VOA标准英语2014--英国确认加入对抗ISIS组织行动

 

Britain Joins Fight Against IS Militants² 英国确认加入对抗ISIS组织行动

LONDON—

After seven hours of debate Friday, British lawmakers voted overwhelmingly in favor of taking military action against the Islamic State. Lower House Speaker John Bercow announced the result.

“The ayes to the right, 524," he said. "The no's to the left, 43. So the ayes have it, the ayes have it.”

Earlier, Prime Minister David Cameron laid out his case for sending warplanes to Iraq. He said, “This is not a threat on the far side of the world. Left unchecked, we will face a terrorist caliphate on the shores of the Mediterranean³, and bordering a NATO member, with a declared and proven determination to attack our country and our people.”

Though the bill only covers military action in Iraq, some lawmakers said it would inevitably⁴ lead to airstrikes on Islamic State positions in Syria.

Outside parliament, anti-war protesters staged a demonstration⁵ against military action. Critics say Britain and the West have learned nothing from the difficult campaign in Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

Corporal Simon Miller⁶, 21, was one of six British soldiers murdered by an angry mob in southern Iraq in 2003. His father John says the British airstrikes will only encourage extremists plotting to attack Britain.

“It's when you're fueling fire, it's a recruiting program," he said. "And the longer that we stay out of it the better, and let those take the lead and get on with it.”

Lance Corporal Ben Hyde was killed in the same incident. His father offers a different opinion on Britain’s fight against Islamic State.

"I think certainly regards Iraq, I think, airstrikes, yeah," he said. "Any assistance that we can give, not necessarily, not boots on the ground, I think that would require a lot more thinking about and a lot more debate.  But certainly anything short of that, we should give."

Islamic State militants recently beheaded British aid worker David Haines, who had been held hostage by the group since 2013.

At the family home in Scotland, his daughter Bethany reads through some of the hundreds of sympathy cards sent from around the world.  She is clear about the need to tackle her father’s murderers.

“IS needs eradicating⁷; they can't continue this way," she said. "They can't be doing this to people and getting away with it, no matter what nationality, if they're Western or not.”

Eradicating the Islamic State will entail⁸ a long campaign, says Michael Stephens, Director of the Royal United Services Institute in Qatar.

“What we [Britain] have is an ability to take the lead in a humanitarian⁹ sense, to help out with refugees, to look at rehabilitating¹⁰ the region, to work with all regional allies to defeat ISIS in the long run - not just the military short term position,” he said.

Six Cyprus-based Tornado¹¹ GR4 fighter-bombers are on standby to take part in initial strikes and could be in action in days.      

Also, Denmark and Belgium on Friday became the latest countries to join the U.S.-led coalition¹² that is launching airstrikes on Islamic State group militants in Iraq.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Friday that the country's policy of not intervening militarily in Syria could evolve over time but there are no plans to do so for now,

Fabius also told reporters France has delivered weapons to the moderate Syrian opposition¹³ and could provide more equipment.

France has bombed Islamic State targets in Iraq but has not taken part in U.S.-led airstrikes against the radical¹⁴ Sunni militant¹ group in Syria, saying it was satisfied with this arrangement and that France's focus was on strengthening the Syrian moderate opposition.

US airstrikes overnight

Meanwhile, U.S. fighter jets, drones and other aircraft continued to pound Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria late Thursday and early Friday.

U.S. Defense¹⁵ Secretary Chuck Hagel said Friday that the strikes deny Islamic State militants the freedom of movement. 

Hagel said more than 200 airstrikes have been conducted in Iraq this week and 43 in Syria. He also said he spoke¹⁶ with Britain's defense secretary and welcomed Britain's decision to join the air campaign in Iraq.

Chairman of the Joint¹⁷ Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey said Friday the military campaign is an Iraq-first strategy, but not an Iraq-only strategy. Dempsey said the strikes in Syria show Islamic State fighters they have no safe haven¹⁸.

The U.S. Central Command, which oversees¹⁹ American military operations in the Middle East, said U.S. military forces conducted 10 airstrikes Thursday and early Friday against Islamic State terrorists in Iraq and Syria. A mix of fighter, attack and remotely piloted aircraft were used in the attacks.

In Iraq, five airstrikes south and southwest of Kirkuk destroyed several vehicles in use by the militants, the military reported. There were also two other airstrikes, one west of Baghdad and another near Al-Qaim, the military reported.

In Syria, three airstrikes south and southeast of Deir el-Zour destroyed four tanks used by Islamic State fighters.

The Syrian Observatory²⁰ for Human Rights, a group monitoring the war in Syria, said Friday that oil facilities were the apparent target of overnight strikes in Deir el-Zour. The group said a command center for the Islamic State group was also hit.

Militants change tactics

Meanwhile, Islamic State militants are changing tactics in the face of U.S. air strikes in northern Iraq, ditching conspicuous²¹ convoys²² in favor of motorcycles and planting their black flags on civilian²³ homes, tribal²⁴ sources and eyewitnesses²⁵ said.

The sources reported fewer militant checkpoints to weed out “apostates” and less cellphone usage by the fighters since the airstrikes intensified²⁶ and more U.S. allies pledged to join the campaign that began in August. They said the militants had also split up to limit their casualties.

A tribal sheik from a village south of Kirkuk said Islamic State fighters “abandoned one of their biggest headquarters in the village” when they heard the airstrike campaign was likely to target their area.

The militants have also taken to erecting²⁷ their notorious black flag on the rooftops of several mostly empty residential²⁸ houses and buildings, to create confusion about their actual presence.

The human rights group did not say if any casualties occurred in the overnight attacks, though the Observatory estimated at least 140 Islamic extremists and 13 civilians²⁹ have been killed in the three previous rounds of airstrikes.

The international alarm has been triggered by Islamic State militants' brutal³⁰ abuses against civilians, rival fighters and Arab and Western hostages, as well as its success in recruiting Western members.

On Thursday, police in London arrested nine people suspected of links to Islamic extremists, including a notorious radical preacher.

And the FBI said it identified the Islamic State jihadist who has appeared in videos showing the beheading of two U.S. journalists and a British aid worker, though it declined to give further details.

In France, Muslims groups were planning a Friday demonstration outside Paris's main mosque³¹ to denounce the Islamic State group.

Border town under siege

Also on Friday, Islamic State fighters edged toward a strategic town on northern Syria's border with Turkey, battling Kurdish forces and sending at least two shells into Turkish territory, witnesses said.

Islamic State fighters launched an offensive to try to capture the border town of Kobani more than a week ago, besieging³² it from three sides. More than 140,000 Kurds have fled the town and surrounding villages since last Friday, crossing into Turkey.

In northern Syria, video posted to social media purports³³ to show Kurdish fighters launching attacks on Islamic State targets near the town of Kobani, which for days has been the center of a struggle between the two sides.

The Sunni insurgents³⁴ appeared to have taken control of a hill from where fighters of the YPG, the main Kurdish armed group in northern Syria, had been attacking them in recent days, 10 kilometers (6 miles) west of Kobani, a Reuters correspondent said.

Booms of artillery³⁵ and bursts of machinegun fire echoed across the border, and at least two shells hit a vineyard on the Turkish side. There were no immediate³⁶ reports of casualties in Turkey and paramilitary police arrived to inspect the site.

The U.S. news network CNN also aired live coverage³⁷ from across the border in Turkey of Islamic State fighters moving across a hillside near Kobani while engaging in gunfire with what were believed to be Kurdish fighters.

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 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 Mediterranean   

adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的

参考例句：

• The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
• Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。

4 inevitably   

adv.不可避免地；必然发生地

参考例句：

• In the way you go on,you are inevitably coming apart.照你们这样下去，毫无疑问是会散伙的。
• Technological changes will inevitably lead to unemployment.技术变革必然会导致失业。

5 demonstration   

n.表明，示范，论证，示威

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。

6 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

7 eradicating   

摧毁，完全根除( eradicate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Objective: To study the acute and chronic toxicity of Ten-flavor-acne eradicating-capsule. 目的：探讨复方中药合剂十味平痤胶囊的急性及慢性毒性。
• We are on the verge of eradicating polio in the world. 我们已在世界消除小儿？痹症的边缘了。

8 entail   

vt.使承担，使成为必要，需要

参考例句：

• Such a decision would entail a huge political risk.这样的决定势必带来巨大的政治风险。
• This job would entail your learning how to use a computer.这工作将需要你学会怎样用计算机。

9 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

10 rehabilitating   

改造（罪犯等）( rehabilitate的现在分词 )； 使恢复正常生活； 使恢复原状； 修复

参考例句：

• a unit for rehabilitating drug addicts 帮助吸毒者恢复正常生活的机构
• She was more concerned about protecting the public than rehabilitating the criminal. 她比较关心保护百姓，而不大关心改造罪犯。

11 tornado   

n.飓风，龙卷风

参考例句：

• A tornado whirled into the town last week.龙卷风上周袭击了这座城市。
• The approaching tornado struck awe in our hearts.正在逼近的龙卷风使我们惊恐万分。

12 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

13 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。

14 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

15 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

16 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。

17 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

18 haven   

n.安全的地方，避难所，庇护所

参考例句：

• It's a real haven at the end of a busy working day.忙碌了一整天后，这真是一个安乐窝。
• The school library is a little haven of peace and quiet.学校的图书馆是一个和平且安静的小避风港。

19 oversees   

v.监督，监视( oversee的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She oversees both the research and the manufacturing departments. 她既监督研究部门又监督生产部门。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Department of Education oversees the federal programs dealing with education. 教育部监管处理教育的联邦程序。 来自互联网

20 observatory   

n.天文台，气象台，瞭望台，观测台

参考例句：

• Guy's house was close to the observatory.盖伊的房子离天文台很近。
• Officials from Greenwich Observatory have the clock checked twice a day.格林威治天文台的职员们每天对大钟检查两次。

21 conspicuous   

adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的

参考例句：

• It is conspicuous that smoking is harmful to health.很明显，抽烟对健康有害。
• Its colouring makes it highly conspicuous.它的色彩使它非常惹人注目。

22 convoys   

n.（有护航的）船队( convoy的名词复数 )；车队；护航（队）；护送队

参考例句：

• Truck convoys often stop over for lunch here. 车队经常在这里停下来吃午饭。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A UN official said aid programs will be suspended until there's adequate protection for relief convoys. 一名联合国官员说将会暂停援助项目，直到援助车队能够得到充分的保护为止。 来自辞典例句

23 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

24 tribal   

adj.部族的，种族的

参考例句：

• He became skilled in several tribal lingoes.他精通几种部族的语言。
• The country was torn apart by fierce tribal hostilities.那个国家被部落间的激烈冲突弄得四分五裂。

25 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。

26 intensified   

v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Violence intensified during the night. 在夜间暴力活动加剧了。
• The drought has intensified. 旱情加剧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

27 erecting   

v.使直立，竖起( erect的现在分词 )；建立

参考例句：

• Nations can restrict their foreign trade by erecting barriers to exports as well as imports. 象设置进口壁垒那样，各国可以通过设置出口壁垒来限制对外贸易。 来自辞典例句
• Could you tell me the specific lift-slab procedure for erecting buildings? 能否告之用升板法安装楼房的具体程序？ 来自互联网

28 residential   

adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的

参考例句：

• The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
• The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。

29 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

30 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

31 mosque   

n.清真寺

参考例句：

• The mosque is a activity site and culture center of Muslim religion.清真寺为穆斯林宗教活动场所和文化中心。
• Some years ago the clock in the tower of the mosque got out of order.几年前，清真寺钟楼里的大钟失灵了。

32 besieging   

包围，围困，围攻( besiege的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• They constituted a near-insuperable obstacle to the besieging infantry. 它们就会形成围城步兵几乎不可逾越的障碍。
• He concentrated the sun's rays on the Roman ships besieging the city and burned them. 他把集中的阳光照到攻城的罗马船上，把它们焚毁。

33 purports   

v.声称是…，（装得）像是…的样子( purport的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She purports to represent the whole group. 她自称代表整个团体。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The document purports to be official but is really private. 那份文件据称是官方的，但实际上是私人的。 来自辞典例句

34 insurgents   

n.起义，暴动，造反( insurgent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The regular troops of Baden joined the insurgents. 巴登的正规军参加到起义军方面来了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Against the Taliban and Iraqi insurgents, these problems are manageable. 要对付塔利班与伊拉克叛乱分子，这些问题还是可以把握住的。 来自互联网

35 artillery   

n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队)

参考例句：

• This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
• The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。

36 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

37 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。