2007年VOA标准英语-US Experts Detect Heightened Global Terrorist A

By Greg Flakus
Austin, Texas
17 July 2007

The attempted bombings in London and Glasgow last month and the release of purported² tapes from al-Qaida's leadership this week have raised concerns about possible new terrorist attacks. But recent events in Pakistan have raised the possibility of military action in the mountainous northwest provinces where local tribesmen have provided al-Qaida and Taleban leaders with a hideout. VOA's Greg Flakus spoke³ to top analysts⁵ following these events at Strategic Forecasting, known as Stratfor, and filed this report from Austin, Texas.

At their headquarters in the heart of Texas, terrorism experts and political analysts keep a close eye on developments that may affect their clients, who include international businesses as well as government officials.

In the new U.S. intelligence report, al-Qaida is portrayed⁶ as a growing threat. The report says the terrorist organization, utilizing⁷ new training camps along the Afghan-Pakistan border, is stepping up efforts to get operatives into the United States to carry out attacks, perhaps on the scale of September 11, 2001. This week a new Osama bin¹ Laden⁸ tape emerged and, although many analysts believe it was taped years ago, Stratfor's Vice⁹ President of Counter-Terrorism Analysis, Fred Burton, says there may be something going on.

Fred Burton

"We had Dr. al-Zawahiri's tape last week and now the bin Laden tape this week, I do find that interesting," he said.  "On the heels of London and Glasgow and, of course, last summer we were dealing¹⁰ with the Heathrow aviation plot, which was very serious at the time. So, there is a general sense in my conversations with various counter-terrorism officials and from our own assessments¹¹ here at Stratfor that there appears to be a little bit of chatter¹² that is upticked."

Burton says there is no doubt al-Qaida would like to get operatives into the United States to carry out attacks, but that has become far more difficult as a result of stepped up counter-terrorism efforts.

Pervez Musharraf (file photo)

Burton says al-Qaida is also less secure in its Pakistan hideout as a result of renewed pressure on Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to deal with not only al-Qaida, but with other Islamic militants¹³ who are carrying out attacks in Pakistan.

"I think he is under a lot of pressure to do something. There is a tremendous amount of U.S. pressure on him to do something for that specific little region," he said.  "My personal opinion is that, sooner or later, we will see some effort under way and it very well might be covert¹⁴ action on the part of the Pakistanis in concert with the CIA or U.S. special forces or we are going to see U.S. special forces covert action in that area."

Burton clarifies, however, that direct U.S. involvement is not likely, because it would involve an attack in another nation's territory.

Pakistani military incursions into the area in the past disturbed tribal¹⁵ groups there and led to bloody¹⁶ confrontations¹⁷ between them and the army. Since September of last year, President Musharraf has kept his forces out of the region under an agreement with local leaders. But the truce¹⁸ was broken by Taleban leaders Monday and terrorist attacks in recent days have claimed dozens of lives.

Since the prime targets of many of these attacks have been police and the military, Stratfor's South Asia analyst⁴ Reva Bhalla sees an increase in domestic pressure on Mr. Musharraf to act against the terrorists.

Reva Bhalla

"Though the military is backing Musharraf for the time being, if these attacks get out of hand elsewhere in the region and they are targeting military and security forces, it will come to a point where, if Musharraf cannot handle it and he is becoming a political liability, he may be asked to step aside ahead of the elections," she noted¹⁹.

Bhalla says a new Pakistani campaign in the tribal regions is the last thing al-Qaida's top leadership could have wanted as it puts them on the run and reduces their capability²⁰ to coordinate²¹ operations elsewhere.

"Al-Qaida is in a very tough position because, in the past, thus far they have really been taking great care that they did not have a lot of military activity in the area where they have been hiding out," she added.  "For operational security reasons, you want to keep intact your core hideout and your sympathizers in that area. You do not want to alienate²² them by encouraging attacks in that region."

President Musharraf is making efforts to restore the truce with northern tribal leaders in order to calm domestic tensions, but if the violence continues, he may have little other option than to confront the tribe groups with military force.

1 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

2 purported   

adj.传说的，谣传的v.声称是…，（装得）像是…的样子( purport的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• the scene of the purported crime 传闻中的罪案发生地点
• The film purported to represent the lives of ordinary people. 这部影片声称旨在表现普通人的生活。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 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。

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 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

6 portrayed   

v.画像( portray的过去式和过去分词 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• Throughout the trial, he portrayed himself as the victim. 在审讯过程中，他始终把自己说成是受害者。
• The author portrayed his father as a vicious drunkard. 作者把他父亲描绘成一个可恶的酒鬼。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 utilizing   

v.利用，使用( utilize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Utilizing an assembler to produce a machine-language program. 用汇编程序产生机器语言的过程。 来自辞典例句
• The study and use of devices utilizing properties of materials near absolute zero in temperature. 对材料在接近绝对零度时的特性进行研究和利用的学科。 来自辞典例句

8 laden   

adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的

参考例句：

• He is laden with heavy responsibility.他肩负重任。
• Dragging the fully laden boat across the sand dunes was no mean feat.将满载货物的船拖过沙丘是一件了不起的事。

9 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

10 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

11 assessments   

n.评估( assessment的名词复数 )；评价；（应偿付金额的）估定；（为征税对财产所作的）估价

参考例句：

• He was shrewd in his personal assessments. 他总能对人作出精明的评价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Surveys show about two-thirds use such assessments, while half employ personality tests. 调查表明，约有三分之二的公司采用了这种测评；而一半的公司则采用工作人员个人品质测试。 来自百科语句

12 chatter   

vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战

参考例句：

• Her continuous chatter vexes me.她的喋喋不休使我烦透了。
• I've had enough of their continual chatter.我已厌烦了他们喋喋不休的闲谈。

13 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。

14 covert   

adj.隐藏的；暗地里的

参考例句：

• 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。
• The army carried out covert surveillance of the building for several months.军队对这座建筑物进行了数月的秘密监视。

15 tribal   

adj.部族的，种族的

参考例句：

• He became skilled in several tribal lingoes.他精通几种部族的语言。
• The country was torn apart by fierce tribal hostilities.那个国家被部落间的激烈冲突弄得四分五裂。

16 bloody   

adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染

参考例句：

• He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
• He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。

17 confrontations   

n.对抗，对抗的事物( confrontation的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• At times, this potential has escalated into actual confrontations. 有时，这一矛盾升级为实际的对抗。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
• These confrontations and uncertainties were bing played out for the first time on a global scale. 所有这一切对抗和不稳定，第一次在全球范围内得到充分的表演。 来自辞典例句

18 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。

19 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

20 capability   

n.能力；才能；(pl)可发展的能力或特性等

参考例句：

• She has the capability to become a very fine actress.她有潜力成为杰出演员。
• Organizing a whole department is beyond his capability.组织整个部门是他能力以外的事。

21 coordinate   

adj.同等的，协调的；n.同等者；vt.协作，协调

参考例句：

• You must coordinate what you said with what you did.你必须使你的言行一致。
• Maybe we can coordinate the relation of them.或许我们可以调和他们之间的关系。

22 alienate   

vt.使疏远，离间；转让(财产等)

参考例句：

• His attempts to alienate the two friends failed because they had complete faith.他离间那两个朋友的企图失败了，因为他们彼此完全信任。
• We'd better not alienate ourselves from the colleagues.我们最好还是不要与同事们疏远。