时间:2019-01-13 作者:英语课 分类:2007年VOA标准英语(一月)


英语课

By Al Pessin
Pentagon
24 January 2007


A U.S. military official has confirmed to VOA that U.S. military forces made a second air strike on al-Qaida targets in Somalia this week. VOA's Al Pessin reports from the Pentagon.


 
AC-130 (File photo)
The official, who would speak only on condition of anonymity 1, says a large C-130 gunship carried out the attack, the same type of aircraft that made a similar attack two weeks ago. The U.S. military official could not say exactly where the attack was made, or which day, or whether the intended targets were hit.


Sources in Mogadishu told a VOA reporter that no reports of a new air strike had reached the city, as they normally would, even from remote areas.


 
Bryan Whitman (file photo)
At his daily briefing, Pentagon Spokesman Bryan Whitman, who had confirmed the previous attack, would not confirm the new attack on the record.


"The very nature of some of our operations are not conducive 2 to public discussion," he said. "And there will be times when there are activities and operations that I can talk to you about, and there will be other times when I just won't have anything for you. And I don't have anything for you on Somalia."


After the previous attack, Whitman said the target had been al-Qaida terrorist leaders, although he could not say whether the targets were hit. This time, he would only discuss the military's operations against al-Qaida in East Africa in general terms.


"We have for some time been concerned about al-Qaida operating in that region, and that's why we're working with countries throughout that AOR [Area of Responsibility] to identify, track, seek, capture and, if necessary, kill al-Qaida [operatives] working, taking safe haven 3, operating in that region," he said.


In addition to the two air strikes, the U.S. Navy has added extra ships to its patrols in the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean, off the coast of Somalia. Officials say the goal is to prevent al-Qaida operatives and sympathizers who were working with Somaila's former rulers in the Islamic Courts Union from escaping the area by sea. Kenya has closed its land border at the southern end of Somalia. And as a result, reports from the region say, some former government officials and their supporters have been cornered in southeastern Somalia, where the air strikes are believed to have taken place.


One prominent member of the U.S. Congress has criticized the U.S. military moves. The new chairman of the House of Representatives Africa Subcommittee, Democrat 4 Donald Payne, told VOA Wednesday he believes U.S. policy in the region is based on wrong information.


"Most of those Islamic Courts Union leaders were moderates, in my opinion," he said. "And I don't feel comfortable that the information that this was al-Qaida-inspired is actually true. I'm sure there are some al-Qaida operatives in the country because they're everywhere, but I don't think that the prime movers of the Islamic Courts Union was to be beholden to al-Qaida."


Congressman 5 Payne called for negotiations 6 between Somalia's new transitional government and its former rulers. Otherwise, he said, the African Union or some other organization will need to provide peacekeeping troops for Somalia for a long time.



n.the condition of being anonymous
  • Names of people in the book were changed to preserve anonymity. 为了姓名保密,书中的人用的都是化名。
  • Our company promises to preserve the anonymity of all its clients. 我们公司承诺不公开客户的姓名。
adj.有益的,有助的
  • This is a more conducive atmosphere for studying.这样的氛围更有利于学习。
  • Exercise is conducive to good health.体育锻炼有助于增强体质。
n.安全的地方,避难所,庇护所
  • It's a real haven at the end of a busy working day.忙碌了一整天后,这真是一个安乐窝。
  • The school library is a little haven of peace and quiet.学校的图书馆是一个和平且安静的小避风港。
n.民主主义者,民主人士;民主党党员
  • The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
  • About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后,他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。
n.(美)国会议员
  • 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。
协商( negotiation的名词复数 ); 谈判; 完成(难事); 通过
  • negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
  • Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。
学英语单词
a culture vulture
a vicious cycle
active soil formers
age for making a valid will
alcee
all-timber
alloy transfer efficiency
amphibologia
artistic styles
barrack
beat the devil's tattoo
beneath sb to do sth
benthodesmus tenuis
bicipital artery
binnacle door
biomedical dosimetry
bond table
capitan mts.
conformants
Cortisoni
courtis
cowboy coffee
cross-lap joint
crowd-surf
cutter tooth number
difenpiramide
diplacusis binauralis
drum cam
DSMAC
early onset
empirical sociology
fault collecting indicator
fine clay slurry
foreign humanitarian assistance
Fox Creek
go into a tailspin
green ink clause credit
Hazleton
homoplasty
horizontal rotating table
human-capital
hydrazine compound
irrelevant to
isobutylidene-acetone
Kando-gawa
keep a secret
kick at
Lamadrid
land proprietor
land-grabs
lee port
lipotropin
little bleedingheart
local transit
long-term power system planning
maskins
mathematical structure
mizen chain
mode select coupler
money and valuables
Nameonics
negotiation of contract terms
neon spark test
noncombatively
on line isotope separator
ophiactid
ossipyte (ossipite)
photoacoustic effect
plain-english
precepting
primary hepatoma
primary magnesium
public health service's sanitary requirement
Quixotes
Ramos
receding tide
return pass
rotating platinum microelectrode
sample content
scientific methods of work principle
sgare chain
Sidalcea
solubilizability
somatopleures
souls
spiro compounds
Stellaria L.
subparta ileus
tab curtain
talked into
tambour thread
Tennyson, L.
terraform
truckways
tubercula labiale
turbidimeter method
UF foamed plastics
ultra-high-carbon steel
unsalvagably
well drift
wellcontented
Welsh Black