电流通过时，液体就分解。
• Water can be resolved [decomposed] into hydrogen and oxygen. 水可分解为氢和氧。

9 orchard   

n.果园，果园里的全部果树，(美俚)棒球场

参考例句：

• My orchard is bearing well this year.今年我的果园果实累累。
• Each bamboo house was surrounded by a thriving orchard.每座竹楼周围都是茂密的果园。