时间:2018-12-16 作者:英语课 分类:VOA标准英语2009年(七月)


英语课

Families of two of the three remaining British hostages held in Iraq for two years are deeply troubled to hear the men are likely dead. The news was broken to them last week by British officials.


The loved ones of the British hostages are going through anguish 1 and torment 2.


While Foreign Office officials will not confirm or deny the widespread media reports here that two Britons employed as private security guards in Iraq have died in captivity 3, various accounts point to the likelihood that Alan McMenemy and Alec MacLachlan are probably dead.
 
British Business Secretary Peter Mandelson, 12 Jun 2009


Given the sensitive nature of the situation, details are not being made public, but as Business Secretary Peter Mandelson says the outlook does not look good.


"I do not want to disclose publicly the information we are getting, but we are intensively engaged through a whole variety of different channels, but I do not disguise the fact that we are extremely concerned for the safety of the hostages," said Peter Mandelson. "And while we will continue to do everything we can, we cannot be sure what the future will hold, but we are doing our absolute level best."


The two men were in a group of five Britons kidnapped from the Finance Ministry 4 building in Baghdad in May 2007 by around 40 men disguised as Iraqi policemen.


Their captors are from a shadowy Shi'ite group known as the Islamic Shia Resistance in Iraq. The group has demanded the release of nine of its members held in prison.


Since their abduction, the British hostages have appeared occasionally in videos, but last month the bodies of two other security contractors 5 in the group were released.


If this latest claim that the two remaining guards are also dead, that would leave only the plight 6 of the man they were protecting unknown. He is 36-year-old Peter Moore, a computer instructor 7 working for the U.S. management consultancy Bearingpoint in Iraq.



1 anguish
n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦,烦恼
  • She cried out for anguish at parting.分手时,她由于痛苦而失声大哭。
  • The unspeakable anguish wrung his heart.难言的痛苦折磨着他的心。
2 torment
n.折磨;令人痛苦的东西(人);vt.折磨;纠缠
  • He has never suffered the torment of rejection.他从未经受过遭人拒绝的痛苦。
  • Now nothing aggravates me more than when people torment each other.没有什么东西比人们的互相折磨更使我愤怒。
3 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。
4 ministry
n.(政府的)部;牧师
  • 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。
5 contractors
n.(建筑、监造中的)承包人( contractor的名词复数 )
  • We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后,接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Contractors winning construction jobs had to kick back 2 per cent of the contract price to the mafia. 赢得建筑工作的承包商得抽出合同价格的百分之二的回扣给黑手党。 来自《简明英汉词典》
6 plight
n.困境,境况,誓约,艰难;vt.宣誓,保证,约定
  • The leader was much concerned over the plight of the refugees.那位领袖对难民的困境很担忧。
  • She was in a most helpless plight.她真不知如何是好。
7 instructor
n.指导者,教员,教练
  • The college jumped him from instructor to full professor.大学突然把他从讲师提升为正教授。
  • The skiing instructor was a tall,sunburnt man.滑雪教练是一个高高个子晒得黑黑的男子。
学英语单词
Achad
anti-gas-gangrene sera
ashurs
backwater end of
baron tweedsmuir
Beane, River
bisebacate
Buchner's funnel
Cape Fear River
caviare
chain binomial model
complex grease
comprehense
computer application
congestion management
counter flange
cryoconite hole
cut a nick
cute hoor
dodecameter
drawing cam controlled blank holder
drosophila (sophophora) ananassae
DVD video
emergency starting compressor
emile
equalizer (eol)
euroblepharon
every Tom, Dick, and Harry
faced about
fault detector
ferroamphibole
fragilis
ganista
gas specific heat
gholz
glittering prizes
glow-gap divider
Grünbach
head sprouting season
herninate
hexobiose
Horda
huffman decoder
interbrachial(interbrachial plate)
internal insemination
invertible morphism
jabberwocks
Koroboue, Chutes de
Lepidosperma
linolenin
lylies
machine language value
manganesate
Master Gunner
natural oils
northvale
nucleatum
oblique triangle
operation transform pair
orbit decay return mode
paltrier
passeriformess
plakodin (placodine)
playsong
pneumatype
Polyporales
practical unit
principle of subgoal deduction
project sth onto
projective
pteron
Puerto San Lorenzo
pundlar
quadrature-axis transient impedance
rash
refuel(l)ing
run a risk of
runnin fit
sacro-suprapubic diameter
salt exclasion
Santa Fiora
Sapakan
saucer magnolia
Scrophularia Tourn. ex L.
segmental rim rotor
self tightening oil seal
Seseli L.
signal-hace
sketchiness
Stenandiol
stir your stumps
stratta
syringyl alcohol
thyroidectomized
tighten belt
tocked
top-heaviness
touchpaper
value for money audit
value-at-risk analysis
Villa Oropeza
x-gram