VOA标准英语2009-Rocket Hits Near International Luxury Hotel

Afghan officials say a rocket hit near a luxury hotel in the capital Kabul late Saturday, injuring two people. Earlier, police in northeastern Afghanistan said two back-to-back roadside bombs killed two teenagers and wounded two others.

Sean Maroney | Kabul 21 November 2009

 
Photo: AP
Afghan police and Army soldiers rush to the scene where a rocket hit outside the luxury Serena Hotel in Kabul, 21 Nov 2009

Afghan officials say a rocket hit near a luxury hotel in the capital Kabul late Saturday, injuring four people.  Earlier, police in northeastern Afghanistan said two back-to-back roadside bombs killed two teenagers and wounded two others. 

Afghan Interior Ministry¹ spokesman Zamary Bashary tells VOA that a rocket hit the road between a hospital and the Serena Hotel, a popular residence in Kabul for visiting foreigners.

"The police have been dispatched to the area to investigate and verify from which side the rocket had been launched," he said.

Militants² have targeted the heavily guarded Serena Hotel in the past.

The hotel is located in the center of Kabul, near the presidential palace, government ministries³ and embassies.

Rockets fired at the hotel forced more than 100 people into an underground bunker three weeks ago on the same day that gunmen killed several foreign U.N. staff members in a separate attack on a Kabul guesthouse.

In early 2008, Taliban militants stormed the hotel in a coordinated⁴ assault that killed at least eight people.

Meanwhile, police officials in Taloqan, the provincial⁵ capital of Takhar province, say two roadside bombs exploded within minutes of each other in a busy section of the city.

Violence in Afghanistan this year has been at the highest level since the U.S.-led invasion toppled the Taliban-led government in 2001.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai used his inaugural⁶ address Thursday in another bid to reach out to militants to lay down their weapons and join in the reconstruction⁷ of Afghanistan.

1 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

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 ministries   

（政府的）部( ministry的名词复数 )； 神职； 牧师职位； 神职任期

参考例句：

• Local authorities must refer everything to the central ministries. 地方管理机构应请示中央主管部门。
• The number of Ministries has been pared down by a third. 部委的数量已经减少了1/3。

4 coordinated   

adj.协调的

参考例句：

• The sound has to be coordinated with the picture. 声音必须和画面协调一致。
• The numerous existing statutes are complicated and poorly coordinated. 目前繁多的法令既十分复杂又缺乏快调。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

5 provincial   

adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人

参考例句：

• City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes.城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。
• Two leading cadres came down from the provincial capital yesterday.昨天从省里下来了两位领导干部。

6 inaugural   

adj.就职的；n.就职典礼

参考例句：

• We listened to the President's inaugural speech on the radio yesterday.昨天我们通过无线电听了总统的就职演说。
• Professor Pearson gave the inaugural lecture in the new lecture theatre.皮尔逊教授在新的阶梯讲堂发表了启用演说。

7 reconstruction   

n.重建，再现，复原

参考例句：

• The country faces a huge task of national reconstruction following the war.战后，该国面临着重建家园的艰巨任务。
• In the period of reconstruction,technique decides everything.在重建时期，技术决定一切。