New violence hits Afghan capital

Fresh violence has erupted in the Afghan capital, Kabul, on the eve of the country's presidential election.

Explosions and gunfire were heard as troops battled insurgents¹ who raided a bank a few hundred metres from the presidential compound, killing² three.

The Taliban has vowed³ to disrupt the election and said it was behind the raid, but this could not be confirmed.

The government has asked the media not to report violence on election day to avoid deterring⁴ people from voting.

On Tuesday, more than 20 people were killed in attacks across the country, including a suicide blast (自杀式爆炸)in Kabul.

Meanwhile, aid agency Oxfam has said the elections must be accompanied by major reforms in governance and aid.

Oxfam said that, despite massive（大规模） investment, a third of Afghans still faced hunger and poverty.

'Wasteful⁵'

The presidential election on Thursday will be the second since the overthrow⁶ of the Taliban in 2001.

Since then, says Oxfam, billions of dollars of aid have been channelled into Afghanistan by foreign governments but these have been "woefully insufficient⁷" to deal with the legacy⁸ of three decades of conflict.

Too few Afghans were benefitting from the money and much of it had been "ineffective, unco-ordinated or wasteful".

The group said the election of a new government had to be accompanied by major reforms. "Aid can make a huge difference in Afghanistan - but it has to be well-spent," it said.

Hamid Karzai is tipped to be re-elected president in Thursday's polls, although correspondents（通讯员）say he could face a run-off against one of his strongest challengers, ex-Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah. Several dozen candidates are in the race.

The Taliban says it will use violence to disrupt the poll and on Tuesday the government urged a media blackout on any attacks from 0600 to 2000 on polling day.

"All domestic and international media agencies are requested to refrain from broadcasting any incident of violence during the election process from 6am to 8pm on 20 August," the foreign ministry⁹ said in a statement.

Siamak Herawi, a spokesman for President Karzai, said the blackout would prevent the media from having a "negative impact".

"If something happens, this will prevent them from exaggerating it, so that people will not be frightened to come out and vote."

But journalists and activists¹⁰ said Afghans had a right to know about the security threats they faced.

Rahimullah Samander, head of the Afghan Independent Journalists' Association, told Reuters news agency: "We condemn¹¹ such moves to deprive people from accessing news."

The New York-based organisation¹², Human Rights Watch, said: "An attempt to censor（检查员） the reporting of violence is an unreasonable¹³ violation¹⁴ of press freedoms."

Taliban attacks

 

On Tuesday, despite heightened security ahead of polling day, militants¹⁵ acted on their threats to disrupt election week.

A suicide car bomb in Kabul targeted a convoy¹⁶ of Western troops, killing 10 people and injuring more than 50.

A Nato soldier and nine Afghans, including two UN staff, died in the explosion, the Nato-led force said. The Taliban claimed responsibility.

In other attacks on Tuesday:

• A rocket was fired into the presidential compound（化合物） in Kabul

• Two US soldiers died in a roadside bomb in the east of the country

• In the usually peaceful north, an election candidate was shot dead in Jowzjan province, and three poll workers were killed in Badakhshan when their car hit a bomb

• Two civilians¹⁷ and three Afghan soldiers died when a suicide bomber¹⁸ on foot blew himself up in southern Uruzgan province.(本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑)

1 insurgents   

n.起义，暴动，造反( insurgent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The regular troops of Baden joined the insurgents. 巴登的正规军参加到起义军方面来了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Against the Taliban and Iraqi insurgents, these problems are manageable. 要对付塔利班与伊拉克叛乱分子，这些问题还是可以把握住的。 来自互联网

2 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。

3 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。

4 deterring   

v.阻止，制止( deter的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• However, investors say are a number of issues deterring business. 然而，投资者表示，有很多问题让他们却步。 来自互联网
• It's an effective way of deterring potential does online, the logic goes. 逻辑上这是抑制潜在线上威胁的有效方法。 来自互联网

5 wasteful   

adj.（造成）浪费的，挥霍的

参考例句：

• It is a shame to be so wasteful.这样浪费太可惜了。
• Duties have been reassigned to avoid wasteful duplication of work.为避免重复劳动浪费资源，任务已经重新分派。

6 overthrow   

v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆

参考例句：

• After the overthrow of the government,the country was in chaos.政府被推翻后，这个国家处于混乱中。
• The overthrow of his plans left him much discouraged.他的计划的失败使得他很气馁。

7 insufficient   

adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的

参考例句：

• There was insufficient evidence to convict him.没有足够证据给他定罪。
• In their day scientific knowledge was insufficient to settle the matter.在他们的时代，科学知识还不能足以解决这些问题。

8 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

9 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• 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。

10 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 condemn   

vt.谴责，指责；宣判(罪犯)，判刑

参考例句：

• Some praise him,whereas others condemn him.有些人赞扬他，而有些人谴责他。
• We mustn't condemn him on mere suppositions.我们不可全凭臆测来指责他。

12 organisation   

n.组织，安排，团体，有机休

参考例句：

• The method of his organisation work is worth commending.他的组织工作的方法值得称道。
• His application for membership of the organisation was rejected.他想要加入该组织的申请遭到了拒绝。

13 unreasonable   

adj.不讲道理的，不合情理的，过度的

参考例句：

• I know that they made the most unreasonable demands on you.我知道他们对你提出了最不合理的要求。
• They spend an unreasonable amount of money on clothes.他们花在衣服上的钱太多了。

14 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

15 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。

16 convoy   

vt.护送，护卫，护航；n.护送；护送队

参考例句：

• The convoy was snowed up on the main road.护送队被大雪困在干路上了。
• Warships will accompany the convoy across the Atlantic.战舰将护送该船队过大西洋。

17 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

18 bomber   

n.轰炸机，投弹手，投掷炸弹者

参考例句：

• He flew a bomber during the war.他在战时驾驶轰炸机。
• Detectives hunting the London bombers will be keen to interview him.追查伦敦爆炸案凶犯的侦探们急于对他进行讯问。