2007年VOA标准英语-Somali Police Intercept Car Filled with Explosi

By Alisha Ryu
Mogadishu
12 June 2007

Police in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, have intercepted¹ a car loaded with explosives they say was going to be used against the interim² government.  VOA Correspondent Alisha Ryu in Mogadishu was given an exclusive, first-hand look and files this report.

Ethiopian troops patrol the street of Mogadishu, Somalia, 04 June 2007

Police found the car Monday at an intersection³ in the southern Hodan District of the capital.

Hodan District Chairman Abdi Mohamud Warsame tells VOA that two men were standing⁴ next to the vehicle, but fled when the police arrived.

Warsame says the police received a tip about a suspicious-looking car from people in the neighborhood, so they went to investigate.  He says he and police officials are happy, because they believe they have prevented what could have been a terrible tragedy.

In the trunk of the white Toyota Camry, police discovered several sacks of munitions⁵, including 40 80-millimeter mortars⁶, a rocket, a hand grenade, and several other items the police could not identify.

The munitions were mostly old and many were rusted⁷. No detonator cords or detonators were found in the car, suggesting that the munitions were not at the stage of being assembled into a bomb.

A Somali Islamist youth group claimed responsibility for last month's suicide car bombing, which killed five people at the Mogadishu residence of the interim Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi, and several recent guerrilla attacks on government officials, and Ethiopian and African Union troops.

Somalia's Ethiopian-backed interim government, which took power away from the Islamists in Mogadishu six months ago, insists that only extremists with links to the al-Qaida terror group are using car and roadside bombs.   The government says such violence is against the Somali culture.

But the police acknowledge that without any suspects in the case, it is impossible to say whether the car belongs to Islamist insurgents⁸ or other groups opposed to the government and the Ethiopian troops who protect it. 
 
What is clear is that Iraq-style bombings have unnerved the government, which has installed security measures now routine in capitals like Baghdad and Kabul.

Roads leading to government offices and residences are dotted with checkpoints manned by Somali and Ethiopian soldiers.  Vehicles and visitors are hand-searched before entering government and public compounds.  On some streets, barricades⁹ have been erected¹⁰ to keep out all vehicle traffic.

The head of the political and reconciliation¹¹ section in the mayor's office is Abdullahi Hassan Ganey.  He tells VOA that Mogadishu's mayor, Mohamed Dheere, has instituted a neighborhood-watch system throughout Mogadishu's 16 districts.

Ganey says village chiefs are working together and sharing information about anything or anyone in their neighborhoods who is suspicious. He says the system is working well in deterring¹² potential terrorist attacks.

Meanwhile, two Ethiopian rebel groups fighting for self-determination have vehemently¹³ denied joining Somali Islamists and former Somali parliamentarians in an Eritrean-based coalition¹⁴, opposed to Ethiopia and the interim government here.

The rebel groups, Ogaden National Liberation Front and the Oromo Liberation Front, say they have no desire to interfere¹⁵ in Somalia's 16-year-old civil war and they said they would never be a part of any coalition with political groups in Somalia.

1 intercepted   

拦截( intercept的过去式和过去分词 )； 截住； 截击； 拦阻

参考例句：

• Reporters intercepted him as he tried to leave the hotel. 他正要离开旅馆，记者们把他拦截住了。
• Reporters intercepted him as he tried to leave by the rear entrance. 他想从后门溜走，记者把他截住了。

2 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。

3 intersection   

n.交集，十字路口，交叉点；[计算机] 交集

参考例句：

• There is a stop sign at an intersection.在交叉路口处有停车标志。
• Bridges are used to avoid the intersection of a railway and a highway.桥用来避免铁路和公路直接交叉。

4 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

5 munitions   

n.军火，弹药；v.供应…军需品

参考例句：

• The army used precision-guided munitions to blow up enemy targets.军队用精确瞄准的枪炮炸掉敌方目标。
• He rose [made a career for himself] by dealing in munitions.他是靠贩卖军火发迹的。

6 mortars   

n.迫击炮( mortar的名词复数 )；砂浆；房产；研钵

参考例句：

• They could not move their heavy mortars over the swampy ground. 他们无法把重型迫击炮移过那片沼泽地。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Where the hell are his mortars? 他有迫击炮吗？ 来自教父部分

7 rusted   

v.（使）生锈( rust的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• I can't get these screws out; they've rusted in. 我无法取出这些螺丝，它们都锈住了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• My bike has rusted and needs oil. 我的自行车生锈了，需要上油。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 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

9 barricades   

路障，障碍物( barricade的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The police stormed the barricades the demonstrators had put up. 警察冲破了示威者筑起的街垒。
• Others died young, in prison or on the barricades. 另一些人年轻时就死在监牢里或街垒旁。

10 ERECTED   

adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立

参考例句：

• A monument to him was erected in St Paul's Cathedral. 在圣保罗大教堂为他修了一座纪念碑。
• A monument was erected to the memory of that great scientist. 树立了一块纪念碑纪念那位伟大的科学家。

11 reconciliation   

n.和解，和谐，一致

参考例句：

• He was taken up with the reconciliation of husband and wife.他忙于做夫妻间的调解工作。
• Their handshake appeared to be a gesture of reconciliation.他们的握手似乎是和解的表示。

12 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

13 vehemently   

adv. 热烈地

参考例句：

• He argued with his wife so vehemently that he talked himself hoarse. 他和妻子争论得很激烈，以致讲话的声音都嘶哑了。
• Both women vehemently deny the charges against them. 两名妇女都激烈地否认了对她们的指控。

14 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

15 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。