VOA标准英语2008年-Car Bomb Kills 17 in Syrian Capital

A car bomb has exploded in the Syrian capital, Damascus, killing¹ at least 17 people and wounding 14 others. From Beirut, Edward Yeranian reports the target of the blast was not immediately clear.
　
Damaged buildings with shattered glass are seen after car bomb blew up in Damascus, 27 Sep 2008

Syrian state television says the vehicle, packed with 200 kilograms of explosives, went off Saturday near a crowded intersection², leading to the holy shrine³ of Sayyeda Zeinab, popular with Shi'ite Muslim pilgrims.

Shi'ite pilgrims from both Iraq and Iran frequent the shrine, and a tour-bus was reportedly damaged by the explosion.

Eyewitnesses⁴ say the explosion created a large crater⁵ in the road, and that nearly 20 vehicles were destroyed. Windows from dozens of nearby buildings were also blown out and shards⁶ of glass littered the area.

One man, who lives in the neighborhood, describes what happened to Syrian Television

"It felt like an earthquake," this man says, "so we went outside to see what happened. Our entire building was damaged, and five of my family members are at the hospital."

A Syrian police precinct borders the site of the explosion, and may have been a possible target, but most of the victims were reportedly civilians⁷.

Syrian security forces immediately closed off the neighborhood to investigate the cause of the bombing. Syria's Interior Minister Bassam Abd al-Megid is calling the bombing an "act of terrorism."

"It was a cowardly act," he says. "We are investigating, and we have dispatched our anti-terrorist squad⁸, to figure out the cause." He says it is not yet known who was behind the bombing, but we will ultimately find out.

Neighboring Iraq has witnessed a plethora⁹ of explosions targeting Shi'ite religious shrines¹⁰ in recent years, and Syria reportedly houses close to two million Iraqi refugees.

Another car bomb, in February, killed Hezbollah terrorist Imad Mughniyah in a residential¹¹ neighborhood of Damascus. Syrian officials accused Israel of the killing, but Israel denied responsibility.

Mughniyeh, was implicated¹² in deadly attacks against Western and Israeli targets in the 1980s and '90s.

A key advisor¹³ to President Bashar al-Assad was also killed in the port city of Tartous, in August, but no one claimed responsibility. And an advisor to Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal was assassinated¹⁴ under mysterious circumstances, two weeks ago.

Israeli agents attempted to kill Meshaal, who is now based in Damascus, in 1997, in the Jordanian capital, Amman.

 

1 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。

2 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。

3 shrine   

n.圣地，神龛，庙；v.将...置于神龛内，把...奉为神圣

参考例句：

• The shrine was an object of pilgrimage.这处圣地是人们朝圣的目的地。
• They bowed down before the shrine.他们在神龛前鞠躬示敬。

4 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。

5 crater   

n.火山口，弹坑

参考例句：

• With a telescope you can see the huge crater of Ve-suvius.用望远镜你能看到巨大的维苏威火山口。
• They came to the lip of a dead crater.他们来到了一个死火山口。

6 shards   

n.（玻璃、金属或其他硬物的）尖利的碎片( shard的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Eyewitnesses spoke of rocks and shards of glass flying in the air. 目击者称空中石块和玻璃碎片四溅。 来自辞典例句
• Ward, Josh Billings, and a host of others have survived only in scattered shards of humour. 沃德、比林斯和许多别的作家能够留传下来的只是些幽默的残章断简。 来自辞典例句

7 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。

8 squad   

n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组

参考例句：

• The squad leader ordered the men to mark time.班长命令战士们原地踏步。
• A squad is the smallest unit in an army.班是军队的最小构成单位。

9 plethora   

n.过量，过剩

参考例句：

• Java comes with a plethora of ready-made types.Java配套提供了数量众多的现成类型。
• A plethora of new operators will be allowed to enter the market.大批新的运营商将获准进入该市场。

10 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。

11 residential   

adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的

参考例句：

• The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
• The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。

12 implicated   

adj.密切关联的；牵涉其中的

参考例句：

• These groups are very strongly implicated in the violence. 这些组织与这起暴力事件有着极大的关联。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Having the stolen goods in his possession implicated him in the robbery. 因藏有赃物使他涉有偷盗的嫌疑。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

13 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。

14 assassinated   

v.暗杀( assassinate的过去式和过去分词 )；中伤；诋毁；破坏

参考例句：

• The prime minister was assassinated by extremists. 首相遭极端分子暗杀。
• Then, just two days later, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. 跟着在两天以后，肯尼迪总统在达拉斯被人暗杀。 来自辞典例句