Pentagon monitors situation in Egypt, Tunisia, Lebanon

    WASHINGTON, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Defense¹ Department on Wednesday said Defense(防卫，保护) officials are closely watching protests that have flared² up in Egypt, Tunisia and Lebanon, as Pentagon hosts senior Egyptian military leaders for talks this week.
    The Defense Department is "monitoring closely" events in Tunisia, Egypt and Lebanon "as they evolve," Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said during a regular briefing.
    Morrell said the United States has no military-to-military relationship with Tunisia, but has a long-standing military-to-military relationship with Egypt and an evolving military-to-military relationship with Lebanon.
    Defense officials are hosting senior Egyptian military leaders this week for their annual bilateral³ defense talks, Morrell said.
    "That's just an example of how engaged we are with the Egyptians, even as these developments have taken place on the streets of Cairo, and elsewhere," he said.(本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑)

1 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• 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 Flared   

adj. 端部张开的, 爆发的, 加宽的, 漏斗式的 动词flare的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The match flared and went out. 火柴闪亮了一下就熄了。
• The fire flared up when we thought it was out. 我们以为火已经熄灭，但它突然又燃烧起来。

3 bilateral   

adj.双方的，两边的，两侧的

参考例句：

• They have been negotiating a bilateral trade deal.他们一直在商谈一项双边贸易协定。
• There was a wide gap between the views of the two statesmen on the bilateral cooperation.对双方合作的问题，两位政治家各自所持的看法差距甚大。