VOA标准英语2011--Police Beat Protesters as Clashes in Cairo Continue

Police Beat Protesters as Clashes in Cairo Continue

 

Cairo reporter Edward Yeranian tells us about the scene in Tahrir Square, where he was briefly¹ caught between police and protesters.

Clashes between Egyptian police and stone-throwing protesters have rolled into a second day, leaving eight people dead and more than 300 wounded.

Thick traffic flows slowly on the bridge over the River Nile from the northern side of Cairo's Tahrir Square, as a crowd of young men throws stones at military police on the road below.

Billowing plumes² of black smoke rise into the sky over the square from a burning building. Passersby³ say protesters started the fire. Fire crews did not come to extinguish the blaze.

Filming the skyline draws an angry response from one motorist, who shouts, "Spy! Spy! Catch that spy!" A policeman walking nearby does nothing.

Along the riverside highway, clusters of young men, some with bandanas covering their faces, run down a bridge ramp⁴ looking frightened. A line of military police is close behind them.

The police appear to be unarmed, but they are holding thick metal bars or pipes in their hands. One swings his bar at a protester, grazing him lightly, then stops when he sees a foreign correspondent.

An Egyptian protester uses a slingshot against soldiers, unseen, as a building burns during clashes near Tahrir Square, in Cairo, Egypt, December 17, 2011.

A second policeman rifles through a camera bag, then throws it to the ground when he finds no camera inside. "You cannot film us," he orders. One of four other policemen standing⁵ there appears enraged⁶. "They're throwing stones at us," he yells at a reporter.

A cat-and-mouse game plays out elsewhere as young people try to circle behind police lines and return to the central part of Tahrir Square, which is mostly empty.

Witnesses say police put up barbed wire near the parliament building to keep protesters from approaching. A sit-in in front of the parliament and the prime minister's office was broken up Friday.

Late Friday and overnight, dozens of people were wounded and at least eight were killed during the sweep by military police that pushed demonstrators out of Tahrir Square.

Egypt's interim⁷ Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri acknowledged to reporters that 18 people suffered bullet wounds, but he insisted that the police had no weapons.

It was difficult to confirm that assertion, but I saw no armed police Saturday morning.

1 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

2 plumes   

羽毛( plume的名词复数 )； 羽毛饰； 羽毛状物； 升上空中的羽状物

参考例句：

• The dancer wore a headdress of pink ostrich plumes. 那位舞蹈演员戴着粉色鸵鸟毛制作的头饰。
• The plumes on her bonnet barely moved as she nodded. 她点点头，那帽子的羽毛在一个劲儿颤动。

3 passersby   

n. 过路人(行人,经过者)

参考例句：

• He had terrorized Oxford Street,where passersby had seen only his footprints. 他曾使牛津街笼罩了一片恐怖气氛，因为那儿的行人只能看到他的脚印，看不到他的人。 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 文学
• A person is marceling on a street, watching passersby passing. 街边烫发者打量着匆匆行人。

4 ramp   

n.暴怒，斜坡，坡道；vi.作恐吓姿势，暴怒，加速；vt.加速

参考例句：

• That driver drove the car up the ramp.那司机将车开上了斜坡。
• The factory don't have that capacity to ramp up.这家工厂没有能力加速生产。

5 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

6 enraged   

使暴怒( enrage的过去式和过去分词 )； 歜； 激愤

参考例句：

• I was enraged to find they had disobeyed my orders. 发现他们违抗了我的命令，我极为恼火。
• The judge was enraged and stroke the table for several times. 大法官被气得连连拍案。

7 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。