VOA常速英语2007年-British Leader Calls for Immediate Release of 5
时间：2019-02-06 作者：英语课 分类：VOA常速英语2007年（十二月）
London
09 December 2007
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has called for the immediate 1 release of 5 British hostages abducted 2 in Baghdad last May. For VOA, Tom Rivers reports from London.
For the first time since the 5 Britons were abducted on May 29 from a Finance Ministry 3 compound by gunmen posing as police officers, a video released Tuesday by a group called the Islamic Shia Resistance in Iraq showed one of the men being held. It was the first public evidence that the men might still be alive.
"My name is Jason and today is the 18th of November," said one of the hostages.
In that video, the captors say they will start to kill the hostages, who include four security guards and one computer expert, if Britain does not withdraw all of its remaining troops from Iraq soon.
Over the months, little if anything has been disclosed about what Britain is doing to gain the release of those held. On Sunday, Prime Minister Brown underlined that behind the scenes, things were being done.
"We will do everything in our power to secure what is our objective and that is the immediate release of the hostages," said Mr. Brown.
Speaking on Sky News, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband spoke 4 of the stress the families of those being held are under.
"It is important that publicity 5 is never confused with activity, and especially in a case like this, it is very, very important that we follow a very careful strategy," said Miliband. "The stress of the families is going to be huge. It is bad enough to have the hostage-taking. To then have the video coming out last week is just going to add, has added, hugely to the distress 6. But the whole of the British government is working very, very actively 7 on this."
And as for Gordon Brown, he again stressed that Britain will not be making any kind of deal to gain the release of the five.
"The taking of hostages is completely unjustified, wholly unacceptable and we are making it absolutely clear that it will not change out policy in any way," said Mr. Brown.
Brown also praised Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki and his government for their efforts to free the men.
- His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
- We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。
- Detectives have not ruled out the possibility that she was abducted. 侦探尚未排除她被绑架的可能性。
- The kid was abducted at the gate of kindergarten. 那小孩在幼儿园大门口被绑架走了。
- They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
- We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。
- 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 singer star's marriage got a lot of publicity.这位歌星的婚事引起了公众的关注。
- He dismissed the event as just a publicity gimmick.他不理会这件事，只当它是一种宣传手法。
- Nothing could alleviate his distress.什么都不能减轻他的痛苦。
- Please don't distress yourself.请你不要忧愁了。