2007年VOA标准英语-UN Envoy Says Iraq Slipping into Sectarianism

By Jim Randle
Baghdad
23 January 2007

A top U.N. envoy¹ says Iraq is sliding into what he calls the "abyss of sectarianism" and he is urging Iraqi leaders to do more to stop the violence. Across Iraq Tuesday a series of car bombs, kidnappings, and shootings took at least eight lives. Explosions reverberated² through Baghdad as the dead from Monday's devastating³ car bombings were being buried. VOA's Jim Randle has this report from the Iraqi capital.

A woman reacts at scene of a car bomb blast in predominantly Shi'ite commercial district of Karradah in downtown Baghdad, 23 Jan 2007

At mid-morning, one bomb placed under a car in a mostly Shi'ite part of downtown Baghdad killed several people and wounded a number of others.

One woman stood in the rubble⁴, wailing⁵.

She asks, why insurgents⁷ plant bombs near houses every day? What did we ever do wrong? She calls on God to curse the people who wreak⁸ such violence.

Elsewhere in Baghdad, a roadside bomb and a car bomb brought more deaths and injuries. A gunfight between insurgents and police in the northern city of Mosul killed several Iraqi policemen and wounded several others. Three U.S. soldiers were killed Tuesday.

 

The U.N. Special Representative for Iraq, Ashraf Qazi, says the country appears to be sliding into what he called "the abyss of sectarianism." In a statement issued earlier in the day, he urged government and religious leaders to stop the violence and save the country.

As the statement was released, funerals were underway for victims of Monday's double car bombing that killed at least 88 people.

Hundreds of people attended the funerals.

The bombs are the latest in a stepped-up campaign of insurgent⁶ violence in advance of President Bush's recently announced U.S.-Iraqi security operation.

Early in the day, the U.S. military issued a statement saying it had killed 16 insurgents and detained 10 other suspected insurgents during security operations in Baghdad and the city Haditha.

The U.S. military says Iraqi and American forces have detained more than 600 people in connection with a militia⁹ loyal to radical¹⁰ Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Sixteen of those arrested are said to be militia leaders.

These suspects were captured in dozens of operations during the past six weeks.

Officials say they have also detained at least 33 Sunni insurgent leaders accused of committing or aiding violent acts. The military says the suspects are awaiting prosecution¹¹ by Iraqi authorities.

Amid the latest violence, another 17 people were kidnapped. The U.N. refugee agency says armed men dressed in Iraqi police uniforms abducted¹² the victims, all Palestinians from their Baghdad apartment.

There are about 15,000 Palestinian refugees in Iraq and are the target of a growing number of attacks.

1 envoy   

n.使节，使者，代表，公使

参考例句：

• Their envoy showed no sign of responding to our proposals.他们的代表对我方的提议毫无回应的迹象。
• The government has not yet appointed an envoy to the area.政府尚未向这一地区派过外交官。

2 reverberated   

回响，回荡( reverberate的过去式和过去分词 )； 使反响，使回荡，使反射

参考例句：

• Her voice reverberated around the hall. 她的声音在大厅里回荡。
• The roar of guns reverberated in the valley. 炮声响彻山谷。

3 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。

4 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。

5 wailing   

v.哭叫，哀号( wail的现在分词 )；沱

参考例句：

• A police car raced past with its siren wailing. 一辆警车鸣着警报器飞驰而过。
• The little girl was wailing miserably. 那小女孩难过得号啕大哭。

6 insurgent   

adj.叛乱的，起事的；n.叛乱分子

参考例句：

• Faruk says they are threatened both by insurgent and government forces.法鲁克说，他们受到暴乱分子和政府军队的双重威胁。
• The insurgent mob assembled at the gate of the city park.叛变的暴徒聚在市立公园的门口。

7 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

8 wreak   

v.发泄；报复

参考例句：

• She had a burning desire to wreak revenge.她复仇心切。
• Timid people always wreak their peevishness on the gentle.怯懦的人总是把满腹牢骚向温和的人发泄。

9 militia   

n.民兵，民兵组织

参考例句：

• First came the PLA men,then the people's militia.人民解放军走在前面，其次是民兵。
• There's a building guarded by the local militia at the corner of the street.街道拐角处有一幢由当地民兵团守卫的大楼。

10 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

11 prosecution   

n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营

参考例句：

• The Smiths brought a prosecution against the organizers.史密斯家对组织者们提出起诉。
• He attempts to rebut the assertion made by the prosecution witness.他试图反驳原告方证人所作的断言。

12 abducted   

劫持，诱拐( abduct的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（肢体等）外展

参考例句：

• Detectives have not ruled out the possibility that she was abducted. 侦探尚未排除她被绑架的可能性。
• The kid was abducted at the gate of kindergarten. 那小孩在幼儿园大门口被绑架走了。