2007年VOA标准英语-Iraqi Officials Restore Calm to Karbala

By Cache Seel
Cairo
29 August 2007

Smoke from burning cars rise after clashes broke out in the streets of Shiite holy city of Karbala, south of Baghdad, Iraq, 28 Aug 2007

Iraqi authorities say they have restored calm to the Shi'ite holy city of Karbala after two days of clashes police and armed militia¹ members left more than 50 people dead and forced hundreds of thousands to flee. Reporter Cache Seel has details from our Middle East bureau in Cairo.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki visited Karbala and blamed "armed criminal gangs and remnants of the former Saddam regime" for the violence.

But, security officials in Karbala said the fighting Tuesday broke out when gunmen loyal to radical² cleric Moqtada al-Sadr fired on guards around two major shrines³ protected by the armed wing of the rival Supreme⁴ Iraqi Islamic Council.

A spokesman for Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army denied the group's involvement in the violence in Karbala and announced the suspension of all operations, including attacks against U.S. and other coalition⁵ forces, for six months to reorganize.

The violence forced authorities to impose an indefinite curfew on Karbala and order Shi'ite pilgrims to leave the city, cutting short a religious festival they were attending.

Joost Hilterman, the Middle East project director for the International Crisis Group, says this fight was a long time in the making. He described the violence in Karbala as part of a civil war within a civil war and said it did not bode⁶ well for the future of Iraq.

"Altogether with the other conflicts, the sectarian one, the inter-Sunni one which exists, possibly a Kurdish-Arab one, what we are seeing in Iraq is the evolution of a failed state," said Hilterman.

Meanwhile, the U.N. refugee agency said an increasing number of Iraqis are fleeing the violence. The agency said more than 60,000 Iraqis are becoming displaced each month - up from 50,000 a month earlier. The UNHCR says many Iraqis are fleeing because they can not get access to social services or they fear being forced out of ethnically-mixed areas.

The United States says it will take 2,000 Iraqi refugees during the next few weeks and contribute $30 million to U.N. programs for educating Iraqi refugee children in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Egypt.

U.N. refugee agency spokeswoman in Jordan, Rana Sweis, called the education grant a good start.

"This is really a beginning and we encourage other donors⁷ to participate and confirm their concrete support to this endeavor," said Sweis.

An estimated two million Iraqis have fled the violence in their country, mostly to neighboring Syria, which may host as many as 1.4 million refugees. An additional two million have been displaced in Iraq.

1 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。

2 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。

3 shrines   

圣地，圣坛，神圣场所( shrine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• All three structures dated to the third century and were tentatively identified as shrines. 这3座建筑都建于3 世纪，并且初步鉴定为神庙。
• Their palaces and their shrines are tombs. 它们的宫殿和神殿成了墓穴。

4 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

5 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。

6 bode   

v.预示

参考例句：

• These figures do not bode well for the company's future.这些数字显示出公司的前景不妙。
• His careful habits bode well for his future.他那认真的习惯预示著他会有好的前途。

7 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》