PBS高端访谈:摩苏尔战事胶着 伊拉克军队狂轰ISIS

 　　HARI SREENIVASAN, PBS NEWSHOUR WEEKEND ANCHOR: It is now the fourth month that the Iraqi army has been working to drive ISIS out of Mosul, the country's second largest city. Iraq's air force has carried out its first-ever strikes on ISIS positions inside in neighboring Syria.

　　"Wall Street Journal" reporter Ben Kesling is covering the conflict and joins me now by Skype from Irbil.

　　Ben, we're catching¹ up with you partly because oftentimes the news about the fight in Iraq gets buried by the things that are happening in Washington here. Give us a quick status update. What's been happening the last few weeks?

　　BEN KESLING, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Well, the most important thing is over the weekend, the Iraqi ground forces launched an offensive on the west side of Mosul. So, Mosul is divided down the middle by the Tigris River. The east side was taken from Islamic State by Iraqi forces in a campaign that began October. Now that campaign has resumed on the other side of the Tigris River, on the west side of Mosul.

　　West side of Mosul is filled with old neighborhoods that are — have twisted, very dense², it's going to be very — it's supposed to be very difficult for the Iraqi military and they are facing that now.

　　But over the weekend that — weekend that offensive was launched. They've — in the past few days, have pushed through taken the airport in the city and then started moving north into some of these dense neighborhoods.

　　SREENIVASAN: One of your recent stories started talking about the presence of drones. We're not talking about the predator-type drones, but that ISIS is using the drones that we might see in a mall in the U.S., those little quad-copter ones.

　　摩苏尔战事胶着 伊拉克军队狂轰ISIS

　　KESLING: That's right. Yes, the Islamic State overtime³ has sort of modified their drone use — drone technology. Months ago, when you got to the battlefield you would see some of these drones that would be shot town, and they kind of looked like crude model airplanes in some cases.

　　But over time, the Islamic State has learned that by using quad-copter type drones, with four rotors, the kind that you can go down to the mall and pick up, they've retrofitted these things with some sort of release mechanism⁴ and now, they are flying over Iraqi positions, both Iraqi military and civilians⁵ in some cases and dropping conventional grenades which detonate on impact, which has — the Iraqi military and U.S. coalition⁶, which is supporting the Iraqi military push have said that this isn't going to prevent the retaking of Mosul but it is causing death. It is causing injuries and it's worrisome for the Iraqi ground troops and for civilians in the city who have to — who have to deal with this threat.

　　SREENIVASAN: Tell us a little bit about that. How many civilians are still stuck in that part of the city?

　　KESLING: Well, it's unclear. There is no great estimate on the number of civilians. But it's likely that there are — that there are still hundreds of thousands of people. Just over the past couple of days, there have been more than 3,000 people who have pushed out of the city, 3,000 civilians. That's according to a new count that came out on Sunday from Iraqi officials. And the U.N. and other aid organizations are expecting to see a number of — a number of more civilians that are being pushed out as displaced persons.

　　SREENIVASAN: All right. Ben Kesling of "The Wall Street Journal", joining us via Skype today from Irbil — thanks so much.

　　KESLING: Thank you.

1 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

2 dense   

a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。
• The path was completely covered by the dense foliage. 小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。

3 overtime   

adj.超时的，加班的；adv.加班地

参考例句：

• They are working overtime to finish the work.为了完成任务他们正在加班加点地工作。
• He was paid for the overtime he worked.他领到了加班费。

4 mechanism   

n.机械装置；机构，结构

参考例句：

• The bones and muscles are parts of the mechanism of the body.骨骼和肌肉是人体的组成部件。
• The mechanism of the machine is very complicated.这台机器的结构是非常复杂的。

5 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。

6 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。