VOA标准英语2013--美国权衡回应肯尼亚商城的攻击事件

 

US Weighs Response to Kenya Mall Attack 美国权衡回应肯尼亚商城的攻击事件

PENTAGON — The U.S. reaction to the attack by al-Shabab militants¹ on a Kenyan mall has been cautious.  The U.S. military, which has a small presence in Kenya, is reviewing its tactics and the work its teams are doing to train and equip Kenyan forces to go after the group.

The attack on Nairobi's Westgate mall is seen as retaliation² for strikes by Kenyan forces on al-Shabab targets in Somalia.

Now, the U.S. is weighing how to respond and possibly boost assistance to the Kenyan army.

Defense³ analyst⁴ Seth Jones, testifying before a U.S. congressional panel, told lawmakers the approach should not end up helping⁵ al-Shabab to recruit more fighters.

“I think one thing we've got to be careful about is we don't encourage the Kenyans to overreact, conduct overt⁶ attacks within Somalia," said Jones.

Observers say images of Kenyans attacking Somalis with U.S. help would help al-Shabab gain sympathy - especially among young Somalis.

The U.S. has announced no plans to boost its presence in Kenya beyond the 150 U.S. troops who are now there, helping Kenyan forces build their capacity.

Al-Shabab has lost much of its territory in Somalia, but analyst Katherine Zimmerman says the Nairobi attack shows the U.S. and its partners have much more work to do.  

“The strategy is working in parts but it's not going to work long-term.  It's been able to hold off the rise of al-Shabab enough to keep it from growing in East Africa, but what we've seen is a resurgence⁷ there," said Zimmerman.

The Kenyans' response to the mall attack showed deficiencies in professionalism and command-and-control capabilities⁸.

Reports say some first responders to the mall attack were seen looting rather than rescuing victims.  And there are complaints of disorganized rescue efforts and heavy-handed tactics that resulted in victims' deaths.

Analyst Vanda Felbab-Brown says those types of tactical and technical issues should be easy for U.S. trainers to fix.

“In some ways, figuring how you knock down a door is far easier than figuring how you get broad intelligence.  And the fact that the Kenyans struggled even with this tactical bit so much shows the real paucity⁹ of capacity despite our training so far," said Felbab-Brown.

For now, U.S. officials consider al-Shabab a regional threat with no real capacity to hit U.S. territory.  However, memories of the 1998 U.S. embassy attacks in East Africa by al-Qaida - then also considered only a regional threat - are bolstering¹⁰ calls for closer attention and a strong - albeit¹¹ low-key - U.S. response. 

 

1 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。

2 retaliation   

n.报复，反击

参考例句：

• retaliation against UN workers 对联合国工作人员的报复
• He never said a single word in retaliation. 他从未说过一句反击的话。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 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。

4 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

5 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

6 overt   

adj.公开的，明显的，公然的

参考例句：

• His opponent's intention is quite overt.他的对手的意图很明显。
• We should learn to fight with enemy in an overt and covert way.我们应学会同敌人做公开和隐蔽的斗争。

7 resurgence   

n.再起，复活，再现

参考例句：

• A resurgence of his grief swept over Nim.悲痛又涌上了尼姆的心头。
• Police say drugs traffickers are behind the resurgence of violence.警方说毒贩是暴力活动重新抬头的罪魁祸首。

8 capabilities   

n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力

参考例句：

• He was somewhat pompous and had a high opinion of his own capabilities. 他有点自大，自视甚高。 来自辞典例句
• Some programmers use tabs to break complex product capabilities into smaller chunks. 一些程序员认为，标签可以将复杂的功能分为每个窗格一组简单的功能。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

9 paucity   

n.小量，缺乏

参考例句：

• The paucity of fruit was caused by the drought.水果缺乏是由于干旱造成的。
• The results are often unsatisfactory because of the paucity of cells.因细胞稀少，结果常令人不满意。

10 bolstering   

v.支持( bolster的现在分词 )；支撑；给予必要的支持；援助

参考例句：

• Why should Donahue's people concern themselves with bolstering your image? 唐纳休的人为什么要费心维护你的形象？ 来自辞典例句
• He needed bolstering and support. 他需要别人助他一臂之力。 来自辞典例句

11 albeit   

conj.即使；纵使；虽然

参考例句：

• Albeit fictional,she seemed to have resolved the problem.虽然是虚构的，但是在她看来好象是解决了问题。
• Albeit he has failed twice,he is not discouraged.虽然失败了两次，但他并没有气馁。