时间:2018-12-07 作者:英语课 分类:VOA2003(上)-国际经纬


英语课

 



Broadcast: May 3, 2003
By Cynthia Kirk


This is Steve Ember with the VOA Special English program IN THE NEWS.
The United States says it will withdraw1 all combat forces from Saudi Arabia by the end of August. American officials will move the troops and military aircraft from Saudi Arabia's Prince Sultan Air Base to nearby Qatar.
American Defense 1 Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Saudi Defense Minister Prince Sultan bin 2 Abdul Aziz made the announcement Tuesday at a news conference in Riyadh. They said American forces can now leave Saudi Arabia because Iraq is no longer a threat to the area.
Mister Rumsfeld said the withdrawal 3 is part of an effort to reposition American forces in the Persian Gulf 4 area, following the military victory in Iraq. The United States and Saudi Arabia agreed to the withdrawal. The two countries say they plan to continue close military relations. About four-hundred American troops will remain in Saudi Arabia to train the Saudi military.
The withdrawal began Monday. The United States moved its major air operations center at Prince Sultan Air Base to the al-Udeid air base in Qatar. American commanders used both bases to lead the air war over Iraq.
The withdrawal of about ten-thousand American troops is designed to ease tensions. Saudi Arabia has Islam's two holiest cities, Mecca and Medina. Many Muslims oppose the presence of American troops in Saudi Arabia. They say non-Muslims should not be welcome in land that is holy to Muslims. Al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden 5, a Saudi, has noted 6 the American military presence in Saudi Arabia. He said this was a reason for the attacks against the United States on September eleventh, two-thousand-one.
The American military presence in Saudi Arabia began after the Persian Gulf war in nineteen-ninety-one. The Prince Sultan Air Base was used for American planes guarding the area over southern Iraq where Iraqi military flights were banned.
However, tensions between the Saudis and Americans have increased over the years. Twenty-four American soldiers died in two separate terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia in nineteen-ninety-five and nineteen-ninety-six. Also, fifteen of the nineteen hijackers2 in the September eleventh terrorist attacks were identified as Saudi citizens.
Saudi rulers quietly agreed to America's requests for support during the recent military campaign in Iraq. But they tried to suppress the news that they let Americans use their bases. The war was unpopular among the Saudi people.
American officials say the military withdrawal will help ease political pressure on the Saudi royal family. Saudi rulers have faced demands from outside and inside the country to reform the country's political and educational system. Saudi officials said the withdrawal of American soldiers would clear the way for a series of democratic reforms.
This VOA Special English program, IN THE NEWS, was written by Cynthia Kirk. This is Steve Ember.


1. withdraw [wIT5drC:] v. 撤退
2. hijackers [5haIdVAk[] n. 强盗,劫持犯(尤指劫持飞机)



1 defense
n.防御,保卫;[pl.]防务工事;辩护,答辩
  • 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。
2 bin
n.箱柜;vt.放入箱内;[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件
  • He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
  • He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。
3 withdrawal
n.取回,提款;撤退,撤军;收回,撤销
  • The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
  • They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。
4 gulf
n.海湾;深渊,鸿沟;分歧,隔阂
  • The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
  • There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。
5 laden
adj.装满了的;充满了的;负了重担的;苦恼的
  • He is laden with heavy responsibility.他肩负重任。
  • Dragging the fully laden boat across the sand dunes was no mean feat.将满载货物的船拖过沙丘是一件了不起的事。
6 noted
adj.著名的,知名的
  • The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
  • Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。
学英语单词
acropoma japonicum
ardi gasna
area oriented
balanoposthitis
bond-length
broken bone
cable concentrator
cardiovascular system
Castelli
centrifugal tar extractor
charwomen
CIL process
clusterfucking
conel
crash-stop
cubic meters
darkly
delocalizing
dickmen
diffusion technology
diphenyl sulfide
disalicylalethylenediamine
drame
electrostatic bremsstrahlung
enrollee
expendable engine
filter press sludge
fulcine
funk art
genus leccinums
H-ras
haemangiomatosis
hardened-steel
Hassall's bodies
helix coupled vane circuit
honour one's liability
iminophenimide
intercondylar eminence
interoperates
iodin
isoschisomer, isoschisomere
Komarichi
Kurate
Kǔmya
low-frequency propagation
low-priority traffic
main feed system
marrieth
Mazāvī, Rūd-e
medicated wine with leopard bone
mental suggestion
monkey heading
natural earthing substance
Nelspoort
nickel-iron wire
nierman
non-linearity of mca
nonregularity
outacting
Parailmenite
parental right
passibilities
Ponte San Pietro
population characteristics
Praia da Vitória
profile carline
R acid
raw data base
redescribed
remote interactive computing
required subdivision index
restrictivism
retaining rib
reversing two-high mill
sailing draft
salafs
sanghs
scattering turbidimeter
Schisandra chinensis
scissor-formed perforator
selfregard
Sierra Nevada National Park
size mixing
spur-winged plovers
standard sequential indexed method
star turn
steam bonnet
stochastic variation
stress rupture testing machine
swowne
tailoredist
thunder shower
touch hole
transcriptional start point
transmission policy control object
tri-diagonal matrix
tushar
vertical parity check
vt (virtual terminal)
warehouse company
Weilmünster
Windward Passage