News Item 4

美國(guó)國(guó)防部長(zhǎng)在印度發(fā)表演講

News Background

新聞背景　　全球現(xiàn)有恐怖主義組織1000多個(gè)，主要分布在中東地區(qū)、拉美地區(qū)、中亞地區(qū)、南亞地區(qū)、東南亞地區(qū)、歐亞大陸的高加索地區(qū)、東非和西歐。目前印度是世界上本土恐怖組織數(shù)量最多的國(guó)家，這與印度的基本國(guó)情分不關(guān)。印度是一個(gè)存在多樣性的大國(guó)，存在著非常多的苦難。這一復(fù)雜性使極端分子的數(shù)量增加，他們依靠極端意識(shí)形式和恐怖行為生存。 在2008年11月撼動(dòng)世界的孟買(mǎi)連環(huán)恐怖襲擊中，恐怖組織不但組織縝密，而且是有步驟地對(duì)西方發(fā)起挑戰(zhàn)。

News Transcript VOA 新聞梗概

(The U.S. defense secretary has arrived in India for the fi rst high-level talks between the twocountries since Prime Minister’s Manmohan Singh’s visit to the White House, last November.

Regional security - namely the fi ght against insurgents in Afghanistan and Pakistan - is expectedto be the dominant theme of the discussions.)On board his aircraft en route to India, Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters a surgeof thousands of U.S. Marines into Afghanistan’s Helmand province is putting pressure on theTaliban in towns and villages.

This comes at a time when relations remain chilly between nuclear-armed neighbors Indiaand Pakistan. The United States wants to see the two rivals ease tensions to better confront themutual threats from terror groups intent on carrying out further attacks in both countries.

Gates is praising the restraint shown by India following the November 2008 terror attack

Listening Comprehension聽(tīng)力理解

1. the Middle East; the peace process.

2. C 3. D Keyon its commercial capital, Mumbai, blamed on Pakistani militants. The defensesecretary says India has acted in what he calls a “very statesmanlike manner”since then.

During his two-day visit, Gates will meet with the Indian prime minister, aswell as the defense and foreign ministers.

1 U.S. President Barack Obama’s point man in is backin the region, trying to jump-start2 Which of the following statement is not right? ( )A. U.S. Envoy George Mitchell is holding separate meetings with Israeli andPalestinian leaders in a bid to revive deadlocked Middle East peace talks.

B. The Palestinians have refused to return to the negotiating table until Israelcompletely freezes Jewish settlement construction and they have rejectedIsrael’s offer of a partial freeze.

C. This is George Mitchell’s 14th peace mission since U.S. President BarackObama took offi ce a year ago, but he has had little success at bridging thegaps.

D. All of the above are not right.

3 According to Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat,he believes ( )A. He rejected the demand of entering the negotiating tent outright.

B. “It is absolutely unacceptable, absolutely unacceptable, absolutelyunacceptable,” he said.

C. “The borders of the State of Palestine will be Jordan; the Jordan Valley isours, is Palestine.

D. All of the above.

secretary n.

部長(zhǎng)insurgent n.

暴徒surge n.

激增chilly a.

冷淡的，不友好的rival n.

敵手，對(duì)手confront v.

對(duì)抗commercial a.

商業(yè)的militant n.

激進(jìn)分子，好斗者詞匯加油站自總理曼莫漢??辛格去年11月訪問(wèn)白宮后，美國(guó)國(guó)防部長(zhǎng)已經(jīng)抵達(dá)印度，參加兩國(guó)之間的高級(jí)會(huì)談。地區(qū)安全——即抵制阿富汗和巴基斯坦的恐怖分子——是這次會(huì)談的主題。

在飛往印度的飛機(jī)上，國(guó)防部長(zhǎng)羅伯特??蓋茨告訴記者，美國(guó)在阿富汗赫爾曼德省增加了幾千海軍陸戰(zhàn)隊(duì)員，給城鎮(zhèn)和村里的塔利班組織施加壓力。

這發(fā)生在兩個(gè)核武器裝備的鄰國(guó)印度和巴基斯坦關(guān)系的冷淡期。美國(guó)希望雙方能夠緩解緊張局勢(shì)，更好地對(duì)抗來(lái)自恐怖組織的共同威脅?？植澜M織致力于向兩國(guó)發(fā)動(dòng)進(jìn)一步恐怖襲擊。

蓋茨對(duì)印度在2008年11月經(jīng)濟(jì)中心孟買(mǎi)遭受恐怖襲擊后，所作出的限制政策進(jìn)行了稱(chēng)贊，對(duì)巴基斯坦的軍隊(duì)進(jìn)行了譴責(zé)。國(guó)防部長(zhǎng)聲明，印度從那時(shí)開(kāi)始就已經(jīng)真正成為“一名政治家”。

國(guó)防部長(zhǎng)訪問(wèn)的兩天期間，還將會(huì)見(jiàn)印度總理以及國(guó)防部長(zhǎng)和外交部長(zhǎng)。

1 Regional security - namely the fight against insurgents in Afghanistan and Pakistan - is expected to bethe dominant theme of the discussions. 句子的主語(yǔ)是Regional security，“namely...Pakistan”修飾Regional security，be expected to be 的意思是“人們預(yù)料是……”這是固定用法。

2 On board his aircraft en route to India, Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters a surgeof thousands of U.S. Marines into Afghanistan’s Helmand province is putting pressure on theTaliban in towns and villages.短語(yǔ) “put pressure on...”的意思是“給……施加壓力”是固定用法。

3 During his two-day visit, Gates will meet with the Indian prime minister, as well as the defenseand foreign ministers.短語(yǔ)as well as的意思是“也，還有”的意思。During 加一段時(shí)間，表示“在……期間”。