VOA常速英语2008年-Israelis Pay Solidarity Visit to Town Battered

By Robert Berger
Jerusalem
22 February 2008

Thousands of Israelis have rallied in small town that has been the target of Palestinian rockets. As Robert Berger reports from VOA's Jerusalem bureau, the Israeli government is facing mounting public pressure to take decisive military action in the Gaza Strip to halt the rocket fire.

A convoy¹ of hundreds of cars arrived in Israel's southern town of Sderot for a solidarity² visit on Friday. Sderot has been hard hit by Palestinian rockets fired almost daily from nearby Gaza and residents have accused the government and army of failing to protect them.

So some 10,000 Israelis came from all over the country to do their pre-Sabbath shopping and give a boost to the people of Sderot and its battered³ economy. It was a rare sight in the town, where many businesses have closed down because of the security situation.

A Sderot resident identified as Ruth spoke⁴ on Israel Radio.

"They [are] coming to the stores and buying food, clothes, everything that they can to be pleased and happy with us," she said. "And it's a happy day."

The visit reflects growing public anger over the rocket attacks and the government's failure to put an end to them.

Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal said the town is not alone. Moyal said he hopes the solidarity visit will pressure the government to send the army into Gaza and end the rocket attacks once and for all.

A poll shows that 67 percent of Israelis want the army to launch a large-scale ground offensive in Gaza, while only 25 percent are opposed.

Nevertheless, the government is reluctant to invade heavily-populated Gaza, fearing high casualties among Israeli soldiers and Palestinian civilians⁵. That also worries the United States and European Union, which have urged Israel to avoid an escalation⁶ in Gaza.

1 convoy   

vt.护送，护卫，护航；n.护送；护送队

参考例句：

• The convoy was snowed up on the main road.护送队被大雪困在干路上了。
• Warships will accompany the convoy across the Atlantic.战舰将护送该船队过大西洋。

2 solidarity   

n.团结；休戚相关

参考例句：

• They must preserve their solidarity.他们必须维护他们的团结。
• The solidarity among China's various nationalities is as firm as a rock.中国各族人民之间的团结坚如磐石。

3 battered   

adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损

参考例句：

• He drove up in a battered old car.他开着一辆又老又破的旧车。
• The world was brutally battered but it survived.这个世界遭受了惨重的创伤,但它还是生存下来了。

4 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。

5 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。

6 escalation   

n.扩大，增加

参考例句：

• The threat of nuclear escalation remains. 核升级的威胁仍旧存在。 来自辞典例句
• Escalation is thus an aspect of deterrence and of crisis management. 因此逐步升级是威慑和危机处理的一个方面。 来自辞典例句