2006年VOA标准英语-Triple Bombing Rocks Egyptian Resort Town

By Challiss McDonough
Cairo
24 April 2006

Image taken from Egypt TV shows some of damage caused by blasts which rocked Egyptian resort town of Dahab, April 24, 2006   
  
Three bombs have rocked the Egyptian resort town of Dahab, killing¹ at least 23 people. More than 150 are reported to be wounded, but casualty figures are still far from clear. The Interior Ministry² says some foreigners are among the dead, but most of the casualties appear to be Egyptian.

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Three bombs exploded in the market area of the Red Sea resort of Dahab not long after dark, when the area would have been packed with vacationers.

Cairo resident Farid Tadros is staying in a dive camp a few hundred meters from the blast sites.

"I didn't feel them but they were definitely very, very loud," said Farid Tadros. "They had the exact same sound to them, which was kind of concerning. Some people said they saw smoke. I didn't see any smoke from where I was."

Tadros said the bombs went off in the heart of the tiny resort town, where most of the restaurants are.

The Interior Ministry said a restaurant, a cafe and a supermarket appeared to be the targets.

In a statement carried on the state news agency, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak called the attacks a "wicked terrorist act" and vowed³ to track down those responsible.

Egyptian vacationer Basma Adnan is staying in a nearby hotel and told Egyptian state television that she heard the blasts.

"It was frightening," she said. "There are ambulances outside. They have closed the hotel on us. They are stopping anyone from going out or coming in, and everyone is being searched."

Police say they have sealed off the entire area on the eastern shore of the Sinai peninsula.

Many of the wounded were taken to the Dahab hospital, but the provincial⁴ governor says some have been taken to Sharm el-Sheikh. A medical crew was also reported to be leaving Cairo by helicopter to evacuate⁵ some of the most serious casualties.

The Dahab attacks come a day after the broadcast of a new audiotape by al-Qaida leader Osama bin⁶ Laden⁷, who warned that he considers Western civilians⁸ to be legitimate⁹ targets, accusing them of complicity with their governments in what he called a "Crusader-Zionist war" against Islam.

The Sinai Peninsula has been hit by a series of deadly terrorist attacks over the last few years. Multiple bombings in Sharm el-Sheikh killed more than 70 people last July. In 2004, at least 34 died in bombings around Taba, on the Israeli border.

Dahab is a resort popular with foreign tourists and backpackers, who come for the spectacular scuba¹⁰ diving and snorkeling available nearby. But the attacks came in the middle of an Egyptian holiday, when Dahab hotels would also have been packed with Egyptians taking advantage of the long weekend.

Egyptian Coptic Christians¹¹ marked the Easter holiday on Monday, and Tuesday is known as Sinai Liberation Day, marking the return of the Sinai Peninsula to Egyptian control after the 1973 war with Israel. The long weekend also marks the traditional beginning of spring in Egypt.

Sinai resorts are popular with Israeli tourists, but Israeli sources say the Passover holiday probably meant that few Israelis were in Dahab at the time of the attacks.
 
 

1 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

2 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

3 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。

4 provincial   

adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人

参考例句：

• City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes.城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。
• Two leading cadres came down from the provincial capital yesterday.昨天从省里下来了两位领导干部。

5 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。

6 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

7 laden   

adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的

参考例句：

• He is laden with heavy responsibility.他肩负重任。
• Dragging the fully laden boat across the sand dunes was no mean feat.将满载货物的船拖过沙丘是一件了不起的事。

8 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

9 legitimate   

adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法

参考例句：

• Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。
• That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。

10 scuba   

n.水中呼吸器

参考例句：

• I first got hooked on scuba diving when I was twelve.12岁时我开始迷上了带水中呼吸器潜水。
• While on honeymoon in Bali,she learned to scuba dive.她在巴厘岛度蜜月时学会了带水肺潜水。

11 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。