2006年VOA标准英语-Egyptian Resort Reeling From Terrorist Bom

By Challiss McDonough
Dahab
25 April 2006

The Egyptian resort town of Dahab is still reeling from the triple bombings that killed at least 23 people late Monday. Some of the dead are reported to be foreign tourists, including a German child and a Russian. As in previous terrorist attacks, most of the victims are Egyptian.

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Tourist holds her son as they walk past a damaged store at one of the sites of the bombings  
  

The people of Dahab took to the streets Tuesday to protest the terrorist attacks that literally² left pools of blood in those same streets the night before, when three bomb explosions rocked the tiny resort town.

The protest started spontaneously, with a group of young men, and then grew to include townspeople of all ages. They carried signs hand-painted on bedsheets to match their chants - "No more blood, no more terror," and "There is no God but God".

Dahab is usually a sleepy beach town, frequented by recreational scuba³ divers⁴ who come for the world-famous Red Sea coral reefs.

The gentle waves roll onto the beach as a different group of scuba divers slowly walk ashore⁵. They have had the grim task of recovering body parts, some of which were blown into the water when one of the three bombs exploded late Monday.

In the aftermath of the bombing, journalists and police officers are crowding the pockmarked streets alongside the tourists and the town's largely Bedouin residents.

A team of investigators⁶ lead by Egypt's top prosecutor⁷ is sifting⁸ through evidence in an effort to figure out who planted the bombs and how they were triggered.

The attacks occurred a day after al-Qaida chief Osama bin¹ Laden⁹ warned in a taped message that he considers Western civilians¹⁰ to be legitimate¹¹ targets.

They fell on a holiday weekend in Egypt, when many Egyptians were enjoying a long weekend at their favorite beach resorts, including Dahab. Although there are foreign tourists among the dead and wounded, the vast majority of the casualties are Egyptians.

Restaurant employee Tamer Khair was working when the bombs went off, one of them just a few hundred meters from his café.

"I am almost certain this was not done by an Egyptian, because I do not believe an Egyptian would harm his country and his own people," he said. "People were panicking yesterday, crying for their children. This is a very sorrowful situation."

Some of the foreign tourists surveying the damage were pragmatic, saying that the attacks could have happened anywhere. German tourist Walli Miedel says she has visited the Sinai Peninsula 16 times, and will probably be back. She said she could just as easily be hurt on the ski slopes back in Germany.

"I think I will come again. If you are in the wrong place in the wrongtime, it will happen, even in Germany," she said.

Alongside the tourists, representatives of several Western embassies were combing the streets of Dahab, trying to track down their citizens.

Although this and previous terrorist attacks in Egypt have targeted tourist sites, most of the victims in Dahab were Egyptian.

The grieving and stunned¹² family members of several victims of the blasts were on the first flight into Sinai from Cairo early Tuesday.

One man sat stony-faced and in shock. He said his mother had been killed and several other relatives injured.

Across the aisle¹³, a young woman sat with her elderly mother, who boarded the plane leaning heavily on a cane¹⁴. The young woman's brother, she said, was seriously wounded and in the hospital in Sharm el-Sheikh.

Her mother wept for most of the flight.

1 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。

2 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。

3 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。

4 divers   

adj.不同的；种种的

参考例句：

• He chose divers of them,who were asked to accompany him.他选择他们当中的几个人，要他们和他作伴。
• Two divers work together while a standby diver remains on the surface.两名潜水员协同工作，同时有一名候补潜水员留在水面上。

5 ashore   

adv.在(向)岸上，上岸

参考例句：

• The children got ashore before the tide came in.涨潮前，孩子们就上岸了。
• He laid hold of the rope and pulled the boat ashore.他抓住绳子拉船靠岸。

6 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 prosecutor   

n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人

参考例句：

• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。
• The prosecutor would tear your testimony to pieces.检查官会把你的证言驳得体无完肤。

8 sifting   

n.筛，过滤v.筛( sift的现在分词 )；筛滤；细查；详审

参考例句：

• He lay on the beach, sifting the sand through his fingers. 他躺在沙滩上用手筛砂子玩。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I was sifting the cinders when she came in. 她进来时，我正在筛煤渣。 来自辞典例句

9 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。

10 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。

11 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。

12 stunned   

adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The fall stunned me for a moment. 那一下摔得我昏迷了片刻。
• The leaders of the Kopper Company were then stunned speechless. 科伯公司的领导们当时被惊得目瞪口呆。

13 aisle   

n.（教堂、教室、戏院等里的）过道，通道

参考例句：

• The aisle was crammed with people.过道上挤满了人。
• The girl ushered me along the aisle to my seat.引座小姐带领我沿着通道到我的座位上去。

14 cane   

n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的

参考例句：

• This sugar cane is quite a sweet and juicy.这甘蔗既甜又多汁。
• English schoolmasters used to cane the boys as a punishment.英国小学老师过去常用教鞭打男学生作为惩罚。