VOA标准英语2009年-Israeli Offensive Kills Senior Hamas Commander

An Israeli air strike killed a senior Hamas commander in Gaza Saturday as the military offensive against the Islamist faction¹ entered its second week. From his base in the Syrian capital Damascus, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal issued a warning to Israel.
　

A view shows smoke trails of Israeli Air Force jets over Gaza City, 03 Jan 2009

The sounds of explosions again rocked Gaza on Saturday as Israeli air strikes continued for the eighth consecutive² day.

Israel has been targeting senior Hamas militants⁴. On Saturday, senior commander Abu Zakaria al-Jamal was killed in an Israeli air strike, two days after another militant³ leader, Nizar Rayyan and his family were killed in a bomb attack.

Medical officials in Gaza say more than 420 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive and over 2,000 injured. U.N. officials estimate that a quarter of those killed were civilians⁵.

Israel has also massed troops, tanks and artillery⁶ around Gaza in preparation for a possible ground offensive.

In a televised address carried by Arab media from Damascus, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal had his own warning for Israel.

His message was clear - if you enter Gaza, our fighters will be waiting for you.

Meshaal warned of a "dark fate" if Israeli troops move into Gaza and said they would end up killed or captured.

Israel says it had no choice but to strike at Hamas militant targets in Gaza, after truce⁷ talks with Hamas broke down and the Islamist group stepped up rocket attacks against southern Israel. Four Israelis have been killed in those attacks.

But televised footage of Gaza houses and mosques⁸ being bombed, wounded Palestinian children bloodied⁹ and crying, mangled¹⁰ bodies being dug out of the rubble¹¹ have been shown across the region.

These images have fueled anger across the Muslim world and elsewhere. Thousands have turned out in anti-Israel protests in Arab and other capitals around the world and there are increasing calls for an immediate¹² halt to the violence.

Israel has made it clear it is not yet ready to stop and Hamas says it is not begging for a truce either.

In his weekly radio address Saturday, US President George Bush said Washington is working for a cease-fire, but he said a one-sided accord would not be acceptable.

"There must be monitoring mechanisms¹³ in place to help ensure that smuggling¹⁴ of weapons to terrorist groups in Gaza comes to an end," he said.

Mr. Bush put the blame squarely on Hamas and said its rocket attacks on Israel are an act of terror.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is due in the region Monday as part of growing diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting.

1 faction   

n.宗派，小集团；派别；派系斗争

参考例句：

• Faction and self-interest appear to be the norm.派系之争和自私自利看来非常普遍。
• I now understood clearly that I was caught between the king and the Bunam's faction.我现在完全明白自己已陷入困境，在国王与布纳姆集团之间左右为难。

2 consecutive   

adj.连续的，联贯的，始终一贯的

参考例句：

• It has rained for four consecutive days.已连续下了四天雨。
• The policy of our Party is consecutive.我党的政策始终如一。

3 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

4 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。

5 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。

6 artillery   

n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队)

参考例句：

• This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
• The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。

7 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。

8 mosques   

清真寺； 伊斯兰教寺院，清真寺； 清真寺，伊斯兰教寺院( mosque的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Why make us believe that this tunnel runs underneath the mosques? 为什么要让我们相信这条隧洞是在清真寺下？
• The city's three biggest mosques, long fallen into disrepair, have been renovated. 城里最大的三座清真寺，过去年久失修，现在已经修复。

9 bloodied   

v.血污的( bloody的过去式和过去分词 )；流血的；屠杀的；残忍的

参考例句：

• his bruised and bloodied nose 他沾满血的青肿的鼻子
• His pants leg was torn and bloodied when he fell. 他跌交时裤腿破了，还染上了血。 来自辞典例句

10 mangled   

vt.乱砍（mangle的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• His hand was mangled in the machine. 他的手卷到机器里轧烂了。
• He was off work because he'd mangled his hand in a machine. 他没上班，因为他的手给机器严重压伤了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 rubble   

n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾

参考例句：

• After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
• After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。

12 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

13 mechanisms   

n.机械( mechanism的名词复数 )；机械装置；[生物学] 机制；机械作用

参考例句：

• The research will provide direct insight into molecular mechanisms. 这项研究将使人能够直接地了解分子的机理。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He explained how the two mechanisms worked. 他解释这两台机械装置是如何工作的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 smuggling   

n.走私

参考例句：

• Some claimed that the docker's union fronted for the smuggling ring.某些人声称码头工人工会是走私集团的掩护所。
• The evidence pointed to the existence of an international smuggling network.证据表明很可能有一个国际走私网络存在。