VOA标准英语2009-Sri Lanka Rebels Concede Defeat

Sri Lanka's rebels have announced they would be laying down their guns to prevent what they call further unnecessary slaughter¹ of Tamil civilians³ by government troops. The island nation's military says it has defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, ending a long civil war, and has rescued nearly 200,000 trapped civilians.

Sri Lanka's government is congratulating itself on a job well done, defeating terrorism and rescuing all civilians from its clutches.
　
Mahinda Samarasinghe, Minister of Disaster Management and Human Rights at Colombo news conference, 17 May 2009

The country's disaster-relief and human-rights minister, Mahinda Samarasinghe, spoke⁴ to reporters in the capital.

"The military phase is over. The LTTE has been militarily defeated. Now the biggest hostage rescue operation in the world has come to a conclusion," Samarasinghe. "The figure I have here is since 20th of April, 179,000 hostages have been rescued."

But the Army reports the Tamil Tiger rebels as of Sunday evening still hold an 800-square-meter territory, were continuing to fire on troops and engage in suicide attacks on soldiers. The military calls this a "mopping up operation" and expresses confidence the entire area will soon be cleared of all rebels.

No official announcement has been made on what just about everyone in the island nation is wondering. What is the fate of the LTTE founder⁵ and leader, Vellupillai Prabhakaran?

Military officials say they have no conclusive⁶ information, but earlier predicted the group's top leaders would likely commit a mass suicide.

Questions also remain about how many civilians, in recent days, died in the combat zone and who is responsible.

The government and the LTTE traded accusations⁷ the other was deliberately⁸ targeting civilians. Some in the international community are pushing for both sides to face inquiries⁹ of possible war crimes.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown also warned of "consequences" for Sri Lanka for not halting its offensive to allow humanitarian¹⁰ relief for the trapped Tamils whom the government here contends were "human shields" held by the rebels.

VOA News asked Sri Lanka Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona for a reaction to that diplomatic threat.

"I would like to see what these consequences are. I believe that it is a legal responsibility of any state to rescue hostages when confronted with such a situation," said Kohona. "The international community itself characterized what prevailed in the north as a hostage situation."

The top aid of U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon is in Colombo for talks with government officials on the humanitarian situation in the combat zone. U.N. officials here acknowledge he arrived too late to make much of a difference.
　
Gordon Weiss , 11 May 2009

U.N. spokesman Gordon Weiss tells VOA News the government must allow international agencies unhindered access to the camps set up for a quarter million displaced Tamils to ensure they are being properly sheltered and fed.

"And, of course, there is a wide range of battlefield injuries amongst the civilian² population both inside the camp, at the moment, and among those emerging from the zone," said Weiss.

Although the final tally¹¹ is yet to be known, the civil war, which began in 1983, has left at least 70,000 people dead. The LTTE, a terrorist organization in the eyes of many countries, will apparently¹² leave a legacy¹³ of failing to gain an ethnic¹⁴ homeland despite waging decades of guerilla warfare¹⁵, repeated urban suicide attacks and waves of political assassinations¹⁶.

1 slaughter   

n.屠杀，屠宰；vt.屠杀，宰杀

参考例句：

• I couldn't stand to watch them slaughter the cattle.我不忍看他们宰牛。
• Wholesale slaughter was carried out in the name of progress.大规模的屠杀在维护进步的名义下进行。

2 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。

3 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。

4 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。

5 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

6 conclusive   

adj.最后的，结论的；确凿的，消除怀疑的

参考例句：

• They produced some fairly conclusive evidence.他们提供了一些相当确凿的证据。
• Franklin did not believe that the French tests were conclusive.富兰克林不相信这个法国人的实验是结论性的。

7 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

8 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

9 inquiries   

n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending further inquiries. 他获得保释，等候进一步调查。
• I have failed to reach them by postal inquiries. 我未能通过邮政查询与他们取得联系。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

10 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

11 tally   

n.计数器，记分，一致，测量；vt.计算，记录，使一致；vi.计算，记分，一致

参考例句：

• Don't forget to keep a careful tally of what you spend.别忘了仔细记下你的开支账目。
• The facts mentioned in the report tally to every detail.报告中所提到的事实都丝毫不差。

12 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

13 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

14 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

15 warfare   

n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突

参考例句：

• He addressed the audience on the subject of atomic warfare.他向听众演讲有关原子战争的问题。
• Their struggle consists mainly in peasant guerrilla warfare.他们的斗争主要是农民游击战。

16 assassinations   

n.暗杀( assassination的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Most anarchist assassinations were bungled because of haste or spontaneity, in his view. 在他看来，无政府主义者搞的许多刺杀都没成功就是因为匆忙和自发行动。 来自辞典例句
• Assassinations by Israelis of alleged terrorists habitually kill nearby women and children. 在以色列，自称恐怖分子的炸弹自杀者杀害靠近自己的以色列妇女和儿童。 来自互联网