VOA标准英语2008年-Car Bomb Explodes Outside US Embassy in Yemen

At least 16 people were killed when assailants in two cars attacked the U.S. Embassy in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, and one of the vehicles blew up in front of the main gate. An organization calling itself Islamic Jihad in Yemen has reportedly claimed responsibility for the attacks. For VOA, Edward Yeranian has the story from Beirut.
　
A Yemeni soldier takes position as smoke billows following an attack on the US embassy in Sanaa, 17 Sep 2008 (handout picture released by Yemeni Saba news agency)

It was the second attack on the U.S. Embassy in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, this year, and by far the bloodiest¹.

Al Jazeera TV reports that attackers in two vehicles fired rocket-propelled grenades and exchanged gunfire with Yemeni guards protecting the U.S. Embassy, before one of the vehicles blew itself up in front of the main gate.

More than a dozen people were killed in the attack, including six of the attackers, as well as a number of Yemeni soldiers protecting the building, and a handful of civilians² outside the main gate.

A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy said that there were no reports of American casualties.

Eyewitnesses³ told Al Arabiya TV that they saw charred⁴ corpses⁵ in front of the embassy and at least one vehicle on fire.

One man said that he heard a number of gunshots being fired before a big explosion.

He says that around 7:00 or 7:30 [Wednesday morning], there was an exchange of fire, maybe machine guns. After about five or six rounds he said he heard a big explosion which shook all the windows of the building surrounding the explosion. Then he said the exchange of fire continued and explosions were heard in other places.

Unconfirmed reports say that one of the attackers also blew himself up after running up to an embassy checkpoint on foot.

An organization calling itself Islamic Jihad in Yemen is claiming responsibility for Wednesday's attack and is threatening to hit other Arab and Western embassies in Yemen and elsewhere in the Gulf⁶. A spokesman for the group is also demanding that Yemeni President Ali Abdallah Saleh release Islamic militants⁷ being held in Yemeni jails.

Last March, attackers fired mortar⁸ rounds at the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa, killing⁹ one embassy guard and wounding more than a dozen young girls at a nearby school.

The bloodiest attack against U.S. interests in Yemen occurred in October 2000, when attackers in a speedboat rammed¹⁰ into the destroyer U.S.S. Cole in the harbor of the Yemeni port city of Aden. Seventeen U.S. sailors died in that attack.

 

1 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

2 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。

3 eyewitnesses   

目击者( eyewitness的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The examination of all the eyewitnesses took a week. 对所有证人的质询用了一周的时间。
• Several eyewitnesses testified that they saw the officers hit Miller in the face. 几位目击证人证明他们看见那几个警官打了米勒的脸。

4 charred   

v.把…烧成炭( char的过去式)；烧焦

参考例句：

• the charred remains of a burnt-out car 被烧焦的轿车残骸
• The intensity of the explosion is recorded on the charred tree trunks. 那些烧焦的树干表明爆炸的强烈。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 corpses   

n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The living soldiers put corpses together and burned them. 活着的战士把尸体放在一起烧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Overhead, grayish-white clouds covered the sky, piling up heavily like decaying corpses. 天上罩满了灰白的薄云，同腐烂的尸体似的沉沉的盖在那里。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

6 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

7 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

8 mortar   

n.灰浆，灰泥；迫击炮；v.把…用灰浆涂接合

参考例句：

• The mason flushed the joint with mortar.泥工用灰浆把接缝处嵌平。
• The sound of mortar fire seemed to be closing in.迫击炮的吼声似乎正在逼近。

9 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

10 rammed   

v.夯实（土等）( ram的过去式和过去分词 )；猛撞；猛压；反复灌输

参考例句：

• Two passengers were injured when their taxi was rammed from behind by a bus. 公共汽车从后面撞来，出租车上的两位乘客受了伤。
• I rammed down the earth around the newly-planted tree. 我将新栽的树周围的土捣硬。 来自《简明英汉词典》