时间:2018-12-02 作者:英语课 分类:CNN美国有线新闻2017年4月


英语课

 


Our first story, there's been an apparent chemical weapons attack in the Middle Eastern nation of Syria. We've been covering the country's civil war for years. It started in 2011. The United Nations estimates that 400,000 Syrians have been killed and millions have fled their homes.


What made Thursday's attack so horrible, even in this war-torn country, was that it reportedly involved a poisonous gas, according to multiple activist 1 groups in the country.


Witnesses say it killed dozens of people, including families, though there have been different reports on exactly how many people died. Hundreds have been injured. Doctors say the victims had breathing problems, pale skin, sweating, narrow pupils, all symptoms of a chemical attack.


It happened in a western Syrian city that's held by rebels who are fighting the government. Activist groups say the attack was carried out by Syria's government. It's been blamed for previously 2 using chemical weapons in the war.


Syrian government forces said yesterday, they categorically denied using chemical weapons in the area and that they held terrorist groups and their supporters responsible.


Leaders from all over the world gave enraged 3 responses yesterday to the apparent chemical attack.


JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Chemical weapons are known as the "poor man's atom bomb", because at relatively 4 little cost, they could have devastating 5 effect, both in terms of casualties, but also in the sheer horror of the injuries and the sheer fear of contamination.


In the history of warfare 6, they've been used very seldom. You have to go back to World War II for widespread use, although Saddam Hussein used them in the late 1980s, killed some 5,000 people in northern Iraq, in Kurdistan. More recently, the Assad regime has used them repeatedly in the war in Syria. It's estimated, some 1,500 people have been killed, 15,000 injured in chemical weapons attacks in Syria.


The Geneva protocol 7 of 1925 banned the use of chemical weapons in warfare, but not the production. It wasn't until the early 1990s that the Chemical Weapons Convention banned the production and stockpiling as well. And since then, some 90 percent of the world's chemical weapons have been destroyed.


But still, to this day, there's a lot out there in 17 countries still have them. From the ones you'd expect, North Korea for instance, which did not sign on to any of those treaties, but also the U.S., although the U.S. has committed never to use them in warfare and is committed to destroy all of them by the 2020s.



1 activist
n.活动分子,积极分子
  • He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
  • He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。
2 previously
adv.以前,先前(地)
  • The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
  • Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿,解释原先发生了什么。
3 enraged
使暴怒( enrage的过去式和过去分词 ); 歜; 激愤
  • I was enraged to find they had disobeyed my orders. 发现他们违抗了我的命令,我极为恼火。
  • The judge was enraged and stroke the table for several times. 大法官被气得连连拍案。
4 relatively
adv.比较...地,相对地
  • The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
  • The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。
5 devastating
adj.毁灭性的,令人震惊的,强有力的
  • It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
  • Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。
6 warfare
n.战争(状态);斗争;冲突
  • 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。
7 protocol
n.议定书,草约,会谈记录,外交礼节
  • We must observe the correct protocol.我们必须遵守应有的礼仪。
  • The statesmen signed a protocol.那些政治家签了议定书。
学英语单词
abreactive therapy
adrenal-cortical insufficiency
aerobicize
age group
anagraph
anaphothrips sudanensis
anchoritesses
Antilipoxygenase
asphalting
assweed
attillas
bahia piassavas
balanced anesthesia
barn yard
bestead 2,bested
borrowing area
budget amendment
callen-symanzik equation
cickness
Clematis platysepala
closed shelf
contact-glass
converging polarized light
counterfeit note
dead hang position
diatonicisms
electric locomotive crab reel
electronic contactor
Etna Volcano
fiber-optic ring
garland crabs
genus epidendrums
Geoffrey Chaucer
hand-knitting yarn
horizontal-direction formation
impetigo contagiosa
islandly
Italophile
jacor
juzgado
Krasnyy Chikoy
labour agreement
law-abidding
Lezoux
ligusticumic acid
link line equipment
liquid solid chromatography
loans on actual estate
magic-bullet
management scientist
mesogenacerores
metallgesellschafts
microcrystallization analysis
mirchi
mnila hawser
Mons (Bergen)
Myosotidium
net rent
newly industrializing country
no protest
nowra
numbness of lower lip
on home ground
onerarious
opposite sense
Orbignya spesiosa
outpoises
Pasirlaja
perfunctoriously
phasing control
phobist
pricky
professional class
protoaetioporphyrin
pseudohallucinations
radiometric techology
Radoszyce
reasonest
reciprocating positive displacement pump
recommondation
rectifier relay
resegregation
roxi
self-exited oscillation
skar
Slurpee
soft material
special handling considerations
spotted dogs
spurring on
St. Crispin
stonebench
submultisets
teef
to dismast
transcondylar amputation
uncontinuous change
vaso-occlusive crisis
vernicles
whip line
wiluite
Yos Sudarso, Pulau