VOA标准英语2008年-Georgia Charges Russia Violating Hours-Old Truc

Georgia says dozens of Russian tanks rolled into a strategic city and seized a military base, violating an EU-mediated agreement to end a six-day conflict. Emma Stickgold reports for VOA from Moscow that Russia said some of its soldiers went into the Georgian city of Gori, but denied the report of tanks.

Russia and Georgia agreed to the cease-fire plan after French President Nicolas Sarkozy met Tuesday with leaders in Moscow and Tblisi.
　
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili speaks to the media after his joint¹ news conference with top officials from several former Soviet² republics, recent members of the European Union, in Tbilisi, 13 Aug. 2008

But Georgian officials said dozens of tanks were heading into Gori, a town that Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili says Russia pummeled in the attacks.

"As I speak the Russian tanks are attacking the town of Gori and are rampaging through the town," he said.

The city of 50,000 people sits on Georgia's only significant east-west road about 15 miles south of South Ossetia, the separatist province where much of the fighting has taken place.

Russian officials say they have no military forces in Gori, but some Russians went into the city to try to implement³ the truce⁴ with local Georgian officials. A Russian commander said Georgian troops have been slow to withdraw from the front lines.

To the west, Georgian troops say they have pulled out of the last small section of Abkhazia they had controlled, leaving the area in the hands of Russian-backed separatists.

The six-point ceasefire plan Russia agreed to Tuesday included one point that said the international community should review the fate of Georgia's breakaway regions, South Ossetia and Abkhazia. But Mr. Saakashvili said the territorial⁵ integrity of the breakaway regions can never be put under doubt and Georgia removed the point from its final agreement.

But Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters the issues cannot be resolved without addressing the regions' status.

Lavrov said that as soon as Georgian troops withdraw to their barracks, Russian troops will return to Russia.

Russian President Dmitri Medvedev said Russian military forces have achieved their objective in Georgia and that security for civilians⁶ and Russian troops permanently⁷ based in the region has been restored.

Russia has come under increasing international pressure since launching a major air and ground attack following a Georgian attack last Friday on the breakaway region of South Ossetia.

Several regional leaders say they now feel wary⁸ about Russia's involvement in the fight, with some saying they will have to re-evaluate their country's relationship with Russia. U.S. President George Bush has called Russia's response, to Georgia's military offensive, disproportionate.

Russia called Wednesday a day of mourning for the loss of lives in the conflict, although exact figures of the death toll⁹ are widely disputed. About 100,000 people have been displaced by the fighting.

Georgia and Russia are considering options for suing one another for war crimes through the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

The recent violence was the worst to break out since South Ossetia declared independence from Georgia in 1992. South Ossetians are eager to join fellow Ossetians in North Ossetia, which was put within Russian borders after the 1991 Soviet Union collapse¹⁰.

Separatists in Abkhazia took control of most of the province from Georgia in 1993.

 

1 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

2 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

3 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

4 truce   

n.休战，(争执，烦恼等的)缓和；v.以停战结束

参考例句：

• The hot weather gave the old man a truce from rheumatism.热天使这位老人暂时免受风湿病之苦。
• She had thought of flying out to breathe the fresh air in an interval of truce.她想跑出去呼吸一下休战期间的新鲜空气。

5 territorial   

adj.领土的，领地的

参考例句：

• The country is fighting to preserve its territorial integrity.该国在为保持领土的完整而进行斗争。
• They were not allowed to fish in our territorial waters.不允许他们在我国领海捕鱼。

6 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。

7 permanently   

adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地

参考例句：

• The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。

8 wary   

adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的

参考例句：

• He is wary of telling secrets to others.他谨防向他人泄露秘密。
• Paula frowned,suddenly wary.宝拉皱了皱眉头，突然警惕起来。

9 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

10 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。