VOA标准英语2011--France, Italy to Send Military Advisers

France, Italy to Send Military Advisers¹ to Help Libyan Rebels

NATO allies Britain, France and Italy are offering military advisers to help train Libyan rebels, as the military stalemate continues on the ground. Elsewhere, in Yemen and Syria, state crackdowns continue against anti-government protesters.
Rebel fighters continued to battle Libyan government forces Wednesday at the besieged² port city of Misrata in western Libya. International efforts to evacuate³ residents also intensified⁴, with several ferries transporting evacuees⁵ to Tobruk in eastern Libya.
Forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi also lobbed shells and fired rockets at rebel positions defending the strategic eastern town of Ajdabiya. Neither side appeared to gain ground. Britain, France and Italy, meanwhile, prepared to send military advisers to help the rebels.
Diplomatic efforts to break the stalemate took place in Europe. Rebel council leader Mustapha Abdel Jalil met with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris, after talks with Italian leaders in Rome a day earlier. He spoke⁶ of future alliances after fighting ended.
Jalil promised agreements and beneficial economic ties with countries that help the rebels now, but also offered to honor previous agreements with other countries.
In the Libyan capital Tripoli, Seif al Islam Gadhafi, one of the Libyan leader's sons, insisted that government forces are in a good position that is improving day by day. He said the world is with the Libyan government, and that he is optimistic for the future.
Elsewhere in the region, tens of thousands of anti-government demonstrators rallied Wednesday in Yemen's capital Sana'a, and in several other cities. The gatherings⁷ took place despite a government crackdown Tuesday in which dozens of protesters were wounded.
The Gulf⁸ Cooperation Council talked with representatives of Yemen's government and opposition⁹ in the United Arab Emirates. The talks centered on a GCC plan for Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down.
A representative of Saleh's ruling party, Ahmad Obeid Ben Dagher, said it is best that the president remain in office for the time being. He said the government side is ready to implement¹⁰ the plan, but the opposition must understand that a transfer of power must follow the constitution.
In Syria, several anti-government sit-ins took place overnight near the port city of Banias, in a suburb of the capital, Damascus, and in Deraa. Demonstrators denounced government accusations¹¹ that Islamic extremists were behind the recent protests.
Syria's interior ministry¹² has forbidden further protests, although the government is in the process of repealing¹³ a state of emergency law that dates back to 1963. A Syrian opposition support group on Facebook is calling for more anti-government protests Friday.

1 advisers   

顾问，劝告者( adviser的名词复数 )； （指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• a member of the President's favoured circle of advisers 总统宠爱的顾问班子中的一员
• She withdrew to confer with her advisers before announcing a decision. 她先去请教顾问然后再宣布决定。

2 besieged   

包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Paris was besieged for four months and forced to surrender. 巴黎被围困了四个月后被迫投降。
• The community besieged the newspaper with letters about its recent editorial. 公众纷纷来信对报社新近发表的社论提出诘问，弄得报社应接不暇。

3 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。

4 intensified   

v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Violence intensified during the night. 在夜间暴力活动加剧了。
• The drought has intensified. 旱情加剧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 evacuees   

n.被疏散者( evacuee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Moreover, for multi-exits, evacuees select a exit based on game theory. 在有多个出口时，疏散人员根据对策论选择出口。 来自互联网
• Evacuees wade through flooded area following heavy monsoon rains in Peshawar on Saturday, July 31, 2010. 撤离灾区涉水通过后在白沙瓦沉重的季风降雨在周六，2010年7月31日。 来自互联网

6 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

7 gatherings   

聚集( gathering的名词复数 )； 收集； 采集； 搜集

参考例句：

• His conduct at social gatherings created a lot of comment. 他在社交聚会上的表现引起许多闲话。
• During one of these gatherings a pupil caught stealing. 有一次，其中一名弟子偷窃被抓住。

8 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。

9 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

10 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。

11 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

12 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

13 repealing   

撤销，废除( repeal的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• In addition, repealing the alternative minimum tax would also help. 此外，废除替代性最低税也会有所帮助。
• Repealing the investment tax credit. 取消投资税款扣除。