VOA标准英语2013--Missile Defense System Keeps Watch on Syria

 

Missile Defense¹ System Keeps Watch on Syria

U.S. soldiers are maintaining Patriot² Missiles. Since January, the missiles have been stationed at a Turkish military base outside Gaziantep. The city is 50 kilometers from Syria, where an an increasingly bloody³ civil war has killed at least 70,000 people.

Syrian government forces appear to be mostly firing at rebels, who are backed by Turkey. But Syrian fire has landed several times in Turkey, in one instance killing⁴ five people.

Turkey's government asked NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) for the missiles.

Commander Charles Branson said when the system's radar⁵ detects a potential threat, it sends the information to NATO commanders. In seconds, they decide whether to respond.

“They give us a determination, sort of a filter if you will. If it comes back positive, yeah, that's an enemy. If it comes back negative, that's a friendly. There are determinations. But that information is sent to the launcher. It tells the missiles specifically to shoot or not shoot,” said Branson.

The two U.S. missile batteries here are staffed by 400 soldiers. Each battery includes six launchers carrying a total of 48 missiles. Germany and the Netherlands each have sent two similar batteries to Turkey.

NATO says the missiles are for defensive⁶ purposes only. So far none has been fired. Battery Commander Captain Leslie Dembeck said the team nevertheless must still keep up its skills.

“It does give us the option to go into a training phase where we can do a simulation scenario⁷ where we would interact with the threats," said Dembeck.

First Lieutenant⁸ Mary Jocelyn said although team members are far from home, they are committed to the mission.

“...to actually get to use all of our training experiences, to be able to help out a friend when they ask for help, and to be able to stand next to the Turks,” said Jocelyn.

The soldiers don't know how long their deployment⁹ will last. Syria's rebels have been pushing for a multi-national no-fly zone in Syria, but without it, the missile batteries are the first-line border defense. 

1 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。

2 patriot   

n.爱国者，爱国主义者

参考例句：

• He avowed himself a patriot.他自称自己是爱国者。
• He is a patriot who has won the admiration of the French already.他是一个已经赢得法国人敬仰的爱国者。

3 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。

4 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。

5 radar   

n.雷达，无线电探测器

参考例句：

• They are following the flight of an aircraft by radar.他们正在用雷达追踪一架飞机的飞行。
• Enemy ships were detected on the radar.敌舰的影像已显现在雷达上。

6 defensive   

adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的

参考例句：

• Their questions about the money put her on the defensive.他们问到钱的问题，使她警觉起来。
• The Government hastily organized defensive measures against the raids.政府急忙布置了防卫措施抵御空袭。

7 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。

8 lieutenant   

n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员

参考例句：

• He was promoted to be a lieutenant in the army.他被提升为陆军中尉。
• He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官，递上了一张简短的便条进去。

9 deployment   

n. 部署,展开

参考例句：

• He has inquired out the deployment of the enemy troops. 他已查出敌军的兵力部署情况。
• Quality function deployment (QFD) is a widely used customer-driven quality, design and manufacturing management tool. 质量功能展开(quality function deployment,QFD)是一个广泛应用的顾客需求驱动的设计、制造和质量管理工具。