VOA标准英语2011--Tripoli Neighborhood Checkpoints Help Ke

Tripoli Neighborhood Checkpoints Help Keep the Peace

The Moammar Gadhafi government in Libya has collapsed² after 42 years, and many people question whether Tripoli will descend³ into the chaos⁴ that plagued Baghdad after the fall of Iraq's Saddam Hussein. An answer may be found in neighborhood checkpoints.
“You are Americans? Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you.”
We meet Mohammed Abou Gabha manning a checkpoint on a central Tripoli street.
Mohammed, a 21-year-old pilot trainee⁵, grew up on Zawiya Street.
For the past week, he and his lifelong neighbor, Mohammed Badi, a student of French, have been manning a checkpoint, stopping cars and trucks traveling through the neighborhood.
“We need to be safe here, because we know mafias, Gadhafi’s mafias...,” Abou Gabha says.
This checkpoint, multiplied by the thousands across this sprawling⁶ city of 1.5 million people, helps explain why Tripoli has suffered only small-scale looting since the sudden collapse¹ of the Gadhafi government. 
Pausing from checking cars, Abou Gabha explains the checkpoints did not spring up by accident.
Since May, underground military councils formed neighborhood by neighborhood.
“If Gadhafi's government know we have a council here, they will kill us, and catch us, and put us in prison,” says Gabha.
Critics say the city is awash with guns. Mohammed says the guns at his checkpoint are strictly⁷ controlled by his neighborhood military council.
“They count it...and if I shoot one, I will be in trouble,” he says.
Mohammed Badi grew up across the street from Mohammed Abou Gabha.
“I trust him too much. If I do not trust him, I do not give him my back," says Badi. "He has a gun. We do not like guns very much in Libya.”
One week after Tripoli’s uprising, as the city returns to normal, there is no evidence of looting on Zawiya Street. The key, Mohammed Abou Gabha says, is neighborhood unity⁸. Referring to the multi-story apartment buildings on his street, he says, “All the buildings, we are just like one man.”
Later, I encounter Mohammed down the street, directing traffic in front of the neighborhood mosque⁹.
“This car and this guy is coming from Misrata. And there's another guy is coming from Benghazi also," says Gabha. "That means we are one country. We live one country.”
With luck, the unity displayed on the block level here in Tripoli, will play large in Libya, allowing for a new government of national unity.

1 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

2 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

3 descend   

vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降

参考例句：

• I hope the grace of God would descend on me.我期望上帝的恩惠。
• We're not going to descend to such methods.我们不会沦落到使用这种手段。

4 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

5 trainee   

n.受训练者

参考例句：

• The trainee checked out all right on his first flight.受训者第一次飞行完全合格。
• Few of the trainee footballers make it to the top.足球受训人员中没有几个能达到顶级水平。

6 sprawling   

adj.蔓生的，不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 )；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着）

参考例句：

• He was sprawling in an armchair in front of the TV. 他伸开手脚坐在电视机前的一张扶手椅上。
• a modern sprawling town 一座杂乱无序拓展的现代城镇

7 strictly   

adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地

参考例句：

• His doctor is dieting him strictly.他的医生严格规定他的饮食。
• The guests were seated strictly in order of precedence.客人严格按照地位高低就座。

8 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

9 mosque   

n.清真寺

参考例句：

• The mosque is a activity site and culture center of Muslim religion.清真寺为穆斯林宗教活动场所和文化中心。
• Some years ago the clock in the tower of the mosque got out of order.几年前，清真寺钟楼里的大钟失灵了。