Obama Salutes Troops From bin Laden Operation

     President Barack Obama has met behind closed doors with some of the secret special operations forces who killed Osama bin¹ Laden². The president Friday thanked the units who carried out the operation against the leader of the al-Qaida terror network.

    At the Fort Campbell Army installation in Kentucky, President Obama and Vice³ President Joe Biden congratulated the troops involved in Sunday’s dangerous operation in Pakistan.

    They held a private meeting with the Navy SEAL commandos and Army helicopter pilots on the assault team who raided Osama bin Laden’s compound and killed the al-Qaida leader.

    Mr. Obama told them, "Job well done."The president later carried the same message to hundreds of cheering soldiers at a nearby hangar. "I came here for a simple reason to say thank you on behalf of America. This has been a historic week in the life of our nation," he said.

    Fort Campbell has sustained heavy losses in the nearly 10-year war in Afghanistan. Mr. Obama has drawn⁴ about 100,000 troops out of Iraq and has sent tens of thousands more into Afghanistan. He told the soldiers sending them into harm’s way was the toughest decision he made as commander-in-chief, and he did not make it lightly.

    The president thanked everyone who helped to eliminate the threat posed by bin Laden. "Thanks to the incredible skill and courage of countless⁵ individuals, intelligence, military over many years, the terrorist leader who struck our nation on 9-11 will never threaten America again," he said.

    Mr. Obama said the killing⁶ of Osama bin Laden was a step toward ridding the United States and the world of the threat al-Qaida poses. "Most of all, we are making progress in our major goal, our central goal in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and that is disrupting and dismantling⁷, and we are going to ultimately defeat al-Qaida," he said.

    The president called the killing of bin Laden one of the most successful intelligence and military operations in America’s history.

    However, he pointed⁸ out that the war against al-Qaida and terrorism in general continues.(本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑)

1 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。

2 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。

3 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

4 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

5 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

6 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。

7 dismantling   

（枪支）分解

参考例句：

• The new government set about dismantling their predecessors' legislation. 新政府正着手废除其前任所制定的法律。
• The dismantling of a nuclear reprocessing plant caused a leak of radioactivity yesterday. 昨天拆除核后处理工厂引起了放射物泄漏。

8 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。