VOA标准英语2009年-Gordon Brown Labels Latest Afghanistan Off

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has hailed the British offensive in Afghanistan's Helmand province a success. But that call is getting a mixed reception as the British public grows weary of the country's involvement there.
　
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown (file photo)

For the past five weeks, British forces have been clearing the territory between Lashkar Gah and Girishk in Afghanistan's Helmand Province. Nine British soldiers have died in the operation dubbed¹ Panther's Claw.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is pleased with the results.

"Now that Operation Panther's Claw has shown that it can bring success and the first phase of that operation is over, it is time to commemorate² all those soldiers who have given their lives and to thank all our British soldiers for the determination, the professionalism and the courage that they have been showing," said Mr. Brown.

And facing a skeptical³ public, the British leader reiterated⁴ his contention⁵ that fighting in Afghanistan is necessary to keep Britain safe.

"What we have actually done is make the land secure for about 100,000 people. What we have done is pushed back the Taliban and what we have done also is start to break that chain of terror that links the mountains of Afghanistan and in Pakistan to the streets of Britain," Mr. Brown said.

But international security expert Paul Cornish from the Chatham House in London says it is too early to call the British operation in Helmand province a success. Securing the land he says is one thing, holding it is another.

"They have gone through the past month or so of very hard effort to reach the point where they can begin to consolidate⁶ and control ground that they have won so, by no means this is over yet.... The effort has been to squeeze the Taliban out of certain areas and the challenge now is to hold those areas and maintain dominance of those areas that is surely what the whole operation has been, has been all about," Cornish said.

While talk of what success is and how to define it went on in London, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband told NATO colleagues in Brussels that the current operations should be seen as an opportunity to bring moderate Taliban members into the political process.

NATO has nearly 60,000 troops in Afghanistan, but few alliance members wholeheartedly support the deployment⁷, with many questioning what the North Atlantic alliance is doing there in the first place.

1 dubbed   

v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制

参考例句：

• Mathematics was once dubbed the handmaiden of the sciences. 数学曾一度被视为各门科学的基础。
• Is the movie dubbed or does it have subtitles? 这部电影是配音的还是打字幕的？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 commemorate   

vt.纪念，庆祝

参考例句：

• This building was built to commemorate the Fire of London.这栋大楼是为纪念“伦敦大火”而兴建的。
• We commemorate the founding of our nation with a public holiday.我们放假一日以庆祝国庆。

3 skeptical   

adj.怀疑的，多疑的

参考例句：

• Others here are more skeptical about the chances for justice being done.这里的其他人更为怀疑正义能否得到伸张。
• Her look was skeptical and resigned.她的表情是将信将疑而又无可奈何。

4 reiterated   

反复地说，重申( reiterate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• "Well, I want to know about it,'she reiterated. “嗯，我一定要知道你的休假日期，"她重复说。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• Some twenty-two years later President Polk reiterated and elaborated upon these principles. 大约二十二年之后，波尔克总统重申这些原则并且刻意阐释一番。

5 contention   

n.争论，争辩，论战；论点，主张

参考例句：

• The pay increase is the key point of contention. 加薪是争论的焦点。
• The real bone of contention,as you know,is money.你知道，争论的真正焦点是钱的问题。

6 consolidate   

v.使加固，使加强；(把...)联为一体，合并

参考例句：

• The two banks will consolidate in July next year. 这两家银行明年7月将合并。
• The government hoped to consolidate ten states to form three new ones.政府希望把十个州合并成三个新的州。

7 deployment   

n. 部署,展开

参考例句：

• He has inquired out the deployment of the enemy troops. 他已查出敌军的兵力部署情况。
• Quality function deployment (QFD) is a widely used customer-driven quality, design and manufacturing management tool. 质量功能展开(quality function deployment,QFD)是一个广泛应用的顾客需求驱动的设计、制造和质量管理工具。