时间:2018-12-16 作者:英语课 分类:2007年VOA标准英语(八月)


英语课
By Phuong Tran
Dakar
31 August 2007

Deadly ambushes 1 this week in Mali's northern desert region have left about a dozen dead and more than 30 government soldiers in captivity 2. Malian officials suspect Tuareg nomads 3 and link the attacks to the seven-month Tuareg rebellion in neighboring Niger.  Phuong Tran brings VOA this report from VOA's West Africa Bureau in Dakar.






Mali



Malian officials are working through a Tuareg ex-rebel mediator 4 to try to end the deadly desert attacks that have led to dozens of army defections, government soldier kidnappings, and civilian 5 deaths this week.


Malian security officials blame the Tuaregs and link the desert violence to an on-going Tuareg rebellion in Niger's uranium-rich Agadez region.


No Malian Tuareg factions 6 have claimed responsibility for the attacks, and Niger Tuareg rebel leaders deny any military alliance.


But U.K.-based Tuareg analyst 7, Jeremy Keenan, says the kidnappings, seizing of government vehicles, and use of landmines 8 in Mali are the same tactics used by Niger Tuareg fighters.






A group of Tuareg nomads near an army base in the Sahara desert north of Agadez, Niger (file photo)


A group of Tuareg nomads near an army base in the Sahara desert north of Agadez, Niger (file photo)



Keenan says some Tuareg desert nomads in both Mali and Niger have reached a tipping point of anger toward their governments and foreign investors 9 interested in uranium-rich parts of their desert home.


"A lot of Tuaregs have become increasingly fed up by being used in this way, by so-called peace negotiations 10, nothing very concrete coming out of them, increase in frustration 11, irritation 12, about being used, about being manipulated, about nothing very positive happening," he said.


Tuareg fighters in both countries revolted against their governments in the early 1990s over land rights and autonomy.  The Malian government signed a peace deal with the rebels in 1992.  Niger followed in 1995.


The Malian government signed a second peace deal last year following a one-day Tuareg rebel uprising May 2006 that promised to develop the mostly abandoned desert where many Tuaregs live.


Niger Tuareg rebels have said its government has not honored the 1995 promise to share more uranium wealth.


Government officials say most peace-deal demands have been met, and that the entire population needs assistance, not just disaffected 13 rebels.
  
In the past seven months, at least 40 Niger government forces have been killed in the resurgence 14 of Tuareg violence carried out by the Niger Movement for Justice.


More than 30 government forces remain in captivity in the mountains of Niger's desert northeast.


The Niger government has dismissed the violence as banditry, widened its powers of arrest and detention 15 by declaring a state of emergency in the north, and banned television broadcasts of the rebellion.


Tuareg analyst Jeremy Keenan says based on past government responses to Tuareg violence, these measures can be the first steps to a military crackdown.


"What is worrying is the danger of particularly the Niger government, but also the Malian government using fairly massive force to crack down," he added.  "This would lead almost certainly to attacks on civilian population and quite severe human suffering."


Niger and Mali rank last and close to last in a U.N. ranking of living conditions around the world.




1 ambushes
n.埋伏( ambush的名词复数 );伏击;埋伏着的人;设埋伏点v.埋伏( ambush的第三人称单数 );埋伏着
  • He was a specialist in ambushes, he said, and explained his tactics. 他说自己是埋伏战斗方面的专家,并讲述了他的战术。 来自互联网
  • It makes ambushes rather fun. 它使得埋伏战术非常有趣。 来自互联网
2 captivity
n.囚禁;被俘;束缚
  • A zoo is a place where live animals are kept in captivity for the public to see.动物园是圈养动物以供公众观看的场所。
  • He was held in captivity for three years.他被囚禁叁年。
3 nomads
n.游牧部落的一员( nomad的名词复数 );流浪者;游牧生活;流浪生活
  • For ten years she dwelled among the nomads of North America. 她在北美游牧民中生活了十年。
  • Nomads have inhabited this region for thousands of years. 游牧民族在这地区居住已有数千年了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
4 mediator
n.调解人,中介人
  • He always takes the role of a mediator in any dispute.他总是在争论中充当调停人的角色。
  • He will appear in the role of mediator.他将出演调停者。
5 civilian
adj.平民的,民用的,民众的
  • There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
  • He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。
6 factions
组织中的小派别,派系( faction的名词复数 )
  • The gens also lives on in the "factions." 氏族此外还继续存在于“factions〔“帮”〕中。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源
  • rival factions within the administration 政府中的对立派别
7 analyst
n.分析家,化验员;心理分析学家
  • What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务?
  • The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。
8 landmines
潜在的冲突; 地雷,投伞水雷( landmine的名词复数 )
  • The treaty bans the use production and trade of landmines. 该条约规定,禁止使用地雷相关产品及贸易。
  • One of the weapon's of special concern was landmines. 在引起人们特别关注的武器中就有地雷。
9 investors
n.投资者,出资者( investor的名词复数 )
  • a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
  • a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会
10 negotiations
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。
11 frustration
n.挫折,失败,失效,落空
  • He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
  • He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。
12 irritation
n.激怒,恼怒,生气
  • He could not hide his irritation that he had not been invited.他无法掩饰因未被邀请而生的气恼。
  • Barbicane said nothing,but his silence covered serious irritation.巴比康什么也不说,但是他的沉默里潜伏着阴郁的怒火。
13 disaffected
adj.(政治上)不满的,叛离的
  • He attracts disaffected voters.他吸引了心怀不满的选民们。
  • Environmental issues provided a rallying point for people disaffected with the government.环境问题把对政府不满的人们凝聚了起来。
14 resurgence
n.再起,复活,再现
  • A resurgence of his grief swept over Nim.悲痛又涌上了尼姆的心头。
  • Police say drugs traffickers are behind the resurgence of violence.警方说毒贩是暴力活动重新抬头的罪魁祸首。
15 detention
n.滞留,停留;拘留,扣留;(教育)留下
  • He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
  • He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。
学英语单词
acanthoidine
adjacent line
air-breather
ambiguohypoglossal
avoking
bestower
buffer reagent
buy-and-holds
catanator
caveling
chlordan
cost-reimbursement
de-activation
Deinotherioidea
democratic values
desoxypyridoxine
dexamethasones
diameter of working disk
diatonic auxiliary note
discretamine
domain magnetization
double-layer fluorescent screen
dropper plate of free grain
Drusze
dynamicize
editon
elbow equivalent
electrode-travel motor
embraced
endomycopsis hordel
Engler viscosimeter
fairwells
fang-likest
fawns on
federal radio act 1927
fling oneself into the breach
fluoroolefin
free-taking
general staff
grinding media charge
hachi
hard-fightings
Hatsukaichi
HRST
ignition of precipitate
inverse mercator
iodine trap
jM-factor
karhunen loeve transform (klt)
kemerer
laughing-eyed
liege poustie
light-alloy armo(u)r
Longué-Jumelles
lophocoronids
Louis Henri
market chaotic
multistage linear amplifier
Narfeyri
Ngoso
octuplex
optical fiber ribbons
organised-crimes
pass in a program
pelviroentgenography
photoelectrocatalytic reactor
phrenemphraxis
polar moments of inertia
portcullised
practice range
prevelar
primordisl endoderm cells
reave
Rectocillin
residual concentration
Riemann upper integral
rifle shot
safo
saltations
screw-tap
sebiferic acid
second anchor
short-lived asset
sleight-of-hand
sniol
sound-barriers
speed change control
stalk extractor
structurality
Tharrawaw
thirst bucket
thoughted
three-dimensional imaging
throw dust in someone's eyes
transnationally
unwed mother
vel non
voiced sounds
votes down
well-customed
wharfies
wrecking