News Item 4

美国国防部长在印度发表演讲

News Background

新闻背景　　全球现有恐怖主义组织1000多个，主要分布在中东地区、拉美地区、中亚地区、南亚地区、东南亚地区、欧亚大陆的高加索地区、东非和西欧。目前印度是世界上本土恐怖组织数量最多的国家，这与印度的基本国情分不关。印度是一个存在多样性的大国，存在着非常多的苦难。这一复杂性使极端分子的数量增加，他们依靠极端意识形式和恐怖行为生存。 在2008年11月撼动世界的孟买连环恐怖袭击中，恐怖组织不但组织缜密，而且是有步骤地对西方发起挑战。

News Transcript VOA 新闻梗概

(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听力理解

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.

部长insurgent n.

暴徒surge n.

激增chilly a.

冷淡的，不友好的rival n.

敌手，对手confront v.

对抗commercial a.

商业的militant n.

激进分子，好斗者词汇加油站自总理曼莫汉??辛格去年11月访问白宫后，美国国防部长已经抵达印度，参加两国之间的高级会谈。地区安全——即抵制阿富汗和巴基斯坦的恐怖分子——是这次会谈的主题。

在飞往印度的飞机上，国防部长罗伯特??盖茨告诉记者，美国在阿富汗赫尔曼德省增加了几千海军陆战队员，给城镇和村里的塔利班组织施加压力。

这发生在两个核武器装备的邻国印度和巴基斯坦关系的冷淡期。美国希望双方能够缓解紧张局势，更好地对抗来自恐怖组织的共同威胁。恐怖组织致力于向两国发动进一步恐怖袭击。

盖茨对印度在2008年11月经济中心孟买遭受恐怖袭击后，所作出的限制政策进行了称赞，对巴基斯坦的军队进行了谴责。国防部长声明，印度从那时开始就已经真正成为“一名政治家”。

国防部长访问的两天期间，还将会见印度总理以及国防部长和外交部长。

1 Regional security - namely the fight against insurgents in Afghanistan and Pakistan - is expected to bethe dominant theme of the discussions. 句子的主语是Regional security，“namely...Pakistan”修饰Regional security，be expected to be 的意思是“人们预料是……”这是固定用法。

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.短语 “put pressure on...”的意思是“给……施加压力”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.短语as well as的意思是“也，还有”的意思。During 加一段时间，表示“在……期间”。