VOA慢速英语 2009 0110a

This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

There were fierce battles in Gaza on Friday as Hamas and Israel both rejected a United Nations call for an immediate¹ cease-fire. The densely² populated area faces shortages of food, medicine, water and electric power.
　

Smoke from Israeli strikes rises above the Gaza Strip on Friday

Israel says its air and ground attacks are targeting only Hamas-related targets. It blames the Palestinian group for positioning fighters and rockets in civilian³ areas.

Hamas continued to fire rockets into southern Israel. A Hamas leader said in Damascus that the call for a truce⁴ would mean a surrender. But he also said Hamas was preparing to send a delegation⁵ to Cairo to further discuss an Egyptian peace plan.

The United States did not vote on the cease-fire resolution passed Thursday by the Security Council. American officials say they want to see the results of the Egyptian efforts.

Friday, the top U.N. human rights official called for an independent investigation⁶ into possible war crimes by both sides in the conflict. Navi Pillay, in Geneva, criticized Hamas leaders for the harm caused to Israeli civilians⁷ by rocket fire. And she warned against the use of people in Gaza as human shields.

At the same time, she deplored⁸ Israeli strikes against clearly marked U.N. buildings where civilians were taking shelter. The United Nations temporarily suspended aid operations in Gaza Thursday after Israeli fire killed the driver of an aid truck.

A U.N. report, using numbers from the Palestinian Health Ministry⁹, said almost seven hundred sixty people have been killed in Gaza. The report said about a third were children.

At least eighteen Israelis have been killed, including nine soldiers. Hamas missiles have been landing farther inside Israel than before.

A six-month cease-fire negotiated by Egypt ended on December nineteenth. Israel, facing rocket attacks, began its offensive two weeks ago.

Israel says it has no plans to permanently¹⁰ reoccupy Gaza. It ended a thirty-eight year occupation of the narrow strip along the Mediterranean¹¹ coast in two thousand five. Hamas captured control of Gaza from the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority in two thousand seven.

Hamas is supported by Iran and Syria. It was formed in nineteen eighty-seven. Israel, the United States and the European Union consider it a terrorist group.

Hamas aims to destroy Israel and has killed hundreds of Israelis. Yet it developed partly as a result of Israeli support for the idea of a Muslim religious group as a balance against Fatah under Yasser Arafat.

The Bush administration has blamed Hamas for inciting¹² the latest violence. President-elect Barack Obama says he is concerned about the violence in Gaza. But he says it would not be right for him to speak at length about the conflict until he takes office on January twentieth.

BARACK OBAMA: "We cannot have two administrations running foreign policy at the same time. We simply cannot do it. And so as a consequence, what I am doing is I am being briefed consistently, my national security team is fully¹³ up to speed on it. But the situation of domestic policy making and foreign policy making are two different things."

And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English, written by Brianna Blake. I'm Steve Ember.

1 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。

2 densely   

ad.密集地；浓厚地

参考例句：

• A grove of trees shadowed the house densely. 树丛把这幢房子遮蔽得很密实。
• We passed through miles of densely wooded country. 我们穿过好几英里茂密的林地。

3 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

4 truce   

n.休战，(争执，烦恼等的)缓和；v.以停战结束

参考例句：

• The hot weather gave the old man a truce from rheumatism.热天使这位老人暂时免受风湿病之苦。
• She had thought of flying out to breathe the fresh air in an interval of truce.她想跑出去呼吸一下休战期间的新鲜空气。

5 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。

6 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

7 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。

8 deplored   

v.悲叹，痛惜，强烈反对( deplore的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They deplored the price of motor car, textiles, wheat, and oil. 他们悲叹汽车、纺织品、小麦和石油的价格。 来自辞典例句
• Hawthorne feels that all excess is to be deplored. 霍桑觉得一切过分的举动都是可悲的。 来自辞典例句

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 permanently   

adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地

参考例句：

• The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。

11 Mediterranean   

adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的

参考例句：

• The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
• Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。

12 inciting   

刺激的，煽动的

参考例句：

• What are you up to inciting mutiny and insubordination? 你们干吗在这里煽动骚动的叛乱呀。
• He was charged with inciting people to rebel. 他被控煽动民众起来叛乱。

13 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。