VOA标准英语2008年-Fighting Spreads to Mountains Near Beirut

By Challiss McDonough
Beirut
11 May 2008

Fighting between pro-government and opposition¹ militants² in Lebanon has spread to the mountains overlooking the capital, prompting the country's main Druze leader Walid Jumblatt to appeal to the army to intervene. The violence has killed at least 38 people so far, in the worst internal fighting since the end of Lebanon's 15-year civil war. VOA Correspondent Challiss McDonough has more from Beirut.

Fighting spread Sunday to at least five towns in the mountains east of Beirut, where supporters of the Druze leader Walid Jumblatt battled with Shiite militias³ in the afternoon. Heavy bouts⁴ of automatic weapons fire and occasional explosions of rocket-propelled grenades could be heard echoing through the valley below. Black smoke could be seen rising from the area as dusk fell.

In an interview with the privately⁵ owned LBC television station, Jumblatt implied that he was asking his supporters to stop fighting and cede⁶ control of the area to the army.

He said he consulted with Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, a key opposition leader, and delegated the task of negotiating a ceasefire to his political rival Talal Erslan, "to stop the bloodshed and destruction."

The move is seen as a sign of how hard the government has been hit by the crisis. Jumblatt heads Lebanon's largest Druze faction⁷ and is a key figure in the ruling March 14 coalition⁸, which holds a slim majority in parliament. Erslan is leader of another Druze party allied⁹ with the opposition.

In nationally televised remarks shortly afterward¹⁰, Erslan called on opposition fighters to cease fire.

He said he and Jumblatt had agreed, along with Hezbollah and other opposition parties, that the mountain areas and all weapons found there would be turned over to the Lebanese army.

Earlier in the day, sporadic¹¹ clashes broke out in the eastern Bekaa Valley, near the Syrian border. Heavy fighting raged in the northern city of Tripoli early Sunday morning but died down by sunrise. Men armed with assault rifles were among a group of government supporters barricading¹² the border crossing into Syria at Masnaa, blocking vehicle traffic and questioning people entering Lebanon on foot.

Streets of the capital were nearly deserted¹³ after four days of clashes, especially West Beirut where the fighting had been centered.

Hezbollah and its Shiite allies from the Amal Movement on Sunday withdrew their fighters from the streets of West Beirut, turning most of the area over to the Lebanese army. Roadblocks remained throughout the city, some guarded by the army and others by teenagers and young men apparently¹⁴ allied with one of the opposition factions¹⁵.

Some gunmen could be seen in a few areas, including near the charred¹⁶ remains¹⁷ of a building that formerly¹⁸ belonged to the Future Television station owned by parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri.

Outside, men from the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, a small opposition group, patrolled the streets carrying walkie-talkies. One of them, who gave his name only as Aziz, said he was not sure what to expect next.

He says, "We will see. The leaders are negotiating." He adds that he is not afraid of more fighting. Nodding in the direction of Saad Hariri's residence, he says, "Qoraitem is near… Hariri is there. We could take it."

A newspaper owned by Hariri was set on fire as opposition fighters took over West Beirut on Friday.

The factional fighting erupted Wednesday after the government threatened to shut down Hezbollah's private telecommunications system and its electronic surveillance network at Beirut's international airport. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah called the decision a declaration of war.

Hezbollah and most of the other opposition parties withdrew their fighters from the streets after the army reversed the government's decisions and reinstated the airport's head of security.

It is the worst outbreak of internal fighting since Lebanon's 15-year civil war ended in 1990. It comes amid a political standoff between the opposition, led by Hezbollah, and the pro-Western government, which has dragged on for a year and a half and has left the country without a president since November.

The Arab League on Sunday condemned¹⁹ what it called the use of armed violence to achieve political goals, implicitly²⁰ blaming Hezbollah for the crisis that has threatened to plunge²¹ the country back into civil war.

1 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

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 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

4 bouts   

n.拳击（或摔跤）比赛( bout的名词复数 )；一段（工作）；（尤指坏事的）一通；（疾病的）发作

参考例句：

• For much of his life he suffered from recurrent bouts of depression. 他的大半辈子反复发作抑郁症。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It was one of fistiana's most famous championship bouts. 这是拳击界最有名的冠军赛之一。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

5 privately   

adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地

参考例句：

• Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
• The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。

6 cede   

v.割让，放弃

参考例句：

• The debater refused to cede the point to her opponent.辩论者拒绝向她的对手放弃其主张。
• Not because I'm proud.In fact,in front of you I cede all my pride.这不是因为骄傲，事实上我在你面前毫无骄傲可言。

7 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。

8 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。

9 allied   

adj.协约国的；同盟国的

参考例句：

• Britain was allied with the United States many times in history.历史上英国曾多次与美国结盟。
• Allied forces sustained heavy losses in the first few weeks of the campaign.同盟国在最初几周内遭受了巨大的损失。

10 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。

11 sporadic   

adj.偶尔发生的 [反]regular；分散的

参考例句：

• The sound of sporadic shooting could still be heard.仍能听见零星的枪声。
• You know this better than I.I received only sporadic news about it.你们比我更清楚，而我听到的只是零星消息。

12 barricading   

设路障于，以障碍物阻塞( barricade的现在分词 )； 设路障[防御工事]保卫或固守

参考例句：

• He was barricading himself against possibilities. 他严阵以待可能发生的事。
• As he had anticipated, a thundering iron gate fell nearby, barricading the entrance to the suite. 果然不出馆长所料，附近的一扇铁门轰然倒下，封住了通往画廊的入口。

13 deserted   

adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的

参考例句：

• The deserted village was filled with a deathly silence.这个荒废的村庄死一般的寂静。
• The enemy chieftain was opposed and deserted by his followers.敌人头目众叛亲离。

14 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

15 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

16 charred   

v.把…烧成炭( char的过去式)；烧焦

参考例句：

• the charred remains of a burnt-out car 被烧焦的轿车残骸
• The intensity of the explosion is recorded on the charred tree trunks. 那些烧焦的树干表明爆炸的强烈。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

18 formerly   

adv.从前，以前

参考例句：

• We now enjoy these comforts of which formerly we had only heard.我们现在享受到了过去只是听说过的那些舒适条件。
• This boat was formerly used on the rivers of China.这船从前航行在中国内河里。

19 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

20 implicitly   

adv. 含蓄地, 暗中地, 毫不保留地

参考例句：

• Many verbs and many words of other kinds are implicitly causal. 许多动词和许多其他类词都蕴涵着因果关系。
• I can trust Mr. Somerville implicitly, I suppose? 我想，我可以毫无保留地信任萨莫维尔先生吧？

21 plunge   

v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲

参考例句：

• Test pool's water temperature before you plunge in.在你跳入之前你应该测试水温。
• That would plunge them in the broil of the two countries.那将会使他们陷入这两国的争斗之中。