Suicide attack on Pakistani hotel

Suicide attack on Pakistani hotel 巴基斯坦酒店自杀性袭击
A suicide bomb attack on a luxury hotel in the north-west Pakistani city of Peshawar, has killed 15 people and injured at least 60.
　　Gunmen（枪手，歹徒） stormed the outer security barrier at the Pearl Continental¹ Hotel before blowing up a vehicle containing, police say, 500kg of explosives.
　　Two foreign citizens - both UN workers - were killed and several were injured.
　　A series of bombs have hit cities, including Peshawar, since a government crackdown on Taliban militants³.
　　Peshawar, the main city in the country's north-west, is not far from the Swat valley, where the government offensive has been concentrated.
　　Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani swiftly condemned⁴ the attack but the blast hardly comes as a surprise, says the BBC's Chris Morris, in Islamabad.
　　While there was no immediate⁵ claim of responsibility for Tuesday night's attack on what is the most prominent hotel in Peshawar, our correspondent says most people will assume it to be the work of the Taliban.
　　A symbol of Peshawar's contact with the rest of the world, a place where government officials and foreign dignitaries （高官，高僧）are accustomed to staying, has been attacked, he adds.
　　The attack killed a Serbian UN refugee agency worker and a Unicef worker from the Philippines.
　　The injured include a British man and a German national, Peshawar district coordination（同等，调和） officer Sahibzada Anis said.
　　At least a dozen UN employees were staying at the hotel at the time of the explosion.
　　UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon spoke⁶ of "a heinous（可憎的，十恶不赦的） terrorist attack which no cause can justify⁷".
　　'Shouting and running'
　　Eyewitnesses⁸ told the BBC News website the blast could be seen up to 5km (3 miles) away. The blast left a large crater⁹ and parts of the hotel were destroyed.
　　Three men riding in a truck approached the main gate of the hotel and opened fire at security guards before driving inside, police official Liaqat Ali told AP, quoting witness accounts.
　　"They drove the vehicle inside the hotel gates and blew it up on reaching close to the hotel building," he added. Ali Khan, a hotel waiter, said he had been working when the attack happened.
　　"I was in the Chinese restaurant when we heard firing and then a blast（爆破）," he told Reuters news agency. "It was totally dark and people started shouting and running."An injured man, Jawad Chaudhry, said he had been in his room on the ground floor when he heard gunshots, then a big bang.
　　"The floor under my feet shook," he said. "I thought the roof was falling on me. I ran out. I saw everybody running in panic. There was blood and pieces of glass everywhere."Musa Khan, a BBC News website reader in Peshawar, said he was far away when the blast happened but could tell it was "huge".
　　"I was in the university lawn with my friends," he said. "I saw the red light from there blowing and then I heard a huge sound."Another Peshawar reader, Imran, said window panes¹⁰ 5km away had been shattered while a third, Samee Uddin, reported gunshots and then a "huge cloud of smoke [which] could be seen from more than 3km away".
　　Revenge vowThe Pearl Continental, usually just called the PC, is a well-known landmark（路标） in Peshawar, often used by foreigners, Pakistani officials and businessmen.
　　Correspondents say it runs a series of security checks, first of vehicles as they drive in past heavy concrete barriers, then of people who are screened by metal detectors（金属探测器） and bag searches.
　　Government forces launched an offensive earlier this year to crush a Taliban-led uprising in the Swat valley aimed at enforcing Sharia law.
　　Taliban leaders have promised to launch revenge（报仇，复仇） attacks on major Pakistani cities and claimed a bombing in Lahore last month which left at least 28 people dead.
　　A devastating¹¹ suicide bomb attack on the Islamabad Marriott hotel last September killed at least 53 people and injured more than 266.
　　Fidayeen-e-Islam, a little-known Pakistani militant² group, told the BBC it had carried out the attack with the aim of stopping US interference in Pakistan.

1 continental   

adj.大陆的，大陆性的，欧洲大陆的

参考例句：

• A continental climate is different from an insular one.大陆性气候不同于岛屿气候。
• The most ancient parts of the continental crust are 4000 million years old.大陆地壳最古老的部分有40亿年历史。

2 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

3 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

4 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

5 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

6 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

7 justify   

vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护

参考例句：

• He tried to justify his absence with lame excuses.他想用站不住脚的借口为自己的缺席辩解。
• Can you justify your rude behavior to me?你能向我证明你的粗野行为是有道理的吗？

8 eyewitnesses   

目击者( eyewitness的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The examination of all the eyewitnesses took a week. 对所有证人的质询用了一周的时间。
• Several eyewitnesses testified that they saw the officers hit Miller in the face. 几位目击证人证明他们看见那几个警官打了米勒的脸。

9 crater   

n.火山口，弹坑

参考例句：

• With a telescope you can see the huge crater of Ve-suvius.用望远镜你能看到巨大的维苏威火山口。
• They came to the lip of a dead crater.他们来到了一个死火山口。

10 panes   

窗玻璃( pane的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sun caught the panes and flashed back at him. 阳光照到窗玻璃上，又反射到他身上。
• The window-panes are dim with steam. 玻璃窗上蒙上了一层蒸汽。

11 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。