VOA标准英语2010年-Iraq Inaugurates Span of New Border Se

U.S. and Iraqi officials inaugurated a portion of the country's new border security fence along the Iraqi-Syrian border, as efforts are stepped up to improve security before March parliamentary elections.  Sunni and Shi'ite political leaders also continue to do battle over the suspension of scores of candidates for alleged¹ ties to the Ba'ath Party.

Iraqi Interior Minister Jawad al Bolani and top security officers showed off the new border security fence with Syria, explaining to reporters that it will reduce both terrorism and smuggling² between the two countries. Iraqi officials have complained bitterly in recent months that high-profile terrorist attacks in Baghdad were plotted and executed from inside Syria.

Interior Minister Jawad al Bolani, who was severely³ criticized by opposition⁴ politicians for lax security following suicide attacks in August and October in Baghdad, stressed the new border fence will prevent terrorists and other unwanted individuals from infiltrating⁵:

He says that the most important job of border patrol commanders is to stop infiltration⁶ and smuggling to and from Iraq.  He notes this is a 24 hour a day job to protect the border from infiltrators, terrorists and others who pose a threat to Iraqi security.

Several top Iraqi security forces officers in charge of the border pointed⁷ proudly to the new barbed wire fence stretching for hundreds of meters between control towers equipped with cameras to monitor both sides of the border.  About 1,300 kilometers of border fence are in the process of being completed in the vast, arid⁸ plain that separates Iraq from Syria.

Colonel Ismail Haqi of the Iraqi security forces says the border patrol has been increasingly successful in catching⁹ dubious¹⁰ individuals crossing surreptitiously between Syria and Iraq:

He says the security forces have been successful in capturing more than 550 terrorists, infiltrators and smugglers, in addition to seizing quantities of smuggled¹¹ items.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki has frequently claimed that remnants of Saddam Hussein's deposed¹² Ba'ath Party, based in Syria, were trying to either overthrow¹³ or discredit¹⁴ his government.  Opposition members of parliament regularly accuse the government of security lapses¹⁵.

The mostly Sunni-Arab opposition also continues to lock horns with a parliamentary committee that has been working to ban scores of candidates from running in March elections.  The committee accuses them of ties to the Ba'ath Party.

Top Sunni leaders have condemned¹⁶ the committee and challenged its legality, while a presidential panel has been charged with investigating the matter.  A top committee member, Ali Faisal al Lami denies opposition charges that his body is preparing to ban even more candidates:

He denies that there are any new lists of banned candidates being prepared by his committee to be sent to the Iraqi electoral commission.  It is the electoral commission, he argues, that is asking our committee which candidates on the rolls should be barred from running because of to the Ba'ath Party.

Iraqi Parliament Speaker Iyad al Samaraie also reportedly sent a letter to Iraq's high electoral commission, urging it not to apply the de-Ba'athification committee's decision to ban any candidates from running in the March elections.

 

1 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

2 smuggling   

n.走私

参考例句：

• Some claimed that the docker's union fronted for the smuggling ring.某些人声称码头工人工会是走私集团的掩护所。
• The evidence pointed to the existence of an international smuggling network.证据表明很可能有一个国际走私网络存在。

3 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

4 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

5 infiltrating   

v.（使）渗透，（指思想）渗入人的心中( infiltrate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Be vigilant against the danger of enemy agents infiltrating the government and boring from within. 要警惕敌特渗入政府内部进行暗中破坏。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The metastatic melanoma is seen here to be infiltrating into the myocardium. 图示转移性黑色素瘤浸润到心肌。 来自互联网

6 infiltration   

n.渗透；下渗；渗滤；入渗

参考例句：

• The police tried to prevent infiltration by drug traffickers. 警方尽力阻止毒品走私分子的潜入。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A loss in volume will occur if infiltration takes place. 如果发生了渗润作用，水量就会减少。 来自辞典例句

7 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

8 arid   

adj.干旱的；(土地)贫瘠的

参考例句：

• These trees will shield off arid winds and protect the fields.这些树能挡住旱风,保护农田。
• There are serious problems of land degradation in some arid zones.在一些干旱地带存在严重的土地退化问题。

9 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

10 dubious   

adj.怀疑的，无把握的；有问题的，靠不住的

参考例句：

• What he said yesterday was dubious.他昨天说的话很含糊。
• He uses some dubious shifts to get money.他用一些可疑的手段去赚钱。

11 smuggled   

水货

参考例句：

• The customs officer confiscated the smuggled goods. 海关官员没收了走私品。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Those smuggled goods have been detained by the port office. 那些走私货物被港务局扣押了。 来自互联网

12 deposed   

v.罢免( depose的过去式和过去分词 )；（在法庭上）宣誓作证

参考例句：

• The president was deposed in a military coup. 总统在军事政变中被废黜。
• The head of state was deposed by the army. 国家元首被军队罢免了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 overthrow   

v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆

参考例句：

• After the overthrow of the government,the country was in chaos.政府被推翻后，这个国家处于混乱中。
• The overthrow of his plans left him much discouraged.他的计划的失败使得他很气馁。

14 discredit   

vt.使不可置信；n.丧失信义；不信，怀疑

参考例句：

• Their behaviour has bought discredit on English football.他们的行为败坏了英国足球运动的声誉。
• They no longer try to discredit the technology itself.他们不再试图怀疑这种技术本身。

15 lapses   

n.失误，过失( lapse的名词复数 )；小毛病；行为失检；偏离正道v.退步( lapse的第三人称单数 )；陷入；倒退；丧失

参考例句：

• He sometimes lapses from good behavior. 他有时行为失检。 来自辞典例句
• He could forgive attacks of nerves, panic, bad unexplainable actions, all sorts of lapses. 他可以宽恕突然发作的歇斯底里，惊慌失措，恶劣的莫名其妙的动作，各种各样的失误。 来自辞典例句

16 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。