美国有线新闻 CNN 2012-09-17

I’m Carl Azuz. Today on CNN Student News,we are going to be talking about teachers’ strike and a new case of a diseasethat’s usually associated with the middle ages. But we start in Northern Africa. Violence and anger in Egypt and Libya, directed at American citizensand American facilities. This happened on Tuesday night in the Egyptian capitalcity of Cairo, protesters attacked the U.S. embassy.That’s the building where an ambassador, the diplomat¹ who represents the United Statesand other countries and his or her staff work. In Egypt, the protesters tore down theAmerican flag at the embassy. But the situation was much more violent at theAmerican consulate² in Benghazi, Libya.Consulates³ are like embassies, but they are not located in capital cities. In Benghazi, four Americans including the U.S. ambassadorto Libya Chris Stevens were killed. There was a protest outside the consulate. U.S. sourcestold CNN that the people who attacked the building used that protest as adiversion. The United Statespromised to track down whoever is behind the killings⁴. The violence left manyAmericans and many American leaders with questions. 

“How couldthis happen? How could this happen in a country we helped liberate⁵, in a citywe helped save from destruction? This question reflects just how complicatedand at times how confounding the world can be. But we must be clear-eyed, evenin our grief. This was an attack, by a small and savage⁶ group. Not the peopleor government of Libya.”

 

Libya’sgovernment spoke⁷ out against that violence as well. Libyan officials apologizefor the attack, and called it a cowardly criminal act. Elise Labott who coversforeign affairs for CNN talks with us about why this event is so significant.

 

An attack on a U.S. consulate of facilitiesis such a traumatic event, because these are U.S. diplomats⁸ that are puttingtheir lives on the line to help further U.S. policy and to help reach out to acountry, you know, Secretary Clinton, though, she says that U..S diplomats areon the frontlines of U.S.diplomacy⁹. So when you attack a U.S.facility and you attack U.S.personnel, it’s almost like you are attacking America. In fact, it is like youare attacking America.And so it’s really everyone is obviously very sad about the loss of life andthe danger to U.S.personnel, but it really is an affront¹⁰ to what America’s trying to do in anyvarious countries. 

 

The protests in both countries, Libya and Egypt were linked to an online filmthat was considered offensive to Islam. American religious leaders from severalfaiths including Muslim leaders spoke out yesterday. They condemned¹¹ the movieand the violence in northern Africa.Meanwhile, the U.S. sentabout 50 Marines to Libya tohelp secure American facilities there, and U.S. embassies around the worldhave been ordered to increase their security as well.

1 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。

2 consulate   

n.领事馆

参考例句：

• The Spanish consulate is the large white building opposite the bank.西班牙领事馆是银行对面的那栋高大的白色建筑物。
• The American consulate was a magnificent edifice in the centre of Bordeaux.美国领事馆是位于波尔多市中心的一座宏伟的大厦。

3 consulates   

n.领事馆( consulate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Consulates General of The People's Republic at Los Angeles. 中华人民共和国驻洛杉矶总领事馆。 来自互联网
• The country's embassies, consulates and other diplomatic missions stationed in other countries. （七）家驻外使馆、馆和其他外交代表机构。 来自互联网

4 killings   

谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发

参考例句：

• His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。

5 liberate   

v.解放，使获得自由，释出，放出；vt.解放，使获自由

参考例句：

• They did their best to liberate slaves.他们尽最大能力去解放奴隶。
• This will liberate him from economic worry.这将消除他经济上的忧虑。

6 savage   

adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人

参考例句：

• The poor man received a savage beating from the thugs.那可怜的人遭到暴徒的痛打。
• He has a savage temper.他脾气粗暴。

7 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。

8 diplomats   

n.外交官( diplomat的名词复数 )；有手腕的人，善于交际的人

参考例句：

• These events led to the expulsion of senior diplomats from the country. 这些事件导致一些高级外交官被驱逐出境。
• The court has no jurisdiction over foreign diplomats living in this country. 法院对驻本国的外交官无裁判权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。

10 affront   

n./v.侮辱，触怒

参考例句：

• Your behaviour is an affront to public decency.你的行为有伤风化。
• This remark caused affront to many people.这句话得罪了不少人。

11 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。