VOA标准英语2011--Yemeni Troops Fire into Crowds, Dozens o

Yemeni Troops Fire into Crowds, Dozens of Casualties

Security forces loyal to embattled Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh fired at protesters and armed dissidents in the capital Sana'a Saturday, killing¹ at least 12 people and wounding dozens. Earlier, an airstrike in southeastern Yemen's Shabwa province killed at least nine people, including a number of local al-Qaida figures.
Yemeni government security forces fired teargas and live rounds of ammunition² into crowds of opposition³ supporters Saturday, causing numerous casualties. Witnesses say the government forces were attempting to stop the protesters, who were advancing towards their positions.
Arab satellite channels showed wounded young men in obvious pain as doctors and medics applied⁴ antiseptics to their wounds. Dozens of casualties were lined up on the floor of one local hospital.
The opposition march began at Sana'a University, where protesters shouted slogans against the government and carried banners calling for the resignation of embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Shooting and scuffles broke out after demonstrators tried to cross into territory held by forces loyal to President Saleh along Zubeiri Street. A dissident army unit, loyal to defected army commander Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar controls the square and surrounding district where protesters are camped out.
Deputy Information Minister Abdou Janadi deplored⁵ the casualties, but insisted that it was the opposition that provoked the clashes. He says the casualties are unfortunate, but accuses the opposition of using the protesters as a human shield and dispatching them in the direction of loyalist forces for a confrontation⁶.
Stephen Steinbeiser, who heads the American Center for Yemeni Studies in Sana'a, says the capital has increasingly been divided up into rival centers of power that sometimes come into conflict.
"The situation feels like a low-level civil war, and there are parts of the city downtown where we are that you just can't really go into," Steinbeiser noted⁷. "Some of these areas have been blocked off for months and it does look like a war zone. It looks like kind of the early days of the civil war in Beirut. On the one side you have the burned out buildings and cars, on the other side you have the pocked-marked buildings. It's not completely destroyed, but the soldiers are taking positions on the street corners..."
Steinbeiser argues that the "longer the (chaos) continues, the worse the situation becomes... and the less likely it is for any kind of peaceful resolution." He also notes that the rest of Yemen is in a holding pattern, "waiting to see who wins in the capital."
A Yemeni goverment official said that overnight several suspected U.S. air strikes targeted al-Qaida positions in Shabwa province killing several al-Qaida leaders including the media chief for al-Qaida's Yemen branch and a son of slain⁸ U.S. born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.

1 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。

2 ammunition   

n.军火，弹药

参考例句：

• A few of the jeeps had run out of ammunition.几辆吉普车上的弹药已经用光了。
• They have expended all their ammunition.他们把弹药用光。

3 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。

4 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

5 deplored   

v.悲叹，痛惜，强烈反对( deplore的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They deplored the price of motor car, textiles, wheat, and oil. 他们悲叹汽车、纺织品、小麦和石油的价格。 来自辞典例句
• Hawthorne feels that all excess is to be deplored. 霍桑觉得一切过分的举动都是可悲的。 来自辞典例句

6 confrontation   

n.对抗，对峙，冲突

参考例句：

• We can't risk another confrontation with the union.我们不能冒再次同工会对抗的危险。
• After years of confrontation,they finally have achieved a modus vivendi.在对抗很长时间后，他们最后达成安宁生存的非正式协议。

7 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

8 slain   

杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词)

参考例句：

• The soldiers slain in the battle were burried that night. 在那天夜晚埋葬了在战斗中牺牲了的战士。
• His boy was dead, slain by the hand of the false Amulius. 他的儿子被奸诈的阿缪利乌斯杀死了。