VOA标准英语2015--俄飞机灾难后华盛顿关注航空安全

Washington Eyes Aviation Security After Russian Jet Disaster 俄飞机灾难后华盛顿关注航空安全

WASHINGTON—

Washington is renewing its focus on international aviation security as evidence increasingly points to the possibility that a bomb destroyed a Russian passenger airliner¹ over Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, killing² all 224 people aboard the jet.

Although much of the tragedy remains³ shrouded⁴ in mystery, a clue emerged from the doomed⁵ Airbus’ cockpit voice recorder that could point to a bomb.

“A noise was heard in the last second of the CVR recording,” said Egyptian lead investigator⁶ Ayman El-Muqadem.

While further analysis continues, a claim of responsibility was repeated on social media.

“With God’s help, the fighters of the Caliphate managed to down the Russian plane over Sinai,” said a message in Arabic purportedly⁷ from the Islamic State (IS) group.

U.S. lawmakers are reaching their own conclusions.

“I am almost ready to conclude that it was either ISIS or an ISIS affiliate,” said Republican Congressman⁸ Peter King, using and alternate acronym⁹ for the group. He spoke¹⁰ on ABC’s This Week program.

“ISIS has now fully¹¹ eclipsed al-Qaida as the gravest terrorist threat in the world,” said Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff, speaking on the same program.

Schiff, who is the top Democrat¹² on the House Intelligence Committee, said IS appears to have discovered a vulnerability in international aviation that requires urgent attention.

“ISIS may have concluded that the best way to defeat airport defenses is to go around them with the help of someone on the inside.  And if that is the case, there are at least a dozen airports in the region and beyond that are vulnerable to the same kind of approach,” he said.

Schiff added that European and U.S. international carriers could be at particular risk.  At major U.S. airports, screening procedures have been boosted in recent days.  

Meanwhile, Russia and Britain have suspended flights to Egypt as the probe of the Metrojet disaster continues.

1 airliner   

n.客机，班机

参考例句：

• The pilot landed the airliner safely.驾驶员使客机安全着陆。
• The passengers were shepherded across the tarmac to the airliner.旅客们被引导走过跑道去上飞机。

2 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。

3 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

4 shrouded   

v.隐瞒( shroud的过去式和过去分词 )；保密

参考例句：

• The hills were shrouded in mist . 这些小山被笼罩在薄雾之中。
• The towers were shrouded in mist. 城楼被蒙上薄雾。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 doomed   

命定的

参考例句：

• The court doomed the accused to a long term of imprisonment. 法庭判处被告长期监禁。
• A country ruled by an iron hand is doomed to suffer. 被铁腕人物统治的国家定会遭受不幸的。

6 investigator   

n.研究者，调查者，审查者

参考例句：

• He was a special investigator for the FBI.他是联邦调查局的特别调查员。
• The investigator was able to deduce the crime and find the criminal.调查者能够推出犯罪过程并锁定罪犯。

7 purportedly   

adv.据称

参考例句：

• This is purportedly the oldest tree in the world. 据称这是世界上最古老的一棵树。 来自互联网
• Mayor Oh Se-Hoon launched the campaign last year, purportedly to improve efficiency. 据悉，首尔市市长吴世勋于去年提出了这项旨在提高工作效率的计划。 来自互联网

8 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

9 acronym   

n.首字母简略词，简称

参考例句：

• That's a mouthful of an acronym for a very simple technology.对于一项非常简单的技术来说，这是一个很绕口的缩写词。
• TSDF is an acronym for Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facilities.TSDF是处理，储存和处置设施的一个缩写。

10 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。

11 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

12 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。