Petraeus says capturing bin Laden still priority

    WASHINGTON, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- Capturing or killing¹ al-Qaida mastermind Osama bin² Laden³（奥萨马·本·拉登） is still a priority for the United States, David Petraeus, the general who commands all U.S. forces in Afghanistan, was quoted as saying Sunday.
    Talking to NBC's "Meet the Press," Petraeus said bin Laden "remains⁴ an iconic figure and I think capturing or killing is still a very, very important task for all of those who are engaged in counter-terrorism around the world."Petraeus said bin Laden is probably in extremely remote（偏远的） mountainous area between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and it took him several weeks to send out "a congratulatory message out or a message of condolence".
    In the same interview, Petraeus also said the timetable of U.S. troops' withdrawal⁵ from Afghanistan will be driven by situation on the ground.
    "Certainly, I am aware of the context within which I offer that advice," Petraeus said, "But that just informs the advice; it doesn't drive it. The situation on the ground drives it."Obama has set July 2011 as a deadline to begin withdrawing troops. Petraeus said the challenge now is to demonstrate signs of progress.
    Petraeus, who previously⁶ served as head of the U.S. Central Command, assumed command of U.S. Forces Afghanistan and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan last month.(本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑)

1 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

2 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• 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 laden   

adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的

参考例句：

• 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。

4 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

5 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• 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。

6 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。