VOA标准英语10月-US Cautions Syria on Lebanon Border Moves

The United States is cautioning Syria against new intervention¹ in Lebanon following a terrorist attack in Damascus late last month that Syria has blamed on Lebanon-based militants². U.S. officials say they have been monitoring Syrian military activity along the Lebanese border. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department.
　

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad visits a man injured in a car-bombing in Damascus 01 Oct 2008

U.S. officials are expressing concern about Syrian military moves along the Lebanese border and the United States is publicly warning Damascus not to use recent terrorist attacks as a pretext³ for re-entering Lebanon.

Syrian authorities blame al-Qaida-inspired militants in northern Lebanon for a September 27 car bomb attack in Damascus near a building occupied by Syrian security services that killed at least 17 people.

Syrian officials said last week the explosives-laden vehicle had entered Syria from Lebanon a day before the attack and the driver, who was killed in the operation, was linked to a Lebanese radical⁴ group by other suspects.

Two days after the Damascus attack, a car bomb exploded near a Lebanese army bus in the northern Lebanese port city of Tripoli, killing⁵ five people including four soldiers. That attack was also attributed to Islamic militants from the area.

The United States condemned⁶ both attacks, calling the bombing in Damascus particularly abhorrent⁷ because it came during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

But State Department Deputy Spokesman Robert Wood said Syria should not use it as an excuse for returning military forces to Lebanon. "Any intervention by Syrian troops into Lebanon would be unacceptable. The recent terrorist attacks that took place in Tripoli and Damascus should not serve a pretext for further Syrian military engagement, and should not be used to interfere⁸ in Lebanese internal affairs," said Wood.

News reports from Lebanon say about 10,000 Syrian troops have been deployed⁹ along the northern part of Syria's border with Lebanon, not far from Tripoli.

Lebanese authorities are reported to be considering their own crackdown on militants around Tripoli, where heavy clashes occurred last year between Lebanese forces and militants in a Palestinian refugee camp.

A senior State Department official said the Lebanese government needs to be able to sort out its affairs without Syrian interference, military or political. He said Damascus authorities know that if they want to return to the good graces of the international community there can be no return to its past role in Lebanese affairs.

Syrian troops left Lebanon under international pressure in 2005 after nearly 30 years of occupation.

U.S.-Syrian relations went into a deep freeze that same year after the assassination¹⁰ of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in which Syrian agents were implicated¹¹ by U.N. investigators¹².

But bilateral¹³ contacts have increased in recent weeks with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice meeting briefly¹⁴ with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem two weeks ago at the United Nations.

The Syrian official also had a longer U.N. meeting with Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch.

1 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

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 pretext   

n.借口，托词

参考例句：

• He used his headache as a pretext for not going to school.他借口头疼而不去上学。
• He didn't attend that meeting under the pretext of sickness.他以生病为借口，没参加那个会议。

4 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

5 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。

6 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

7 abhorrent   

adj.可恶的，可恨的，讨厌的

参考例句：

• He is so abhorrent,saying such bullshit to confuse people.他这样乱说，妖言惑众，真是太可恶了。
• The idea of killing animals for food is abhorrent to many people.许多人想到杀生取食就感到憎恶。

8 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

9 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

10 assassination   

n.暗杀；暗杀事件

参考例句：

• The assassination of the president brought matters to a head.总统遭暗杀使事态到了严重关头。
• Lincoln's assassination in 1865 shocked the whole nation.1865年，林肯遇刺事件震惊全美国。

11 implicated   

adj.密切关联的；牵涉其中的

参考例句：

• These groups are very strongly implicated in the violence. 这些组织与这起暴力事件有着极大的关联。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Having the stolen goods in his possession implicated him in the robbery. 因藏有赃物使他涉有偷盗的嫌疑。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

12 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 bilateral   

adj.双方的，两边的，两侧的

参考例句：

• They have been negotiating a bilateral trade deal.他们一直在商谈一项双边贸易协定。
• There was a wide gap between the views of the two statesmen on the bilateral cooperation.对双方合作的问题，两位政治家各自所持的看法差距甚大。

14 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。