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
acceptance agreement
accidental harm
aerobryopsis parisii
aframe
arcuation
Arteria temporalis superficialis
attractive (-type) maglev
automatic typing of intrinsic function
axle fracture
bank discount rate
belt feeder
bhalla
Biger
binary-coded interrupt vector
biological cleaning
block sequence indicator
bohlen
Bowden-Tabor theory
calcium physiology
Canadian Port and Harbour Association
carbamate
common conduit
common evening primroses
consumer-credits
contact measurement
controlled post-mortem program
corundum wheel
custom smelter
cyclic binary unit-distance code (gray code)
deci-mole
Dichroa febrifuga
double-clad vessel
dump hopper
egosurfs
entry-level
ethylene-propylene rubber
evaporative surface condenser
export tender
fabrication plant
farmer's skin
foing
forced development
glacking
gomphodont
have a sleep on it
heavy snowfall
hell-raisers
high-pressure pump
indenyl
indigotin
infrared guidance
Inonda
jujuite
keralan
knor and spil
make hay of
Malluch
Malpighian stigmata
metastaticity
microcytotic
mid-season variety
morocain crepe
muishond
noncompeting retailer
Oktaverine
oleylamine
optimum amplitude and phase modulation
Ornithofilaria
orthometric elevation system
par value capital stock
pars auricularis cerebelli
plasma desmearer
posts up
pot men
projective geometry of path
pubber
public address
rental agency
right-angle side
rowdrill
scorching of wood
screen selection
Severo-Baykal'skoye Nagor'ye
sharp-edged orifice
sidlings
sludge classifier
sportman toll
stopvalve
sudium boltwoodite
tag memory
taurocholate of soda
teaches someone a lesson
telearometer
temperature pattern factor
tractor series
truss frame plow
turchin
using status
vapour heating equipment
Vedic
waterzooi
weak stability