CNN 2009-05-11

The humanitarian¹ crisis unfolding in Pakistan, the Pakistani government though claims to have killed some 200 militants² over the past 24 hours. But the fierce fighting has hundreds of thousands of civilians⁴ caught in the crossfire⁵ and just scrambling⁶ to find safety. CNN international correspondent Reza Sayah is live in Islamabad with the latest on this offensive. What do you know Reza?

Betty, this is day four. The operation the Pakistani army is calling a full-scale offensive against the Taliban in the Swat valley. According to the army over the past 24 hours, they've killed another 200 militants and taken back from the Taliban some strategically important areas, but it's important to know that CNN cannot independently verify this information, because reporters are banned from that region, we can also report more civilian³ casualties.

We've spoken to citizens who have fled the fighting areas, the battled zone, and they are telling us that many of the citizens are being killed by indiscriminate fire from the army, but we have the Pakistani army saying no, this is militants killing⁸ civilians by planting improvised⁹ explosive devices or using civilians as human shields, but that's where things stand on this operation designed to defeat the Taliban. Betty over the past year and a half, the Pakistani army has launched more than half a dozen offensives against the Taliban, they have yet to defeat them, this time, they say things will be different, in much of the world, including the Obama Administration is keeping a close eye to see if they are right.

A historic day in Amman, Jordan Pope Benedict delivered his first open-air mass in the Middle East.

He spoke⁷ before thousands in Amman international stadium, the pontiff called on Middle East Christians¹⁰ to hold to their faith despite hardships threatening their communities. He urged the faithful to oppose terrorism through their good examples; he also called for greater respect for women, saying the God-given role of women has not always been esteemed¹¹.

Back here in the US, the president got a chance to lighten up a little bit last night with some of those who cover his administration, he landed some one-liners at the annual White House Correspondents dinner, and he served as the opening act for comedian¹² Wanda Sykes.

The crowd filled with a lot of media pros¹³, those folks who covered him, of course. Also, a whole lot of celebrities¹⁴. More celebrities this year, some are saying, than they've seen in years past such as dinner, but the president's favorite target of the evening may have been himself.

All in all, we were proud of the change we've brought to Washington in these first hundred days, but we've got a lot of work left to do as all of you know, so I'd like to talk a little bit about what my administration plans to achieve in the next hundred days, during the second hundred days, we will design build and open a library dedicated¹⁵ to my first hundred days. It's going to big folks, in the next hundred days, I will learn to go off the prompter, and Joe Biden will learn to stay on the prompter.

1 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

2 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。

3 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

4 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。

5 crossfire   

n.被卷进争端

参考例句：

• They say they are caught in the crossfire between the education establishment and the government.他们称自己被卷进了教育机构与政府之间的争端。
• When two industrial giants clash,small companies can get caught in the crossfire.两大工业企业争斗之下，小公司遭受池鱼之殃。

6 scrambling   

v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Scrambling up her hair, she darted out of the house. 她匆忙扎起头发，冲出房去。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• She is scrambling eggs. 她正在炒蛋。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 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。

8 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。

9 improvised   

a.即席而作的,即兴的

参考例句：

• He improvised a song about the football team's victory. 他即席创作了一首足球队胜利之歌。
• We improvised a tent out of two blankets and some long poles. 我们用两条毛毯和几根长竿搭成一个临时帐蓬。

10 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

11 esteemed   

adj.受人尊敬的v.尊敬( esteem的过去式和过去分词 )；敬重；认为；以为

参考例句：

• The art of conversation is highly esteemed in France. 在法国十分尊重谈话技巧。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He esteemed that he understood what I had said. 他认为已经听懂我说的意思了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 comedian   

n.喜剧演员；滑稽演员

参考例句：

• The comedian tickled the crowd with his jokes.喜剧演员的笑话把人们逗乐了。
• The comedian enjoyed great popularity during the 30's.那位喜剧演员在三十年代非常走红。

13 pros   

abbr.prosecuting 起诉；prosecutor 起诉人；professionals 自由职业者；proscenium （舞台）前部n.赞成的意见( pro的名词复数 )；赞成的理由；抵偿物；交换物

参考例句：

• The pros and cons cancel out. 正反两种意见抵消。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• We should hear all the pros and cons of the matter before we make a decision. 我们在对这事做出决定之前，应该先听取正反两方面的意见。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 celebrities   

n.（尤指娱乐界的）名人( celebrity的名词复数 )；名流；名声；名誉

参考例句：

• He only invited A-list celebrities to his parties. 他只邀请头等名流参加他的聚会。
• a TV chat show full of B-list celebrities 由众多二流人物参加的电视访谈节目

15 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。