VOA标准英语2008年-Explosion Targets Lebanese Army Bus in Tripoli

A car bomb has exploded in the northern Lebanese port city of Tripoli, apparently¹ targeting a Lebanese Army bus. Five people, including at least three soldiers, were killed in the blast and at least 21 people were wounded. Edward Yeranian reports for VOA from Beirut.
　
Lebanese soldiers inspect the site of explosion near a damaged bus in the northern city of Tripoli, Lebanon, 29 Sep 2008

Red Cross and civil defense² ambulances ferried the wounded to nearby hospitals after a car-bomb exploded alongside a bus carrying Lebanese Army soldiers.

The large number of wounded in the blast prompted the director of the nearby Haikal Hospital to urgently plead for donations of blood.

The hospital director said he wasn't sure how many people were wounded but said there was an urgent need for blood.

Lebanon's LBC TV reports that the carbomb was detonated by remote control just as the minibus carrying Lebanese Army soldiers went by. Those who were less seriously wounded were taken to Tripoli's main soccer stadium for treatment.

The explosion was the second targeting a Lebanese Army bus in less than two months. At least 18 people were killed, many of them soldiers, on August 13, when a bomb hidden inside a duffel bag exploded outside a passenger bus in Tripoli's city
center.

Tripoli's Sunni-Muslim mufti Malek Sha'ar insists that those behind this lastest explosion were not from Lebanon and that they were attempting to sow discord³ inside the country. He said the people behind this act are trying to sow discord among Lebanon's different religious groups but he said all Lebanese will unite to fight this attack

Tensions between Lebanon's Sunni-Muslims and the smaller Alawite sect⁴ have been festering since fighting broke out in Tripoli, last May, in the wake of a show of force by the pro-Syrian Hezbollah in Beirut and elsewhere.

Many Lebanese political leaders have accused Syria of fomenting⁵ the fighting, in order to intervene militarily. A Syrian Army brigade was recently deployed⁷ to Lebanon's northern border, but Damascus insists that is merely intended to "combat smuggling⁸."

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad told visiting French President Nicholas Sarkozy, last month, that he had "asked Lebanon's President Michel Suleiman to deploy⁶ an additional Lebanese Army brigade in Tripoli to control the situation.

Several Lebanese commentators⁹ interpreted the remarks as an ominous¹⁰ sign of Syria's intent to intervene militarily in Lebanon.

The explosion of a carbomb in the Syrian capital Damascus, Saturday, is reviving those fears, after several Syrian commentators accused Islamic extremists, based in Lebanon, of the bombing.

 

1 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

2 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。

3 discord   

n.不和，意见不合，争论，（音乐）不和谐

参考例句：

• These two answers are in discord.这两个答案不一样。
• The discord of his music was hard on the ear.他演奏的不和谐音很刺耳。

4 sect   

n.派别，宗教，学派，派系

参考例句：

• When he was sixteen he joined a religious sect.他16岁的时候加入了一个宗教教派。
• Each religious sect in the town had its own church.该城每一个宗教教派都有自己的教堂。

5 fomenting   

v.激起，煽动（麻烦等）( foment的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• They accused him of fomenting political unrest. 他们指控他煽动政治动乱。
• Three sailors were fomenting a mutiny on the ship. 三个水手正在船上煽动叛变。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

6 deploy   

v.（军）散开成战斗队形，布置，展开

参考例句：

• The infantry began to deploy at dawn.步兵黎明时开始进入战斗位置。
• The president said he had no intention of deploying ground troops.总统称并不打算部署地面部队。

7 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

8 smuggling   

n.走私

参考例句：

• Some claimed that the docker's union fronted for the smuggling ring.某些人声称码头工人工会是走私集团的掩护所。
• The evidence pointed to the existence of an international smuggling network.证据表明很可能有一个国际走私网络存在。

9 commentators   

n.评论员( commentator的名词复数 )；时事评论员；注释者；实况广播员

参考例句：

• Sports commentators repeat the same phrases ad nauseam. 体育解说员翻来覆去说着同样的词语，真叫人腻烦。
• Television sports commentators repeat the same phrases ad nauseam. 电视体育解说员说来说去就是那么几句话，令人厌烦。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 ominous   

adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的

参考例句：

• Those black clouds look ominous for our picnic.那些乌云对我们的野餐来说是个不祥之兆。
• There was an ominous silence at the other end of the phone.电话那头出现了不祥的沉默。