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牧马人

An Offensive
Risks Escalate as Israel Fights a Ground War    

By GREG MYRE
Published: August 5, 2006
The New York Times

JERUSALEM, Aug. 4 — After resisting a major ground offensive   for three weeks, Israel now has an estimated 10,000 troops in southern Lebanon trying to build a buffer zone free of Hezbollah , and the risks are already evident. Seven Israeli soldiers have been killed in two days of brutal battles on territory the guerrillas  know far better than the Israelis.

The plan of the country’s military chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, an air force man, to destroy Hezbollah from the air has proved wanting, and now, nervously, Israel is sending the country’s young men into the forbidding hills of southern Lebanon, where its forces battled Hezbollah for 18 years before pulling out  in May 2000.

“We certainly hope that some international resolution will come before another 18 years passes,” Brig. Gen. Ido Nehushtan said.

In the past few days the troops have crossed the border by the thousands — with seven brigades, including reserve units, totaling around 10,000 troops — now in Lebanon, according to army radio and other Israeli news reports.

“In the first days, we concentrated very much on the air campaign,” said General Nehushtan, who declined to comment on the reported figures on ground troops in Lebanon. “Now we want to clear Hezbollah from all areas near the border. Our plan is to push north on a much larger scale.”

The Israeli forces are now positioned in or around more than a dozen villages and towns in Lebanon and are up to four miles inside Lebanon in some regions, according to the Israeli news media.

The ground operation poses acute dangers for   Israel and will severely complicate international efforts to end the fighting.

For one thing, Hezbollah is fighting on terrain  that it knows best.

During Israel’s occupation of southern Lebanon from 1982 to 2000, its long-term presence and the allied — largely Christian — militia, the South Lebanon Army, gave Israel an extensive intelligence network that is no longer present. And in the six years since Israel left, Hezbollah has built military posts, bunkers and tunnels  that have strengthened its ability to resist an invader.

As the ground offensive picked up pace , Israel has encountered stiff resistance   in several towns and villages. Four soldiers were killed Thursday and three more on Friday, all by antitank missiles , one of Hezbollah’s most potent weapons.

Over all, more than 40 Israeli military personnel have been killed since July 12, most of them on the ground in Lebanon.

A large presence of Israeli troops in southern Lebanon could also make a cease-fire  more difficult to achieve. Israel insists it does not want to stay in southern Lebanon for long, but it also says it does not want to withdraw until an international force can take its place.

However, Hezbollah has said it will not agree to a cease-fire   until Israeli troops have left Lebanon.

Israel is operating on the premise   that a large, muscula r international force will come soon to take control of southern Lebanon. But it is not clear when that force will materialize , and what its mandate  will be.

A Hezbollah rocket shook a neighborhood
in Kiryat Shmona, Israel.

Notes:

a major ground offensive  一个大的地面攻势
trying to build a buffer zone free of Hezbollah  试图建立一个没有真主党的缓冲地带
the guerrillas  游击队（员）（guerrilla=guerilla)
pulling out  撤退
sth. poses acute dangers for sb.  某件事使某人面临极大的危险
terrain  地域、地带
military posts, bunkers and tunnels  军事哨所、地下碉堡、坑道
picked up pace  加快进展
encountered stiff resistance  遭遇到了顽强的抵抗
antitank missiles  反坦克导弹
cease-fire  停火（名词）
agree to a cease-fire  同意停火
agree with sb. on sth.  早某方面同意某人的意见
agree to sth.  同意某件事
on the premise    基于一个前提
muscular  肌肉发达的，强大有力的
materialize   出现
mandate   工作职责范围




Photo Gallery:

Israel unleashed airstrikes across Lebanon on Friday, August 4,
including parts of Beirut's suburbs, above.



A wave of rockets fired by Hezbollah today hit the town of
Kiryat Shmona, near the Israeli border with Lebanon.



Tens of thousands of Iraqis marched against U.S. and Israel in
Baghdad today. The protesters filled 20 blocks of a wide
boulevard and dozens of side streets in the Shiite-dominated
Sadr City section of the capital.



In Gaza City, a house was badly damaged by an Israeli strike.



At the steep gorge in Halat, Lebanon, cut by the Fidar River,
which runs down the mountains to the Mediterranean, dozens
of Maronite Catholic residents gathered to stare in stunned
silence at a 200-yard stretch of four-lane highway blasted into
rubble by Israeli strikes.



The supports for the bridges at Halat rose like cliffs at either end.



A wounded civilian being carried away on a stretcher at
Maameltain bridge in Lebanon.



In the Bekaa Valley, hard against the Syrian border, an airstrike
killed at least 28 seasonal farm workers loading fruit and
vegetables into a refrigerated truck.



Israeli paramedics evacuated the victim of a Hezbollah rocket
attack in Shear Yeshuv.



In Kiryat Shmona, Israel, residents waited in a shelter.



At the funeral for Israeli Sgt. Yonatan Sharabi, 19, a father's agony.



Relatives of Joseph Bassil mourned him at the destroyed
bridge of Halat, Lebanon.

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134 楼, you are really somebody.
great!

枫叶子

最初由[牧马人]发布

您过于谦虚了。不过，以后我尽量贴简短的图片新闻。


妖魔鬼怪改行啦

不过现在贴的文字,还有图片都都...都...不错.

表扬哈! :p

牧马人

最初由[孙参]发布
134 楼, you are really somebody.
great!
I'm nobody else but a newcomer to 51.ca.   

牧马人

最初由[妈妈对狗比我好]发布



妖魔鬼怪改行啦

不过现在贴的文字,还有图片都都...都...不错.

表扬哈! :p
Hehe. 眼神儿差，认错啦。

牧马人

After a week of fighting in southern Lebanon, two Israeli
soldiers crossed the rocky border on Saturday into Israel.
"We made it, brother," one said.



Lebanese soldiers try to respond to a raid at a military base in Tyre.



Air attacks in Tyre, Lebanon, on Saturday appeared
to be cover for a raid by Israeli commandos on a
four-room apartment, above, used by
Hezbollah guerrillas.

Info relevant to the pics:  

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Aug. 5 — France and the United States reached agreement  Saturday on a Security Council resolution   to halt the fighting in Lebanon and lay out plans  for a permanent cease-fire  and a long-term political settlement , a French official said Saturday.

Heavy fighting continued in Lebanon, with Israeli warplanes striking dozens of targets into the early morning hours on Saturday, and an Israeli commando raid  in Tyre turning into a fierce gun battle . And Hezbollah unleashed  a flurry of rockets   late in the day, firing 140 of them into Israel in one 90-minute stretch .

Under the terms of the diplomatic agreement, a Security Council resolution will call for an immediate cessation of attacks by Hezbollah and of “offensive military operations” by Israel, according to a French diplomatic official who spoke on condition of anonymity  because the agreement had not yet been made public . The official said that the text of the resolution would be released later on Saturday and that the Security Council had scheduled a meeting on Saturday afternoon to consider the matter.


Notes:

reached agreement  达成一致意见
Security Council resolution 安理会提案
lay out plans  制定出计划
a permanent cease-fire  永久停火
a long-term political settlement   长期的政治解决
commando raid  突击队袭击
a fierce gun battle  猛烈的枪战
unleashed  放飞、发射（=launched）
a flurry of rockets   一阵（似雪片一样）密集的火箭弹
stretch  一段持续的时间
on condition of anonymity  以匿名为条件
made public  公布于众（相当于古代的“鸣锣公布之”）

牧马人

Washington, Don't Bother Meddling   

Shim Jae Hoon
SOUTH KOREA

Shim Jae Hoon is a Seoul-based journalist and
commentator writing for a variety of
international publications including
YaleOnline , The Straits  Times of
Singapore, The Taipei Times
and Korea Herald . He was a
correspondent for Far
Eastern Economic
Review in Seoul,
Taipei and Jakarta.

Seoul, South Korea - The U.S. should not throw its weight around Cuba once Castro goes because Castro was no Kim Jong Il and Hugo Chavez is a farce .

Despite his ruinous  management of the economy, Castro's main legacy is that of a charismatic  dreamer of Central and Latin America. It may be hard to find aspirin pills  in Cuba but Castro has managed to keep his people well educated and united behind his leadership without instilling the kind of rabid anti-Americanism  that we find in North Korea. Unlike Kim Jong Il, Fidel does not starve his people to death and have all his critics shot.

As for Chavez, he's a political comedian , not the wave of the future. Why should the U.S. try competing against him for the hearts and minds of Latin Americans? Chavez is trying to equalize the standard of living in Venezuela by bringing it down to the level of his impoverished supporters. Eventually this will cause his downfall . These days, the younger generations in Brazil, Argentina and Chile are more eager to learn lessons of development from China and Vietnam than to follow along in Chavez's farce. That's a big change and chance.


Notes:

Washington, Don't Bother Meddling  华盛顿，别多管闲事
YaleOnline  耶鲁在线
Straits  海峡
Herald  信使、信号
farce  闹剧
ruinous 毁灭性的
charismatic  具有感召力的
aspirin pills  阿司匹林药丸
instilling the kind of rabid anti-Americanism  灌输那种疯狂的反美主义
political comedian  政治丑角
downfall  下台

牧马人

Cuba Will Continue to Drive the U.S. Crazy      

Moises Naim
UNITED STATES

Moisés Naím, based in Washington DC, is editor
in chief of Foreign Policy magazine. He has
written extensively on international
economics, U.S. foreign policy, and
globalization. His regular opinion columns   
appear in many internationally recognized
publications  and he is the author or editor of
eight books including Illicit: How Smugglers,
Traffickers and Copycats are Hijacking the
Global Economy. Previously, Naím served
as Venezuela's minister of trade and
industry and as an executive
director at the
World Bank..

Washington, DC - As long as U.S. law forbids nearly any interaction with Cuba, America will have no influence there and Hugo Chavez will make sure that Cuba keeps driving the United States mad.

Countries often drive one another crazy because of the disproportionate influence  of special interests like the Cuban lobby in the U.S. Think of the Bay of Pigs invasion or the outsourcing of Castro's assassination to the Mafia. But the problem is not only that this lobby drives the United States to do idiotic things but that it also induces an acute amnesia  in U.S. politicians, which makes them forget everything the world has painfully learned about the transition from communism.

As I've argued before in a column for Foreign Policy, this knowledge can be distilled into five simple maxims: Lesson one: Failure is more common than success in the transition to a democratic market economy. Lesson two: The less internationally integrated, more centralized, and more personalized a former communist regime was, the more traumatic and unsuccessful its transition will be. Lesson three: Dismantling  a communist state is far easier and faster than building a functional replacement for it. Lesson four: The brutal, criminal ways of a powerful Communist party with a tight grip on public institutions are usually supplanted by the brutal, criminal ways of powerful private business conglomerates with a tight grip on public institutions. Lesson five: Introducing a market economy without a strong and effective state capable of regulating it gives resourceful entrepreneurs more of an incentive to emulate  Al Capone than Bill Gates.

So, when Fidel finally leaves the scene, Cuba will likely end up looking more like Albania than the Bahamas. Yet U.S. planners assume, as they did with Iraq, that democracy will instantly emerge and that exiles will lead other investors in transforming the country into a capitalist paradise.

More likely is that instead of a massive flow of foreign investment into Cuba, the United States will get a massive inflow of refugees fleeing chaos on the island. (Hence Cuban-born Florida Senator Mel Martinez's appeal for people to stay put after Castro dies.) Frictions between Cuban-Cubans and Miami-Cubans will make politics nasty and unstable. And because the Cuban public sector is inextricably intertwined with  the Communist Party, the demise of the party will paralyze the government.

Absurdly, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and the International Monetary Fund are forbidden by the United States from spending even a dollar preparing for this coming chaos.

It is into this vacuum that Venezuela's president, Hugo Chavez, plans to step. Chavez -- flush with oil cash  -- will instantly extend the hand of friendship to Raul Castro. The deliveries of cheap oil will continue as Venezuela steps up its sponsorship of the Cuban economy. Meanwhile, the U.S. embargo  will remain. Cementing the alliance with  post-Fidel Cuba will be Chavez's top foreign policy priority. By contrast, Bush has his hands full , to put it politely, with the Middle East right now. Hugo Chavez will gleefully  exploit this situation, influencing Cuba and driving the United States mad.


Notes:

Cuba Will Continue to Drive the U.S. Crazy  古巴将继续把美国气得发疯
opinion columns  意见专栏
internationally recognized publications  国际公认的出版物
disproportionate influence  不成比例的影响
acute amnesia  急性健忘症
Dismantling  瓦解
emulate  胜过
inextricably intertwined with  与......不可分割地纠缠在一起
flush with oil cash  揣满了石油现钞
U.S. embargo  美国禁运
Cementing the alliance with  强化与......的联盟
Bush has his hands full  布什两手不空/布什自顾不暇
gleefully  开心地

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A brother’s plight
The brother of an Israeli soldier whose kidnapping by Hezbollah sparked the latest round of violence in the Middle East says, one month later, the family is still in the dark about the man’s fate.
Although Yair Goldwasser travelled halfway across the world to tell his brother’s story, he remained stoic  while discussing his family’s ordeal . “I’m trying to put my feelings aside,”  Goldwasser, who lives in Israel, said in a downtown Toronto
hotel. “There’s no room for emotion.” Ehud Goldwasser, a 31-
year-old reservist  in the Israeli army, and Eldad Regev, 26, were kidnapped by Hezbollah guerrillas  during a crossborder
raid on July 12.
“Since then, we’re in the dark about his situation,” his brother said.
Israel declared the incursion an act of war and unleashed a hail of air strikes and sent thousands of ground troops into Southern Lebanon. In response, Hezbollah  has fired hundreds of rockets at cities in the Jewish state.
Goldwasser’s brother, wife, mother, and father are on a speaking tour of North America in an effort to draw attention to the soldier’s plight. “We decided not to break into pieces or to sit at home and close ourselves to everything,” his
brother said. Goldwasser was captured while serving the one month of reserve duty required each year until the age of 40. He had one day left when he was captured.

Yair Goldwasser, 26, the brother of kidnapped Israeli soldier Ehud Goldwasser, said he’s not angry, but that “(Hezbollah are) breaking every international law there is.”
http://toronto.24hrs.ca/News/2006/08/09/24ttop_sm.jpg
- The Canadian Press
from today's 24 hrs

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OLD DAD
An 88-year-old Indian farmer, who has never heard of Viagra, became the father of a baby boy and has sex daily and wants more kids, The Times of India reported yesterday.
“I don’t want to live to 100 but, as long as I live, I should be able to enjoy sex,” Virmaram Jat was quoted in the newspaper as saying. He says he takes long walks every day and has been drinking fresh camel milk since childhood.

from 24 hours of Toronto
9th, Aug. 2006

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Now, the VOA Special English program Words and Their Stories.

Today I will tell about expressions using numbers. Let us start with the number one.   Numbers can be tricky.  On the one hand, they are simply numbers.  On the other hand, they have meanings.  I for one use these expressions a lot.  

Many people consider themselves number one, the most important person.  They are always looking out for number one and taking care of number one.   It is as if they are the one and only person on Earth.  Some people however, are not so self-centered.  My brother is such a person.  It is true – no joke.  I am not trying to pull a fast one on you.  

First, you have to understand that my brother is one in a million.  He is such a nice person.   All his friends like him.  They consider him one of the boys.   Recently, my brother had a bad day at the office. It was just one of those days.   Nothing went right.  So he stopped at a local bar -- a drinking place -- after leaving work.  My brother planned to have a glass of beer with his friends -- a quick one –  before he went home.  But a quick one turned into one or two, and soon those became one too many.

As my brother was leaving, he ordered a last drink -- one for the road.  His friends became concerned.  One by one, they asked him if he was able to drive home safely.

Now my brother is a wise and calm person.  He is at one with himself.  He recognizes when he has had too much alcohol to drink.  So he accepted an offer for a ride home from a female friend.

At one time in the past, my brother had been in love with this woman.  She is a great person -- kind, thoughtful and intelligent -- all good qualities rolled up into one.  But sadly their relationship did not work. He always used to say “One of these days, I am going to marry this girl.”   But that never happened.

For one thing, she did not love him as much as he loved her.  It was just one of those things.  The situation was regrettable and my brother had to accept it.  But even now, he considers her the one that got away.  

However, they are still friends.  And because my brother had been kind to her, she felt that one good turn deserves another.  He was good to her and she wanted to help him in return.  So she drove him home.

If my brother had driven home from the bar that night, his number would have been up.  Something bad would have happened.  Thankfully he made it home safely.  And, he and the woman are back to square one.  They are back to where they started – being friends.

(MUSIC)

This VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, was written by Jill Moss.  I’m Faith Lapidus.
http://www.voanews.com/specialen ... 2006-06-14-voa2.cfm

audio:
[MEDIA]http://http://128.11.143.113/mediaassets/specialenglish/2006_06/Audio/ra/se-ws-numbers-part-one.ra[/MEDIA]

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141楼的图片学英文，方便实用

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More evidence that circumcision(割礼， 包皮切除)  appears to dramatically reduce the risk of HIV infection.
What do you think?

“If my second baby is a boy, you bet he'll be snipped .”
— fundonny “It is aggravated sexual assault ... NO parent has the
right to allow mutilation of their child.”
— David_Leslie “In most tribes in Africa, it’s a rite（仪式）  of passage from boyhood
to manhood. However, the point is if it reduces the
transmissions of HIV, then I say go for it.”
— SeanMcElroy

研究表明：割礼可以大大减少HIV感染

spring3

坚持就是胜利！

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顶起来。更需要人接着贴... ...