VOA慢速英语2014 中东停火协议失败

 

AS IT IS 2014-07-16 Middle East Cease-Fire Fails 中东停火协议失败

Israeli forces and Palestinian militants¹ intensified² attacks on each other Tuesday. Earlier, the Palestinian group Hamas rejected an Egyptian cease-fire plan.  Hamas governs the Gaza area from which militants launch rocket attacks against Israel.  

The Israeli military began a campaign of airstrikes in Gaza last week following rocket attacks from the area. At least 190 mostly civilian³ Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli attacks. Hundreds of homes have been destroyed as well.

On Tuesday, Hamas leaders rejected the Egyptian plan. Some of the group’s military leaders said the plan was a “surrender” to Israel. Earlier in the day, the Israeli cabinet accepted the plan. But Israel said it restarted airstrikes six hours after accepting the deal, in answer to 50 rocket attacks from Gaza. The Israeli military said its missile defense⁴ system blocked rockets above three cities Tuesday.

Hamas says it was not included in negotiations⁵ to end the conflict.  The cease-fire called for an end to the attacks, the opening of the borders with Gaza, and talks between Hamas and Israel.  The talks were to take place in Egypt within two days.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters the Israeli military would increase its attacks if Hamas does not accept a cease-fire.

“If Hamas rejects the Egyptian proposal and the rocket fire from Gaza does not cease -- and that appears to be the case now -- we are prepared to continue and intensify⁶ our operation to protect our people.”

Talal Okal is a Palestinian newspaper opinion writer. He says the Israeli military operations have helped strengthen support for Hamas.

“For the moment, the popularity of Hamas increased, you know, because the people saw something happen for the first time, you know -- the resistance is ready and able to, to respond, to defend, to do something.”

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry spoke⁷ to reporters in Vienna, Austria Tuesday. He criticized Hamas for continuing its rocket attacks on Israel.

“I cannot condemn⁸ strongly enough the actions of Hamas in so brazenly⁹ firing rockets, in multiple numbers, in the face of a goodwill¹⁰ effort to offer a cease-fire in which Egypt and Israel joined together and the international community strongly supports the idea of a cease-fire, the need, the compelling need to have a cease-fire.”

Late Monday, President Obama attended a gathering¹¹ celebrating the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. He said he was pleased by the Egyptian plan for a cease-fire.

“And I will say very clearly no country can accept rockets fired indiscriminately at citizens. And so we have been very clear that Israel has the right to defend itself against what I consider to be inexcusable attacks from Hamas. At the same time, on top of the humanitarian¹² crisis in Gaza that we’ve worked long and hard to alleviate¹³, the death and injury of Palestinian civilians¹⁴ is a tragedy, which is why we’ve emphasized the need to protect civilians regardless of who they are or where they live.”

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 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》

3 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

4 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。

5 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

6 intensify   

vt.加强；变强；加剧

参考例句：

• We must intensify our educational work among our own troops.我们必须加强自己部队的教育工作。
• They were ordered to intensify their patrols to protect our air space.他们奉命加强巡逻，保卫我国的领空。

7 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

8 condemn   

vt.谴责，指责；宣判(罪犯)，判刑

参考例句：

• Some praise him,whereas others condemn him.有些人赞扬他，而有些人谴责他。
• We mustn't condemn him on mere suppositions.我们不可全凭臆测来指责他。

9 brazenly   

adv.厚颜无耻地；厚脸皮地肆无忌惮地

参考例句：

• How dare he distort the facts so brazenly! 他怎么敢如此肆无忌惮地歪曲事实！ 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• "I don't know," he answered, looking her brazenly over. “我也不知道，"他厚颜无耻地打量着她。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

10 goodwill   

n.善意，亲善，信誉，声誉

参考例句：

• His heart is full of goodwill to all men.他心里对所有人都充满着爱心。
• We paid ￡10,000 for the shop,and ￡2000 for its goodwill.我们用一万英镑买下了这家商店，两千英镑买下了它的信誉。

11 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

12 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。

13 alleviate   

v.减轻，缓和，缓解(痛苦等)

参考例句：

• The doctor gave her an injection to alleviate the pain.医生给她注射以减轻疼痛。
• Nothing could alleviate his distress.什么都不能减轻他的痛苦。

14 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。