VOA标准英语2017--随着战争的加剧，成千上万的人逃离摩苏尔

 

HAMMAM ALEEL — 

Every day, thousands of people are fleeing Mosul, Iraq — many running as the walls of their homes collapse¹.

Bombs, airstrikes and helicopter attacks rain down in crowded city neighborhoods while Islamic State militants² fire at the families running away.

“It was a storm of mortar³ and gunfire," says Mariam Hassan, a grandmother of 17 at a camp east of Mosul.

“You could not even go out the front door. We hid under the stairs while the militants and the Iraqi forces fired at each other.”

Pace of fighting picks up

And as the pace of the battle with Islamic State militants accelerates, so too does the crisis for Mosul families. More than a quarter million people have fled their homes since operations began to retake the city began in October, and the most densely⁴ populated areas under IS control are quickly becoming battle zones.

Aid workers say a million people might be displaced from Mosul by the time the war is through.

In recent weeks, the fighting between Iraqi forces and Islamic State militants has intensified⁵, and soldiers say the battle that began last week — for Mosul's Old City — could be the deadliest yet.

Militants posing as refugees

And as crowds arrive in the rapidly growing number of camps surrounding Mosul, security forces are cautious. They say IS militants are attempting to sneak⁶ out of the city, posing as refugees.

“We have sources reporting IS militants in cities, towns and villages,” says Iraqi soldier Ali Hussein, while guarding a camp as families arrive. “We also have photographs and know if someone is giving us a fake ID.”

Conditions are tough

Families say the camps are often short on medical care, food and electricity, but these conditions are often better than the war they fled.

“We used to store water in tanks, but when shrapnel hit them it was gone," says Hussain, a father of four who was an electrician before Islamic State militants moved into Mosul. “We also ran out of food.”

The United Nations says it needs $37 million in additional funding to keep operations going over the next month as Iraqi forces attack IS in the most densely populated parts of Mosul.

1 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

2 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。

3 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。

4 densely   

ad.密集地；浓厚地

参考例句：

• A grove of trees shadowed the house densely. 树丛把这幢房子遮蔽得很密实。
• We passed through miles of densely wooded country. 我们穿过好几英里茂密的林地。

5 intensified   

v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Violence intensified during the night. 在夜间暴力活动加剧了。
• The drought has intensified. 旱情加剧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 sneak   

vt.潜行(隐藏,填石缝)；偷偷摸摸做；n.潜行；adj.暗中进行

参考例句：

• He raised his spear and sneak forward.他提起长矛悄悄地前进。
• I saw him sneak away from us.我看见他悄悄地从我们身边走开。