2007年VOA标准英语-Somali Human Rights Groups Say Violence Escalat

By Alisha Ryu
Nairobi
14 August 2007

A Somali human rights group says explosions and gun battles in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, killed and wounded scores of civilians¹ on Monday, making it one of the bloodiest² days there in recent months. As VOA correspondent Alisha Ryu reports from our East Africa Bureau in Nairobi, the upsurge in violence happened as Human Rights Watch released a report on Somalia.

Wounded man is lifted on a stretcher as he arrives at the Medina hospital, in Mogadishu, 14 Aug 2007

The chairman of the independent Somali group Elman Human Rights tells VOA that his organization conducted a survey of hospitals and various neighborhoods in Mogadishu to see how many civilians had been killed and wounded in Monday's violence.

Sudan Ali Ahmed says his group counted 31 dead and 60 others wounded - the latest victims in an escalating³ conflict that began eight months ago, shortly after neighboring Ethiopia helped Somalia's secular⁴ Transitional Federal Government topple radical⁵ Islamists from power.

"The casualties have been in the last day in Mogadishu very, very high," he said. "The civilians are killed, without justification⁶, by Ethiopian troops, the TFG troops, and the opposition⁷, who are fighting the government."

Ahmed says insurgents⁸, who have vowed⁹ to wage a guerrilla war until Ethiopian troops leave Somalia, triggered the fighting by attacking government bases early in the day.

The attacks were followed by a roadside bombing, which targeted a government vehicle passing through a neighborhood in the north of the city. Witnesses say Ethiopian soldiers, who were near the site of the blast, opened fire and killed at least nine civilians.

Other casualties occurred after a bomb attack on a public minibus and insurgents, armed with guns and grenades, fought with police in the streets.

Somalia descended¹⁰ into chaos¹¹ in 1991 after factional leaders overthrew¹² dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and carved up the country into personal fiefdoms.

Having survived more than 15 years of civil war, Mogadishu residents are some of the most resilient people in the world. But Ahmed says he believes many have lost hope for any peace in their volatile¹³ city.

"If there is good life, there is good hope," he said. " But if there is no good life, there is no hope. Right now, they are hopeless."

Fighting in Mogadishu raged as the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch issued a report, denouncing all parties in the Somali conflict for violating humanitarian¹⁴ law. The report called Mogadishu a city under siege and criticized donor¹⁵ countries for not intervening more forcefully.

On Monday, Britain proposed the deployment¹⁷ of a U.N. peacekeeping force in Somalia to take over for an African Union mission, which has struggled to raise troops.

Only about 1,500 peacekeeping troops from Uganda are in Somalia. The United Nations is now under pressure to deploy¹⁶ a well-equipped force that can stabilize¹⁸ the country.

1 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。

2 bloodiest   

adj.血污的( bloody的最高级 )；流血的；屠杀的；残忍的

参考例句：

• The Russians were going to suffer their bloodiest defeat of all before Berlin. 俄国人在柏林城下要遭到他们的最惨重的失败。 来自辞典例句
• It was perhaps the bloodiest hour in the history of warfare. 这也许是战争史上血腥味最浓的1个小时。 来自互联网

3 escalating   

v.（使）逐步升级( escalate的现在分词 )；（使）逐步扩大；（使）更高；（使）更大

参考例句：

• The cost of living is escalating. 生活费用在迅速上涨。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The cost of living is escalating in the country. 这个国家的生活费用在上涨。 来自辞典例句

4 secular   

n.牧师，凡人；adj.世俗的，现世的，不朽的

参考例句：

• We live in an increasingly secular society.我们生活在一个日益非宗教的社会。
• Britain is a plural society in which the secular predominates.英国是个世俗主导的多元社会。

5 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。

6 justification   

n.正当的理由；辩解的理由

参考例句：

• There's no justification for dividing the company into smaller units. 没有理由把公司划分成小单位。
• In the young there is a justification for this feeling. 在年轻人中有这种感觉是有理由的。

7 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。

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 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。

10 descended   

a.为...后裔的，出身于...的

参考例句：

• A mood of melancholy descended on us. 一种悲伤的情绪袭上我们的心头。
• The path descended the hill in a series of zigzags. 小路呈连续的之字形顺着山坡蜿蜒而下。

11 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

12 overthrew   

overthrow的过去式

参考例句：

• The people finally rose up and overthrew the reactionary regime. 人们终于起来把反动的政权推翻了。
• They overthrew their King. 他们推翻了国王。

13 volatile   

adj.反复无常的，挥发性的，稍纵即逝的，脾气火爆的；n.挥发性物质

参考例句：

• With the markets being so volatile,investments are at great risk.由于市场那么变化不定，投资冒着很大的风险。
• His character was weak and volatile.他这个人意志薄弱，喜怒无常。

14 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

15 donor   

n.捐献者；赠送人；(组织、器官等的)供体

参考例句：

• In these cases,the recipient usually takes care of the donor afterwards.在这类情况下，接受捐献者以后通常会照顾捐赠者。
• The Doctor transplanted the donor's heart to Mike's chest cavity.医生将捐赠者的心脏移植进麦克的胸腔。

16 deploy   

v.（军）散开成战斗队形，布置，展开

参考例句：

• The infantry began to deploy at dawn.步兵黎明时开始进入战斗位置。
• The president said he had no intention of deploying ground troops.总统称并不打算部署地面部队。

17 deployment   

n. 部署,展开

参考例句：

• He has inquired out the deployment of the enemy troops. 他已查出敌军的兵力部署情况。
• Quality function deployment (QFD) is a widely used customer-driven quality, design and manufacturing management tool. 质量功能展开(quality function deployment,QFD)是一个广泛应用的顾客需求驱动的设计、制造和质量管理工具。

18 stabilize   

vt.（使）稳定，使稳固，使稳定平衡；vi.稳定

参考例句：

• They are eager to stabilize currencies.他们急于稳定货币。
• His blood pressure tended to stabilize.他的血压趋向稳定。