新奇事件簿 叙利亚全国停火协议生效

There is a fresh but tentative hope for a cessation of hostilities¹ in Syria. The United States, Russia and Syria have signed an agreement to collectively target the group known as ISIS. Their joint² declaration will come into effect on Monday. There is mixed reaction around the world to the latest initiative due to the failures of previous attempts at halting the fighting over the past few years. Even with the new 10-day truce³ being literally⁴ hours away, the bombs continued to rain down in areas around the capital Damascus. Syrian government air strikes on ISIS-held areas reportedly killed at least 82 people over the weekend. At least 45 people died in strikes on Aleppo.

叙利亚战争停火出现新的希望，但是并不确定。美国，俄罗斯和叙利亚共同针对ISIS签署了一份协议。他们的联合声明将于周一生效。由于过去几年尝试终止冲突的努力均以失败告终，世界各地对这份最新协议的反应不一。新的为期十天的停火协议实际上还有几个小时就要生效，然而首都大马士革周边地区仍有炸弹不断爆炸。周末期间，叙利亚政府对ISIS控制地区的空袭导致至少82人死亡。至少45人在阿勒颇的袭击中遇难。

Most of the major players in the Syrian conflict responded positively⁵ to the new ceasefire, despite the strained relations between Russia and the USA. An American official said: "This remains…the most promising⁶ way that we see in front of us to try to get this terrible situation to a better place." US Secretary of State John Kerry said: "It is an opportunity and not more than that until it becomes a reality." Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the US and Russia had agreed on zones in which joint "strikes against terrorists" would be conducted. Turkey and the European Union welcomed it but warned that further action was needed. There has been no official reaction from Iran.

尽管俄罗斯和美国之间关系紧张，叙利亚冲突各方大部分对新的停火协议反应积极。一位美国官员表示：“这是我们让当前糟糕的形势好转的最有希望的方式。”美国国务卿约翰·克里表示：“这是一个机会，在成为现实之前只是如此而已。”俄罗斯外长拉夫罗夫表示，美国和俄罗斯就打击恐怖分子的联合行动的地区达成协议。土耳其和欧盟对此表示欢迎，但是表示需要采取进一步行动。伊朗官方没有做出反应。

1 hostilities   

n.战争；敌意(hostility的复数)；敌对状态；战事

参考例句：

• Mexico called for an immediate cessation of hostilities. 墨西哥要求立即停止敌对行动。
• All the old hostilities resurfaced when they met again. 他们再次碰面时，过去的种种敌意又都冒了出来。

2 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

3 truce   

n.休战，(争执，烦恼等的)缓和；v.以停战结束

参考例句：

• The hot weather gave the old man a truce from rheumatism.热天使这位老人暂时免受风湿病之苦。
• She had thought of flying out to breathe the fresh air in an interval of truce.她想跑出去呼吸一下休战期间的新鲜空气。

4 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

5 positively   

adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实

参考例句：

• She was positively glowing with happiness.她满脸幸福。
• The weather was positively poisonous.这天气着实讨厌。

6 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。