VOA标准英语2014--Turkmen From Amerli Describe Survival of IS Siege

 

Turkmen From Amerli Describe Survival of IS Siege

KIRKUK, IRAQ—

Over the past few weeks, hundreds of Shi'ite Turkmen have fled the town of Amerli seeking refuge in the northern city of Kirkuk. Despite recent military gains after U.S. airstrikes that were coordinated¹ with Iraqi and Kurdish forces, the situation remains² dire³ for Amerli’s residents.

Coordinated effort, retaking Amerli

Sunday, at approximately 1:30 in the morning, the U.S. began to bomb Islamic State (or ISIL) positions around Amerli, a town of about 15,000 Shi'ite Turkmen which has been besieged⁴ by the militants⁵ for more than two months.

By noon, the airstrikes and the following coordinated attack by local militia⁶, Kurdish peshmerga, and the Iraqi military seemed to have been a success.

Residents recall their experiences

Around noon, a call came in from Ali Ibrahim, a Turkmen policeman fighting in Amerli. "Our group has taken the village. The road is open. God willing in a few minutes the road will be opened completely," he said.

Then he yelled over the gunfire, "They are in. They are in. We’re moving forward. Come. Come. Come. It is free. It’s free. We have taken Shakr."

Ali al-Bayati, who escaped from Amerli earlier in the month, bellowed⁷ words of encouragement down the phone.

Like so many others who had taken refuge with family members in Kirkuk, he hoped this meant he would be going home soon.

Mohammed Hamid and his mother were airlifted out Saturday. He described what life was like under constant attack from the Islamic State.

“Pregnant women couldn’t give birth because there were no doctors, so mothers were dying with their babies still inside them. Then we had to bury them. There was one group sitting in front of their door and a mortar⁸ round hit right in front, killing⁹ all of them,” stated Hamid.

After the Islamic State militants cut the electricity and water, residents of Amerli had to survive on salty well water that they cooled by leaving it in the shade. The nearly 50-degree Celsius¹⁰ heat left Mohammed’s body covered in blisters¹¹. “All of our bodies were blistered¹² from the heat,” he said.

Amel Akram Khorshid was rescued by an Iraqi military helicopter three days ago. She kept her children alive by feeding them onions three times a day. “We were only eating bread and onions. I was roasting the onions directly on the fire and putting some salt on it. Then I gave it to my children to eat. We had nothing else to offer them,” she explained.

For Amel, Mohammed and the other displaced families, the Iraqi and Kurdish military success in Amerli is wonderful news. But although the siege by the Islamic State may have been broken, the humanitarian¹³ crisis persists, with thousands of people still unable to leave.

1 coordinated   

adj.协调的

参考例句：

• The sound has to be coordinated with the picture. 声音必须和画面协调一致。
• The numerous existing statutes are complicated and poorly coordinated. 目前繁多的法令既十分复杂又缺乏快调。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

2 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

3 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

4 besieged   

包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Paris was besieged for four months and forced to surrender. 巴黎被围困了四个月后被迫投降。
• The community besieged the newspaper with letters about its recent editorial. 公众纷纷来信对报社新近发表的社论提出诘问，弄得报社应接不暇。

5 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。

6 militia   

n.民兵，民兵组织

参考例句：

• First came the PLA men,then the people's militia.人民解放军走在前面，其次是民兵。
• There's a building guarded by the local militia at the corner of the street.街道拐角处有一幢由当地民兵团守卫的大楼。

7 bellowed   

v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的过去式和过去分词 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫

参考例句：

• They bellowed at her to stop. 他们吼叫着让她停下。
• He bellowed with pain when the tooth was pulled out. 当牙齿被拔掉时，他痛得大叫。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

8 mortar   

n.灰浆，灰泥；迫击炮；v.把…用灰浆涂接合

参考例句：

• The mason flushed the joint with mortar.泥工用灰浆把接缝处嵌平。
• The sound of mortar fire seemed to be closing in.迫击炮的吼声似乎正在逼近。

9 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

10 Celsius   

adj.摄氏温度计的，摄氏的

参考例句：

• The temperature tonight will fall to seven degrees Celsius.今晚气温将下降到七摄氏度。
• The maximum temperature in July may be 36 degrees Celsius.七月份最高温度可能达到36摄氏度。

11 blisters   

n.水疱( blister的名词复数 )；水肿；气泡

参考例句：

• My new shoes have made blisters on my heels. 我的新鞋把我的脚跟磨起泡了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• His new shoes raised blisters on his feet. 他的新鞋把他的脚磨起了水疱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 blistered   

adj.水疮状的，泡状的v.（使）起水泡( blister的过去式和过去分词 )；（使表皮等）涨破，爆裂

参考例句：

• He had a blistered heel. 他的脚后跟起了泡。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Their hands blistered, but no one complained. 他们手起了泡，可是没有一个人有怨言。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 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。