VOA标准英语2011--Unrest Ripples Across Troubled Middle Ea

 Unrest Ripples¹ Across Troubled Middle East

Tensions continue to mount in a number of Syrian cities after violent crackdowns against anti-government protesters. Witnesses say government forces have surrounded the town of Banias, and clashes have been reported in several nearby villages. Unrest also continued Tuesday in Yemen, Bahrain, and Algeria.
Protesters in the Syrian town of Palmyra chanted slogans against the government as they buried a young man killed during recent unrest. The footage on a Facebook support group claims the young man was an army soldier who was shot for refusing orders to fire on protesters.
Eyewitnesses² also report that Syrian tanks have sealed off the coastal³ town of Banias, scene of violent sectarian clashes in recent days. One man told the French news agency that security forces were "firing indiscriminately" at the nearby town of Baida, with "gunfire as intense as rain."
Banias is the hometown of former Syrian Vice⁴ President Abdel Helim Khaddam. He fled Syria several years ago for Europe, where he leads an anti-government umbrella group.
Human Rights Watch, meanwhile, is blaming the Syrian government for denying medical care to wounded protesters.
Nadim Houry of the group's Beirut office says rights workers spoke⁵ to at least 20 eyewitnesses who insist that security forces have prevented doctors and medics from treating wounded protesters:
"Security forces were preventing medical personnel from reaching the wounded, either by firing at anyone who would get closer to the wounded protesters or by preventing ambulances from reaching areas where people were wounded or even detaining wounded protesters as the arrived to hospitals. That has led many of the doctors to treat the wounded protesters either in private homes or in actual mosques," he said.
Houry says that conditions in the flashpoint city of Daraa were so primitive⁶ that doctors "used a spoon to determine the position of a bullet on one patient."
The editor of Syria's official government daily Al Thawra told al-Jazeera television that the foreign press was "exaggerating the scope of violence inside Syria." Syria has prevented most foreign journalists from visiting strife-torn areas and expelled many from the country.
In the Yemeni capital, Sana'a, and other cities, tens of thousands of protesters rallied to denounce a Gulf⁷ Cooperation Council mediation⁸ plan that calls for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to hand over power to his vice president. The protesters complain that the plan gives President Saleh immunity⁹ from prosecution¹⁰.
Elsewhere, thousands of student protesters rallied in the Algerian capital, Algiers, to demand the resignation of the country's education minister.
Thousands of students in Algeria have marched toward the presidential palace in the capital, Algiers, where they were confronted by security forces.
News reports say the students clashed with security forces in front of the presidential palace.

1 ripples   

逐渐扩散的感觉( ripple的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The moon danced on the ripples. 月亮在涟漪上舞动。
• The sea leaves ripples on the sand. 海水在沙滩上留下了波痕。

2 eyewitnesses   

目击者( eyewitness的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The examination of all the eyewitnesses took a week. 对所有证人的质询用了一周的时间。
• Several eyewitnesses testified that they saw the officers hit Miller in the face. 几位目击证人证明他们看见那几个警官打了米勒的脸。

3 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

4 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

5 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

6 primitive   

adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物

参考例句：

• It is a primitive instinct to flee a place of danger.逃离危险的地方是一种原始本能。
• His book describes the march of the civilization of a primitive society.他的著作描述了一个原始社会的开化过程。

7 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

8 mediation   

n.调解

参考例句：

• The dispute was settled by mediation of the third country. 这场争端通过第三国的斡旋而得以解决。
• The dispute was settled by mediation. 经调解使争端得以解决。

9 immunity   

n.优惠；免除；豁免，豁免权

参考例句：

• The law gives public schools immunity from taxation.法律免除公立学校的纳税义务。
• He claims diplomatic immunity to avoid being arrested.他要求外交豁免以便避免被捕。

10 prosecution   

n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营

参考例句：

• The Smiths brought a prosecution against the organizers.史密斯家对组织者们提出起诉。
• He attempts to rebut the assertion made by the prosecution witness.他试图反驳原告方证人所作的断言。