美国有线新闻 CNN 2016-2-17

 Tensions outside Syria are reflecting the ones inside the middle east country.In this civil war, the president is fighting the hold on the power. There is rebel group who are fighting to take it from him and terrorists like the ISIS group fighting to establish their own country there. But other nations are involved,too.Russia is one of them.It supports the president's government by launching airstrikes targetting its enemies while the US supports some of the rebels fighting the government. US is also targetting ISIS. An international meeting of seventeen countries kicked off in Germany yesterday. The goal, to achieve ceasefire in Syria. Except for the fighters themselves,some parts of the country are nothing but dust and rubble¹.

Years of combat has laid waste to old town. Assade's forces have made major gains in Elaple areas in recent weeks, but for years this battle field was in a stalemate, the frontline right around Elaple's ancient citadel². As Syrian and Russia war planes hover³ overhead,the commander knows who to thank for the new found momentum⁴. 

" It's only a matter of months until we win," he says," Thanks to the Russian support with their airstrikes flown from their Syrian airfield⁵ we will defeat the rebels once and for all.

Elaple is Syria's largest and  one of its most historic towns. Tourists from the world used to flock to the old town before it was engulfed⁶ by the Syrian brutal⁷ civil war. The old town is a UNESCO world heritage site. Some of the buildings are hundreds of thousands of years old and now as you can see most of them completely destroyed and burned out.

  But now Assade's troops believe they are on the verge⁸ of a decisive victory.The commander warns the US not to interfere⁹."We ar steadfast," he says," You can not defeat Syrian army because we are determined¹⁰ to win and we are loyal to President Assade." Amid this divided and destroyed city,Syrian government forces believe they are dealing¹¹ a crushing blow to the opposition¹², one that could end this five-year civil war that destroyed so much more than just landscape.

There are still hundreds of thousands of refugees in Elaple. And international officials are concerned if Syrian forces besieged¹³ the rebel-hold areas,the food supply could be cut off. In parts of Elaple that were controled by the government food is of less a concern.

  We are right in the heart of Elaple.This is ? area and it's actually fairly close to the frontline, but it's also one of the main places held by the Syrian government now. As you can see in this area there are a lot of products that are actually available, food, also a lot of other products as well. However the people here, it is very difficult for them. There is almost no electricity. Most of them come from generators,and of course because we are so close to the frontline,there is also shelling here and quite dangerous for the folks to live here. Elaple is certainly one of the toughest battlegrounds in the civil war that has been going on for about five years.

1 rubble   

n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾

参考例句：

• After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
• After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。

2 citadel   

n.城堡；堡垒；避难所

参考例句：

• The citadel was solid.城堡是坚固的。
• This citadel is built on high ground for protecting the city.这座城堡建于高处是为保护城市。

3 hover   

vi.翱翔，盘旋；徘徊；彷徨，犹豫

参考例句：

• You don't hover round the table.你不要围着桌子走来走去。
• A plane is hover on our house.有一架飞机在我们的房子上盘旋。

4 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

5 airfield   

n.飞机场

参考例句：

• The foreign guests were motored from the airfield to the hotel.用车把外宾从机场送到旅馆。
• The airfield was seized by enemy troops.机场被敌军占领。

6 engulfed   

v.吞没，包住( engulf的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was engulfed by a crowd of reporters. 他被一群记者团团围住。
• The little boat was engulfed by the waves. 小船被波浪吞没了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

8 verge   

n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• She was on the verge of bursting into tears.她快要哭出来了。

9 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

10 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

11 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

12 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

13 besieged   

包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Paris was besieged for four months and forced to surrender. 巴黎被围困了四个月后被迫投降。
• The community besieged the newspaper with letters about its recent editorial. 公众纷纷来信对报社新近发表的社论提出诘问，弄得报社应接不暇。