VOA标准英语2014--US General: IS Militants Adapting to Air Campaign
时间：2019-01-14 作者：英语课 分类：VOA标准英语2014年(十月)
US General: IS Militants 1 Adapting to Air Campaign
WASHINGTON—
America’s top military commander says Islamic State (IS) militants are adapting to a U.S.-led air campaign, making targets in Iraq and Syria harder for coalition 2 forces to identify and eliminate. The chairman of the Joint 3 Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, spoke 4 one day after U.S. Defense 5 Secretary Chuck Hagel described the task of defeating the Islamic State group as “difficult” and “complicated.”
Fierce fighting continues in the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani, where militants posted video showing battles being waged street by street and house by house, trapping civilians 6 and swelling 7 the ranks of refugees. In Iraq, government troops continue to battle Sunni radicals 8 outside Baghdad, where another wave of car bombs left a trail of human carnage.
But U.S. military commanders note IS advances on Baghdad and Irbil have been halted, even as militants display new cunning in hiding their positions and movements in response to coalition air strikes. This, according to Dempsey, makes the job more difficult but not impossible to tackle.
“The enemy adapts, and they will be harder to target. They know how to maneuver 9 and to use populations and concealment 10. So, when we get a target, we will take it,” said Dempsey, speaking on ABC’s This Week program.
During a visit to Chile, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel acknowledged that it’s a dangerous endeavor but vowed 11 that there will be no let-up in the coalition air campaign against IS, also known as ISIL.
“The effort to degrade and eventually destroy ISIL is a long-term effort. This is difficult, it is complicated. It will require many factors: coalition partners, a strong, stable, united Iraqi government, strong Syrian opposition 12 forces, and it is going to take a while. It is not going to be fast. It is not going to be easy,” said Hagel.
A more dire 13 assessment 14 came from Republican Senator John McCain, who said Sunday the Islamic State “is winning.”
General Dempsey said he still does not see a need for U.S. combat troops in Iraq, but could envision benefits of U.S. forces accompanying Iraqi troops in future high-intensity missions, such as to recapture the Islamic State-controlled city of Mosul.
- 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。
- The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
- Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。
- I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
- We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。
- They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
- The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。
- The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
- The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。
- the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
- At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。
- Use ice to reduce the swelling. 用冰敷消肿。
- There is a marked swelling of the lymph nodes. 淋巴结处有明显的肿块。
- Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals. 一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- The worry is that the radicals will grow more intransigent. 现在人们担忧激进分子会变得更加不妥协。 来自辞典例句
- All the fighters landed safely on the airport after the military maneuver.在军事演习后，所有战斗机都安全降落在机场上。
- I did get her attention with this maneuver.我用这个策略确实引起了她的注意。
- the concealment of crime 对罪行的隐瞒
- Stay in concealment until the danger has passed. 把自己藏起来，待危险过去后再出来。
- He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
- I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。
- 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。
- There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
- We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。
- This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
- What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？