VOA标准英语2011--Pakistan Denies Arresting Army Major for

Pakistan Denies Arresting Army Major for US Ties

A report in Wednesday's New York Times quotes unnamed U.S. intelligence officials as saying Pakistan has arrested five people, including a Pakistani military official, accused of passing information to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency prior to last month's U.S. raid in the Pakistani garrison¹ town of Abbottabad that resulted in the death of Osama bin² Laden³.
The Times report exposes the growing friction⁴ between the U.S. and Pakistan in the wake of that operation.
The New York Times article cites unnamed sources in the American intelligence community who claim that the five detainees include a Pakistani army major who copied the license⁵ plate numbers of cars visiting Bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad in the weeks leading up to the May 2 U.S. raid.
Pakistani military spokesman Brigadier General Syed Azmat Ali emphasized that no Pakistani military personnel have been detained in relation to the Abbottabad raid.
"We categorically deny that any such or any army officer was arrested in connection with this," said Azmat Ali.
The military spokesman did confirm that there have been arrests in the wake of the May 2 raid, but he would not clarify what the charges were or whether those being held were being prosecuted⁶, as the New York Times reports, because they assisted the CIA.
"Yes, there have been arrests after the incident has happened," added Azmat Ali. "I can't give the details of the arrests because anyone involved with that locality or that compound, they were arrested and they're the arrests we are talking about. And they are under investigation⁷ and some of them might be cleared."
According to The New York Times, CIA Director Leon Panetta raised the issue of the detained Pakistani informants when he visited Islamabad last week.
The Abbottabad raid, along with other recent incidents, has increased pressure on the Pakistani military both internationally and domestically. The accusations⁸ against Pakistan's military range from complicity in extremist activity to outright⁹ incompetence¹⁰, despite its massive budget.
The onslaught of criticism of the military is virtually unprecedented¹¹ here, and has plunged¹² the country into a seemingly endless state of crisis.
For retired¹³ General Talat Masood, the military, the intelligence services and the government are responding to the situation poorly. He says they should be proactive rather than simply trying to save face, particularly in responding to the fact that Bin Laden was able to hide out in Pakistan.
"We have to see whether the Pakistan intelligence services are trying to find out as to how he was living here, what were the sources of his support," said Masood. "But the government, the military leadership and the intelligence leadership seem to be more concerned about their image. They should not be, because the best way to preserve your image is by trying to confront the weaknesses rather than trying to cover them up."
There have also been calls for action from U.S. authorities who, according to the Times article, are frustrated¹⁴ that the Pakistanis seem more concerned with damage control in the wake of the Bin Laden raid than with actually pursuing the leads that the raid produced.

1 garrison   

n.卫戍部队；驻地，卫戍区；vt.派(兵)驻防

参考例句：

• The troops came to the relief of the besieged garrison.军队来援救被围的守备军。
• The German was moving to stiffen up the garrison in Sicily.德军正在加强西西里守军之力量。

2 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

3 laden   

adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的

参考例句：

• He is laden with heavy responsibility.他肩负重任。
• Dragging the fully laden boat across the sand dunes was no mean feat.将满载货物的船拖过沙丘是一件了不起的事。

4 friction   

n.摩擦，摩擦力

参考例句：

• When Joan returned to work,the friction between them increased.琼回来工作后，他们之间的摩擦加剧了。
• Friction acts on moving bodies and brings them to a stop.摩擦力作用于运动着的物体，并使其停止。

5 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。

6 prosecuted   

a.被起诉的

参考例句：

• The editors are being prosecuted for obscenity. 编辑因刊载污秽文字而被起诉。
• The company was prosecuted for breaching the Health and Safety Act. 这家公司被控违反《卫生安全条例》。

7 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

8 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

9 outright   

adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的

参考例句：

• If you have a complaint you should tell me outright.如果你有不满意的事，你应该直率地对我说。
• You should persuade her to marry you outright.你应该彻底劝服她嫁给你。

10 incompetence   

n.不胜任，不称职

参考例句：

• He was dismissed for incompetence. 他因不称职而被解雇。
• She felt she had been made a scapegoat for her boss's incompetence. 她觉得，本是老板无能，但她却成了替罪羊。

11 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

12 plunged   

v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• The train derailed and plunged into the river. 火车脱轨栽进了河里。
• She lost her balance and plunged 100 feet to her death. 她没有站稳，从100英尺的高处跌下摔死了。

13 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

14 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》