VOA标准英语2014--奥巴马吹捧打击IS"新阶段"

Obama Touts¹ 'New Phase' in Fight Against IS Group 奥巴马吹捧打击IS"新阶段"

WASHINGTON— 

U.S. President Barack Obama says his decision to double the number of American forces in Iraq signals a new phase in the campaign to defeat radical² Islamic militants³ who have seized large swaths of territory in Iraq and Syria. Obama made the remarks in a rare Sunday appearance on a U.S. television news program.

The president who promised to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq is sending 1,500 additional forces to boost the training and equipping of Iraq’s military in the fight against Islamic State (IS or ISIL) militants, saying that “what [the move] signals is a new phase.”

“We are now in a position to start going on some offense⁴. The [U.S.-led] airstrikes have been very effective in degrading ISIL’s capabilities⁵ and slowing the advance they were making. Now, what we need is ground troops, Iraqi ground troops, that can start pushing them back,” said Obama, appearing on CBS’s Face the Nation television program.

Many Republican critics of the president continue to doubt the ability of Iraqi forces to stand up to the Islamic State, even with U.S. and international support. Congressman⁶ Darrell Issa is among the skeptics.

“When it comes to the Sunni-Shia divide that the [former Nouri al-] Maliki government created, it makes it very, very hard to put together the kind of military units that they should have. That remains⁷ to be seen, whether or not the substantial portion of the 800,000 people we trained are willing to fight. The fact is, by the time they (Iraqi forces) started fleeing (from Islamic State militants), we were down to a quarter million (Iraqi troops),” said Issa.

The Pentagon says the added U.S. forces will train nine Iraqi military brigades and three Kurdish peshmerga brigades over the coming year.

Meanwhile, U.S. airstrikes against Islamic State positions continue.  While boosting U.S. forces deployed⁸ to Iraq, President Obama continues to insist American troops will not be engaged in combat there.

1 touts   

n.招徕( tout的名词复数 )；（音乐会、体育比赛等的）卖高价票的人；侦查者；探听赛马的情报v.兜售( tout的第三人称单数 )；招揽；侦查；探听赛马情报

参考例句：

• Many vouchers are returned for cash, allowing touts and middle men to make a healthy margin. 许多月饼券都被兑换成现金，这让券贩子和中间商赚取了不蜚的利润。 来自互联网
• Spotting prey, the customary crowd of hustlers and touts swarmed around, jostling for my business. 照例有大群的拉客黄牛在寻觅猎物，他们争相过来抢我的生意。 来自互联网

2 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

3 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。

4 offense   

n.犯规，违法行为；冒犯，得罪

参考例句：

• I hope you will not take any offense at my words. 对我讲的话请别见怪。
• His words gave great offense to everybody present.他的发言冲犯了在场的所有人。

5 capabilities   

n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力

参考例句：

• He was somewhat pompous and had a high opinion of his own capabilities. 他有点自大，自视甚高。 来自辞典例句
• Some programmers use tabs to break complex product capabilities into smaller chunks. 一些程序员认为，标签可以将复杂的功能分为每个窗格一组简单的功能。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

6 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

7 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

8 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。