VOA标准英语2013--US Report: Iran's State-Sponsored Terrorism Rises

 

US Report: Iran's State-Sponsored Terrorism Rises

The report said both Iran and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah were exceptionally active in plotting terrorist activities last year, and provided a broad range of support to Syria's regime in its crackdown on the Syrian people.

A spokeswoman for the State Department, Jennifer Psaki, said Thursday that Washington is concerned about the involvement of foreign fighters in the Syrian conflict. 

"We are very concerned about foreign fighters, whether they're in Syria, or the overflow¹ of violence into neighboring countries.  And that's something we've expressed frequently here. And we've been very clear about our concerns over the regional instability caused by this crisis in Syria," Psaki stated.

The report also said al-Qaida's central leadership in Pakistan and its affiliate² in Yemen weakened in 2012.  But as a result, some groups in the network became more independent.  

U.S. President Barack Obama made a similar observation in a major speech on counterterrorism last week. 

"That means we will face more localized threats like what we saw in Benghazi, or at the BP oil facility in Algeria, in which local operatives - perhaps in loose affiliation³ with regional networks - launch periodic attacks against Western diplomats," Obama said. "Companies and other soft targets, or resort to kidnapping and other criminal enterprises to fund their operations."

The State Department report said terrorist attacks occurred in 85 countries in 2012, most of them in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq.

Middle East analyst⁴ Matthew Duss at the Center for American Progress links the recent increase of violence in Iraq with the unrest in Syria.

"The movement of fighters, the movement of goods, the reopening of smuggling⁵ routes through which fighters traveled through Syria into Iraq - in some cases are now moving in the opposite direction," he said. "But still, any time you have a situation like this where you essentially⁶ have ungoverned spaces in an environment of conflict, it is going to give rise to situations like this.

Duss said the violence in Iraq is primarily a reflection of continuing political divisions, which are not addressed through appropriate political channels.  He said giving voice to opposing groups, even some militants⁷, can weaken terrorist organizations.

The State Department report said any long-term effort to fight terrorism must include building the capabilities⁸ worldwide to counter ideology⁹ that fuels terrorism. 

1 overflow   

v.(使)外溢，(使)溢出；溢出，流出，漫出

参考例句：

• The overflow from the bath ran on to the floor.浴缸里的水溢到了地板上。
• After a long period of rain,the river may overflow its banks.长时间的下雨天后，河水可能溢出岸来。

2 affiliate   

vt.使隶(附)属于；n.附属机构，分公司

参考例句：

• Our New York company has an affiliate in Los Angeles.我们的纽约公司在洛杉矶有一个下属企业。
• What is the difference between affiliate and regular membership?固定会员和附属会员之间的区别是什么？

3 affiliation   

n.联系，联合

参考例句：

• There is no affiliation between our organization and theirs,even though our names are similar.尽管两个组织的名称相似，但我们之间并没有关系。
• The kidnappers had no affiliation with any militant group.这些绑架者与任何军事组织都没有紧密联系。

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 smuggling   

n.走私

参考例句：

• Some claimed that the docker's union fronted for the smuggling ring.某些人声称码头工人工会是走私集团的掩护所。
• The evidence pointed to the existence of an international smuggling network.证据表明很可能有一个国际走私网络存在。

6 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

7 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。

8 capabilities   

n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力

参考例句：

• He was somewhat pompous and had a high opinion of his own capabilities. 他有点自大，自视甚高。 来自辞典例句
• Some programmers use tabs to break complex product capabilities into smaller chunks. 一些程序员认为，标签可以将复杂的功能分为每个窗格一组简单的功能。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

9 ideology   

n.意识形态，(政治或社会的)思想意识

参考例句：

• The ideology has great influence in the world.这种思想体系在世界上有很大的影响。
• The ideal is to strike a medium between ideology and inspiration.我的理想是在意识思想和灵感鼓动之间找到一个折衷。