2006年VOA标准英语-Israel Says It Will Accept UN Cease-fire, But F

By Jim Teeple
Jerusalem
13 August 2006

 
An Israeli artillery¹ piece fires to targets in southern Lebanon from a position along the border in northern Israel, Sunday Aug. 13, 2006
  
Israel's Cabinet has agreed to a U.N.-mediated cease-fire, aimed at ending the fighting in Lebanon. The cease-fire is scheduled to take effect at 5:00 UTC Monday. Nearly 30 Israeli soldiers were killed in a 24-hour period during the heaviest day of fighting of the month-long conflict in Lebanon.

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After nearly five hours of discussions and debate, Israel's Cabinet voted to approve the U.N. cease-fire resolution, which was passed by the Security Council late Friday. The 24-to-zero vote with one abstention came one day after Lebanon's Cabinet also approved the measure.

Speaking after the vote in the Israeli Cabinet, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said the cease-fire deal will change the rules of the game between Israel and Lebanon.

Livni says Israeli troops will only withdraw from Lebanon when the Lebanese army and international troops deploy² in the southern part of the country, and that, eventually, the cease-fire should lead to the disarming³ of Hezbollah.

 
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, center right, chairs the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem Sunday Aug. 13, 2006 
  
Livni says Israel will not neglect its goal of achieving the release of two of its soldiers, whose capture by Hezbollah militants⁴ on July 12 sparked the current crisis.

Under the agreement, Israel and Hezbollah are to agree to a cessation of hostilities⁵. Fifteen thousand international peacekeepers will be sent to Lebanon to join the small U.N. force already there to assist about 15,000 Lebanese troops in their goal of stopping the flow of weapons to Hezbollah militants.

The measure calls for a phased withdrawal⁶ of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon, as international troops and the Lebanese army move into the area. 

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, left, meets with European Union Foreign Policy chief Javier Solana in Jerusalem, Sunday, August 13, 2006   
  
Even as the U.N. Security Council was approving the measure on Friday, Israel launched its largest offensive, moving more than 20,000 troops into Lebanon, an effort Israel says is designed to destroy Hezbollah's capability⁷ to launch rockets that have terrorized northern Israel.

U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan says he is glad the cease-fire agreement is being ratified⁸, but he says the fighting should stop immediately.

"The fighting should stop now, to respect the spirit and intent of the Security Council decision, the object of which was to save civilian⁹ lives and to spare the pain and suffering that civilians¹⁰ on both sides are living through," said Annan. "So, I urge the parties to stop immediately."

Secretary Annan's plea fell on deaf ears, as Hezbollah launched more than 150 rockets into northern Israel, and Israel carried out some of its heaviest bombing of Beirut's southern suburbs. Israeli warplanes struck more than 50 targets, and there was heavy fighting on the ground, as Israeli troops pushed toward the Litani River, about 30 kilometers north of the Israeli border.

Hezbollah militants claimed to have destroyed a number of Israeli tanks and inflicted¹¹ heavy casualties on Israeli troops.

More than 1,000 people in Lebanon have been killed in the war, while 144 Israelis, including more than 100 soldiers, have died since the conflict began more than one month ago.

1 artillery   

n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队)

参考例句：

• This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
• The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。

2 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。

3 disarming   

adj.消除敌意的，使人消气的v.裁军( disarm的现在分词 )；使息怒

参考例句：

• He flashed her a disarming smile. 他朝她笑了一下，让她消消气。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We will agree to disarming troops and leaving their weapons at military positions. 我们将同意解除军队的武装并把武器留在军事阵地。 来自辞典例句

4 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

5 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。

6 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。

7 capability   

n.能力；才能；(pl)可发展的能力或特性等

参考例句：

• She has the capability to become a very fine actress.她有潜力成为杰出演员。
• Organizing a whole department is beyond his capability.组织整个部门是他能力以外的事。

8 ratified   

v.批准，签认（合约等）( ratify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The treaty was declared invalid because it had not been ratified. 条约没有得到批准，因此被宣布无效。
• The treaty was ratified by all the member states. 这个条约得到了所有成员国的批准。

9 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

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 inflicted   

把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They inflicted a humiliating defeat on the home team. 他们使主队吃了一场很没面子的败仗。
• Zoya heroically bore the torture that the Fascists inflicted upon her. 卓娅英勇地承受法西斯匪徒加在她身上的酷刑。