2006年VOA标准英语-Fighting Rages in Southern Lebanon With No Ceas

By Sonja Pace
Jerusalem
26 July 2006

Fierce fighting between Israeli troops and Hezbollah militants¹ raged in southern Lebanon with the Israeli military saying eight of its troops have been killed and 20 others wounded.  The Israeli military says dozens of Hezbollah fighters have been killed.  The fighting goes on after world envoys² could not agree on calls for an immediate³ cease-fire in a conference in Rome.

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For the past several days Israeli troops met fierce resistance in their efforts to take the hilltop town of Bint Jbail, a Hezbollah stronghold four kilometers inside the Lebanese border. 

 
People search rubble⁴ of destroyed building, minutes after Israeli warplane missiles attack in center of southern coastal⁵ city of Tyre, Lebanon
  
Casualties mounted as more troops and tanks moved in.  Reporter Robert Berger was on the Lebanese border and described for VOA what he saw.

"The fighting has been house to house.  These heavily fortified⁶ Merkava tanks are among the best in the world, but Hezbollah has inflicted⁷ losses with anti-tank missiles," he said.  "Israel has encountered tougher resistance than expected, so it is sending in reinforcements."
 
Earlier an Israeli air strike destroyed a U.N. post in southern Lebanon and killed four unarmed military observers.  Initial U.N. reports say the Israeli military was warned repeatedly it risked hitting the U.N. position.  Israel says it was an accident and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has expressed "deep sorrow" over the incident.

Israeli warplanes again pounded targets across southern Lebanon, including a multi-story building in central Tyre.  Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah positions.  It wants to establish a safe buffer⁸ zone of a few kilometers until an international force can take over.

Establishing and deploying⁹ an international peacekeeping force was on the agenda in Rome where senior U.S., European and Arab officials met to discuss the Lebanon crisis.

Fuad Saniora    
  
Attending the Rome conference, Lebanon's Prime Minister Fouad Siniora made an impassioned plea for an immediate cease-fire.

"The more we delay the cease-fire, the more we are going to witness more are being killed, more destruction and more aggression¹⁰ against the civilians¹¹ in Lebanon," he said.

In the past two weeks of air strikes, rocket attacks, shelling and ground fighting more than 400 Lebanese have been killed, most of them civilians.  More than 700,000 have been displaced. Relief supplies have begun to arrive, but there are still reports of civilians trapped in villages under Israeli bombardment and others trying desperately¹² to flee.

The United States has supported Israel's position that an immediate cease-fire would do little good as it would leave an emboldened¹³ Hezbollah in place as a continued threat.  

 
Condoleeza Rice talks to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan at La Farnesina Foreign Ministry¹⁴ in Rome, July 26, 2006 
  
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice repeated that position in Rome, again calling for a sustainable truce¹⁵.

"We are all agreed that we want most urgently to end the violence on a basis that this time will be sustainable, because unfortunately this is a region that has had too many broken cease-fires, followed by too many spasms¹⁶ of violence, followed then by other spasms of violence," said Ms. Rice.

The U.S. position is widely viewed as a green light for Israel to continue its offensive and the senior Israeli commander in the north has said that offensive could continue for several more weeks.
 
The Israeli military action has not stopped Hezbollah's ability to fire rockets into northern Israel.  Hezbollah has fired more than 1,000 Katyushas since hostilities¹⁷ broke out July 12, following a deadly Hezbollah raid into Israel.   More than 100 rockets landed in northern Israel on Wednesday. 

Israel and the State Department say Hezbollah is a terrorist organization.

More than 40 Israelis have been killed in the fighting, including at least two-dozen soldiers and that toll¹⁸ continues to rise.

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 envoys   

使节( envoy的名词复数 )； 公使； 谈判代表； 使节身份

参考例句：

• the routine tit for tat when countries expel each other's envoys 国家相互驱逐对方使节这种惯常的报复行动
• Marco Polo's travelogue mentions that Kublai Khan sent envoys to Malgache. 马可波罗游记中提到忽必烈曾派使节到马尔加什。

3 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

4 rubble   

n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾

参考例句：

• After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
• After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。

5 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

6 fortified   

adj. 加强的

参考例句：

• He fortified himself against the cold with a hot drink. 他喝了一杯热饮御寒。
• The enemy drew back into a few fortified points. 敌人收缩到几个据点里。

7 inflicted   

把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They inflicted a humiliating defeat on the home team. 他们使主队吃了一场很没面子的败仗。
• Zoya heroically bore the torture that the Fascists inflicted upon her. 卓娅英勇地承受法西斯匪徒加在她身上的酷刑。

8 buffer   

n.起缓冲作用的人(或物)，缓冲器；vt.缓冲

参考例句：

• A little money can be a useful buffer in time of need.在急需时，很少一点钱就能解燃眉之急。
• Romantic love will buffer you against life's hardships.浪漫的爱会减轻生活的艰辛。

9 deploying   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
• Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。

10 aggression   

n.进攻，侵略，侵犯，侵害

参考例句：

• So long as we are firmly united, we need fear no aggression.只要我们紧密地团结，就不必惧怕外来侵略。
• Her view is that aggression is part of human nature.她认为攻击性是人类本性的一部份。

11 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。

12 desperately   

adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地

参考例句：

• He was desperately seeking a way to see her again.他正拼命想办法再见她一面。
• He longed desperately to be back at home.他非常渴望回家。

13 emboldened   

v.鼓励，使有胆量( embolden的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Emboldened by the wine, he went over to introduce himself to her. 他借酒壮胆，走上前去向她作自我介绍。
• His success emboldened him to expand his business. 他有了成就因而激发他进一步扩展业务。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

15 truce   

n.休战，(争执，烦恼等的)缓和；v.以停战结束

参考例句：

• The hot weather gave the old man a truce from rheumatism.热天使这位老人暂时免受风湿病之苦。
• She had thought of flying out to breathe the fresh air in an interval of truce.她想跑出去呼吸一下休战期间的新鲜空气。

16 spasms   

n.痉挛( spasm的名词复数 )；抽搐；（能量、行为等的）突发；发作

参考例句：

• After the patient received acupuncture treatment,his spasms eased off somewhat. 病人接受针刺治疗后，痉挛稍微减轻了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The smile died, squeezed out by spasms of anticipation and anxiety. 一阵阵预测和焦虑把她脸上的微笑挤掉了。 来自辞典例句

17 hostilities   

n.战争；敌意(hostility的复数)；敌对状态；战事

参考例句：

• Mexico called for an immediate cessation of hostilities. 墨西哥要求立即停止敌对行动。
• All the old hostilities resurfaced when they met again. 他们再次碰面时，过去的种种敌意又都冒了出来。

18 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。