美国有线新闻 CNN 伊朗油轮被扣事件再起风云 加剧美国与伊朗紧张关系

 

Our first story this Wednesday examines how oil tankers² are functioning like chess pieces in global strains involving the United States and the Middle Eastern nation of Iran. Last year, the Trump³ Administration pulled the U.S. out of a controversial nuclear deal concerning Iran. The international agreement had been made in 2015 under the Obama Administration. And while its supporters said it would put a pause on Iran's efforts to build a nuclear weapon, its critics said it didn't go far enough to stop Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Before the deal was made, the U.S. had sanctions in place, penalties on Iran that hurt the Middle Eastern nation's economy. When the U.S. left the deal last year, those sanctions were put back in place, and they're once again taking a toll⁴ on Iran. The two countries have been threatening each other since then. One of the latest incidents involved an Iranian oil tanker¹ that was seized in Gibraltar last month. This is a British territory in southern Spain. Authorities stopped the Iranian ship because they thought its cargo⁵ was headed somewhere illegal under European rules. Iran said it wasn't. And two weeks after its ship was seized, Iran stopped a British flagged tanker that it says was sailing the wrong route in the Middle East.

Iran's government says this had no connection to Gibraltar, but international observers think it was an act of revenge. Earlier this week, Gibraltar released the Iranian ship after Iran and the owners of the ship's oil promised it wouldn't be taken anywhere it wasn't supposed to go. But the U.S. stepped in and tried to block the ship from sailing. The American government says it believes the ship was helping⁶ Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps⁷, part of Iran's government that the U.S. has labeled a foreign terrorist organization. European leaders haven't labeled the Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist group, so they went ahead and let it go.

1 tanker   

n.油轮

参考例句：

• The tanker took on 200,000 barrels of crude oil.油轮装载了二十万桶原油。
• Heavy seas had pounded the tanker into three parts.汹涌的巨浪把油轮撞成三载。

2 tankers   

运送大量液体或气体的轮船[卡车]( tanker的名词复数 )； 油轮； 罐车； 油槽车

参考例句：

• They should stop offloading waste from oil tankers into the sea. 他们应当停止从油轮上往海里倾倒废弃物。
• The harbour admits large tankers and freighters. 这个港口容得下巨型油船和货轮。

3 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

4 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

5 cargo   

n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物

参考例句：

• The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
• A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。

6 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

7 corps   

n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组

参考例句：

• The medical corps were cited for bravery in combat.医疗队由于在战场上的英勇表现而受嘉奖。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。