274 美国谴责以色列“做过头了”

 

Israeli Attack 'Excessive' - US

Nick Simeone

Washington

31 Jul 2001 20:29 UTC

 

The Bush administration is expressing 1)alarm over an Israeli attack on Palestinians that left at least eight people dead. U.S. officials call it a new and dangerous 2)escalation¹ in the 10 months of Arab-Israeli violence.

Rarely does an American administration criticize one side more than the other in the Middle East. But the Israeli attack Tuesday in the West Bank town of Nablus that included the deaths of two 3)innocent civilians² drew an unusually blunt response from State Department Spokesman Charles Hunter, who called the Israeli action "excessive. This attack represents an escalation, is highly 4)provocative, and makes efforts to restore calm much more difficult," said the spokesman.

Two boys under the age of ten were among those killed when Israeli 5)helicopters fired into offices of the terrorist group Hamas in 6)retaliation, Israel says, for previous terrorist attacks by Arabs. It was the deadliest action since Hamas claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing of a Tel Aviv nightclub June 1 which left 21 Israelis dead.

President Bush is calling on both sides to break the cycle of violence as U.S. officials warn of what they call "disaster" if both sides do not pull back from the 7)brink.

 

 

(1)      alarm[E5lB:m]n.警报, 惊慌, 警告器vt.恐吓, 警告

(2)      escalation[9eskE`leIFLn]n.扩大, 增加

(3)      innocent[5InEsEnt]adj.无罪的, 天真的, 无知的

(4)      provocative[prE5vRkEtIv]adj.煽动的n.刺激物

(5)      helicopter[5helIkRptE(r)]n.直升(飞)机, 直升机

(6)      retaliation[rI9tAlI`eIFLn]n.报复, 报仇

(7)      brink[brINk]n.(峭岸、崖的)边缘

 

 

1 escalation   

n.扩大，增加

参考例句：

• The threat of nuclear escalation remains. 核升级的威胁仍旧存在。 来自辞典例句
• Escalation is thus an aspect of deterrence and of crisis management. 因此逐步升级是威慑和危机处理的一个方面。 来自辞典例句

2 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。