VOA慢速英语 2007 0113

This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.


President Bush speaking to the nation about his new plan for Iraq

President Bush told the American people this week that he plans to send more troops to Iraq. He called the situation there unacceptable and added: Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with me.

The president spoke¹ Wednesday night from the White House.

Mister Bush said past efforts to secure Baghdad failed for two main reasons. First, there were not enough Iraqi and American troops to secure areas that had been cleared. Secondly², he said, there were too many restrictions³ on American forces.

Under the new plan, more than twenty thousand American troops will join the roughly one hundred thirty thousand already in the war. Most will go to Baghdad to help Iraqi forces. Others will go to the most violent area outside the capital, Anbar province in the west. The president called Anbar the home base for al-Qaida in Iraq.

His New Way Forward plan also calls for more than one billion dollars in additional economic aid for Iraq.

Mister Bush has been under pressure to bring American troops home. He says an increase is needed first, to prevent the collapse⁴ of the democratically elected Iraqi government. But the newspaper USA Today, for example, found that just twelve percent of the American people support sending more troops.

President Bush said the Iraqi government will deploy⁵ Iraqi Army and National Police across Baghdad to support local police. He said he has made it clear to Iraqi leaders that America's presence in Iraq is not open-ended. If the Iraqi government does not follow through on its promises, he said, it will lose the support of the American people.

He expressed the belief that victory is still possible, in the sense of a democratic Iraq that would serve as an example for the Arab world. He said succeeding in Iraq also requires defending its territory. He said the United States will target what he called the flow of support from Iran and Syria for attacks on American forces.

President Bush said American military commanders believe his plan can work. But Senator Dick Durbin, in the Democratic answer to the speech, said the president is ignoring the advice of most of his top generals.

The war was a major cause of the Republican loss of Congress in the November elections. The new Democratic leaders in Congress condemned⁶ the troop increase even before Mister Bush presented it.

They are planning advisory⁷ votes in both houses to urge the president not to send more troops. But many Democrats⁸ say that is not enough. Some Republicans are also against the plan.

Separately, Defense⁹ Secretary Robert Gates announced a plan to increase the Army and Marine¹⁰ Corps¹¹ by ninety-two thousand troops. The increase, over five years, requires congressional approval. He also announced that some part-time forces will be called to duty for a second time before the usual five-year waiting period.

IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English was written by Brianna Blake. I'm Bob Doughty¹².

1 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。

2 secondly   

adv.第二，其次

参考例句：

• Secondly,use your own head and present your point of view.第二，动脑筋提出自己的见解。
• Secondly it is necessary to define the applied load.其次，需要确定所作用的载荷。

3 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

4 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

5 deploy   

v.（军）散开成战斗队形，布置，展开

参考例句：

• The infantry began to deploy at dawn.步兵黎明时开始进入战斗位置。
• The president said he had no intention of deploying ground troops.总统称并不打算部署地面部队。

6 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。

7 advisory   

adj.劝告的，忠告的，顾问的，提供咨询

参考例句：

• I have worked in an advisory capacity with many hospitals.我曾在多家医院做过顾问工作。
• He was appointed to the advisory committee last month.他上个月获任命为顾问委员会委员。

8 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

10 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• 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。

11 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。

12 doughty   

adj.勇猛的，坚强的

参考例句：

• Most of successful men have the characteristics of contumacy and doughty.绝大多数成功人士都有共同的特质：脾气倔强，性格刚强。
• The doughty old man battled his illness with fierce determination.坚强的老人用巨大毅力与疾病作斗争。