美国有线新闻 CNN 2015-05-09

 Thursday is underway. CNN Student News is getting you up-to-speed on stories making headlines worldwide. 

 

First, an update from Baltimore, Maryland. The city's mayor is asking the U.S. Department of Justice to get involved and conduct a civil rights investigation¹ in the Baltimore's police department. The U.S. government says it's considering the request.  

 

It was made after six policies were charged in the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray. He was fatally injured while in police custody² last month. Peaceful protests and riots followed.  

 

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake also promised yesterday that Baltimore's police officers would have body cameras by the end of the year. These can cost the department tens of thousands of dollars for the equipment and especially the fees to store their video data. But supporters of cameras say they help protect both the public and the police.

 

Kobani is in ruins. The city was a battleground of the U.S.-led war against ISIS. What's left of it is located in northern Syria, in view of the country's border with Turkey. 

 

The terrorist group took over most of the city last year, but Kurdish Peshmerga forces, supported by U.S.-led airstrikes eventually pushed ISIS fighters out. A Syrian human rights organization says roughly 1,000 terrorists were killed in the fighting. Those fighting them lost several hundred of their own.  

 

And today, with the bakery and two schools open, along with a hospital that's operational, people who'd fled the fighting in Kobani are returning home. The recovery challenges they face are enormous. For one thing, Syria is still at civil war, with Syrian government forces, rebels and terrorists all wrestling for control. For another thing, most of the city is in ruins.

 

When you see images like this, you can see the greatest cost, and simply how homes, ordinary life were being destroyed by those consistent airstrikes. You can so easily see. But it's only the drone's eye view that really opens up that level of damage. 

 

We saw ourselves on the hills around this, these constant airstrikes, car bombings as well. But that street level view, we also saw, which was remarkable³ to behold⁴. 

 

Hundreds of people still trying to live their lives there and you can see there in that video, people have started to return. Officials there talked about 6,000 in one week, in fact, in the city, but also the countryside around it, bringing the total to tens of thousands now living there.  

 

But simply as that drone flies through those streets, it's absolutely obvious that there's a massive task ahead of anyone living in Kobani, or trying to go back there, and they say that that is not assisted by the Turkish government. They're not opening the main border gates close to Kobani, nor allowing in the influx⁵ of heavy machinery⁶ that you can see there surely is badly needed to begin the excavation⁷, to even allow reconstruction⁸ to occur.  

 

They say that 70 percent of that city is completely destroyed and the areas you're seeing are pretty much where much of the most intense airstrikes or fighting occurred. They called it Kobani-grad when the attack was underway because the Kurdish fighters looking to try and defend it knew that they'd sustain so much damage, that they'd be few spoils for victory left.  

 

But right now, as you can see from those drone shots, nearly every building has failed to escape unscathed, the devastating⁹ impact on that one town alone in the fight against ISIS.

1 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

2 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

3 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

4 behold   

v.看，注视，看到

参考例句：

• The industry of these little ants is wonderful to behold.这些小蚂蚁辛勤劳动的样子看上去真令人惊叹。
• The sunrise at the seaside was quite a sight to behold.海滨日出真是个奇景。

5 influx   

n.流入，注入

参考例句：

• The country simply cannot absorb this influx of refugees.这个国家实在不能接纳这么多涌入的难民。
• Textile workers favoured protection because they feared an influx of cheap cloth.纺织工人拥护贸易保护措施，因为他们担心涌入廉价纺织品。

6 machinery   

n.(总称)机械，机器；机构

参考例句：

• Has the machinery been put up ready for the broadcast?广播器材安装完毕了吗？
• Machinery ought to be well maintained all the time.机器应该随时注意维护。

7 excavation   

n.挖掘，发掘；被挖掘之地

参考例句：

• The bad weather has hung up the work of excavation.天气不好耽误了挖掘工作。
• The excavation exposed some ancient ruins.这次挖掘暴露出一些古遗迹。

8 reconstruction   

n.重建，再现，复原

参考例句：

• The country faces a huge task of national reconstruction following the war.战后，该国面临着重建家园的艰巨任务。
• In the period of reconstruction,technique decides everything.在重建时期，技术决定一切。

9 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。