VOA标准英语2009年-Lebanese Doubtful Israel Election Will Improve

Israelis go to the polls in general elections Tuesday with hard-liner Benjamin Netanyahu expected to become the country's next prime minister. Israel's neighbor to the north is concerned. Lebanon is still rebuilding after its war with Israel in 2006, set off when the Shi'ite militant¹ group, Hezbollah, kidnapped three Israeli soldiers. Many Lebanese say they hope for better relations, but they doubt that is possible.
　
Mahmoud Yassin holding picture

The Yassin family has seen their home in southern Lebanon destroyed three times in past conflicts with Israel.

Sixty-eight-year-old, Mahmoud Yassin says the compensation his family received from the militant group, Hezbollah, was 100 times better than what the Lebanese government gave them.

Um Ali Yassin, his daughter-in-law, says Hezbollah's payments allowed them to rebuild their home in the south of the country after the latest war.

She says, there was no obligation from Hezbollah, but they saw that the family was sleeping in the streets after their home was destroyed and decided² to help them.

Although the United States, the European Union and Israel consider Hezbollah a terrorist organization, few Lebanese citizens share that view or even blame the group for causing the hostilities³.
　
A Lebanese woman talks to a man standing⁴ in front of a destroyed building in the southern Lebanese village of Shehabiyeh, 30 August 2006

The 2006 war began after Hezbollah fighters attacked an Israeli patrol along the border, killing⁵ two soldiers and seizing three others. Israel responded with bombing raids in southern Lebanon, Beirut and near the Syrian border - and a ground invasion. More than 1,000 Lebanese - many of them young men - died in the violence.

Karim Makdisi, an assistant professor of international relations at the American University of Beirut, says the Israeli election will not improve relations with Lebanon.

"For over the past 20 years there has been a lot of violence in this region. It doesn't seem to matter if it's Likud, Kadima or Labor⁶. They have all declared war, they all had their foreign adventures in Lebanon and other parts. So it doesn't seem to me much of a difference," said Makdisi.

That sentiment is echoed on the streets of Beirut.

"They are always a threat to us, and they are always looking at us from a threatening eye," said this women.

"I personally believe that it is in the interest of Israel to see, to have a destabilized Lebanon continuously, so irrespective of who comes into government," said this man.

But Soheil El-Natour, a Palestinian refugee from 1948, is hopeful. He works as a legal advisor⁷ for a Lebanese charity in a refugee camp. He says hope lies with the new American administration.

"If they, I mean the Americans, change, to be at least moderate, not against Israel but at least moderate with the rights, human rights, national rights of every part of the Middle East. We can find a way," he said.

Back in southern Lebanon, the Yassins say peace is what they want most of all. Eighteen-year-old Ali is hoping for it.

"There will be peace in Lebanon one day," he says.

But many Lebanese believe that achieving peace will be a huge challenge - for Israel and Lebanon and the new U.S. administration.

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 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 hostilities   

n.战争；敌意(hostility的复数)；敌对状态；战事

参考例句：

• Mexico called for an immediate cessation of hostilities. 墨西哥要求立即停止敌对行动。
• All the old hostilities resurfaced when they met again. 他们再次碰面时，过去的种种敌意又都冒了出来。

4 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

5 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。

6 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

7 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。