VOA慢速英语2011--Syria Continues Attack on Dissent; Mubar

IN THE NEWS - Syria Continues Attack on Dissent¹; Mubarak Trial Begins in Cairo

This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.
Tens of thousands of Syrians demonstrated against the government on the first Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Late in the day, witnesses and activists³ said at least fifteen people were killed when government forces fired on demonstrators. They said most of the deaths happened around Damascus. Protests also took place in other Syrian cities.
Demonstrators called for President Bashar al-Assad to resign.
The city of Hama has been under military attack since Sunday. A political activist² in Hama told VOA that government forces have been raiding the homes of activists and carrying out arrests and killings⁵. Still, he said, there were protests in Hama on Friday.
The Syrian government launched a violent campaign against pro-democracy protesters in March. American officials estimate that more than two thousand people have been killed in the attacks on protesters. On Thursday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on other countries to join the United States in taking action.
HILLARY CLINTON: “But not just US sanctions because, frankly⁶, we do not have lot of business with Syria. We need to get Europeans and others. We need to get the Arab states. We need to get a much louder, more effective chorus of voices that are putting pressure on the Assad regime, and we’re working to obtain that.”
Secretary Clinton said a statement Wednesday by the United Nations Security Council was a first step. The statement condemned⁷ the “widespread violations⁸ of human rights and the use of force against civilians⁹ by the Syrian authorities.” It urged restraint on both sides in Syria.
The government has blamed much of the violence on what it calls terrorists and militants¹⁰. The official news agency SANA reported Friday that unidentified gunmen had killed two security officers.
The United States and European countries had pressed the Security Council for a resolution. A resolution is stronger than the presidential statement it approved. But Russia, China, India, Brazil and South Africa blocked those efforts. They feared that a resolution could lead to a situation similar to the international military action in Libya.
The United States dismissed a promise this week by the Syrian president to permit reforms. These include letting opposition¹¹ parties operate for the first time.
Syria has long had a single-party system led by the Ba'ath party of the Assad family.
In Egypt, Hosni Mubarak appeared in a hospital bed in a cage in a courtroom on Wednesday. The former president denied the charges against him. These include ordering the killing⁴ of protesters during the eighteen days of political unrest that forced him out. More than eight hundred people were killed.
Raina el Malky is a newspaper editor. She says that if anyone had predicted this trial last year, she would have thought they were crazy.
RAINA El-MALKY: "I would have said they were are living in Mars or Neptune¹² or somewhere outside Earth because this was unthinkable. I think what happened is a miracle and the way everything has happened since the fist day, since January twenty-fifth, has been a miracle."
What became known as the Arab Spring uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East ousted¹³ the presidents of Egypt and Tunisia. Yemen's president was wounded by an explosion in June and remains¹⁴ in Saudi Arabia, recovering.
And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember.
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Contributing: Elizabeth Arrott, Margaret Basheer and David Gollust

1 dissent   

n./v.不同意，持异议

参考例句：

• It is too late now to make any dissent.现在提出异议太晚了。
• He felt her shoulders gave a wriggle of dissent.他感到她的肩膀因为不同意而动了一下。

2 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

3 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》

4 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。

5 killings   

谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发

参考例句：

• His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。

6 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

7 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。

8 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

9 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。

10 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。

11 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。

12 Neptune   

n.海王星

参考例句：

• Neptune is the furthest planet from the sun.海王星是离太阳最远的行星。
• Neptune turned out to be a dynamic,stormy world.海王星原来是个有生气、多风暴的世界。

13 ousted   

驱逐( oust的过去式和过去分词 )； 革职； 罢黜； 剥夺

参考例句：

• He was ousted as chairman. 他的主席职务被革除了。
• He may be ousted by a military takeover. 他可能在一场军事接管中被赶下台。

14 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。