美国有线新闻 CNN 东古塔成为叙利亚内战重要目标

First report takes us to the Middle East, where the fight is getting more intense in one of the last parts of Syria that’s controlled by rebels who are fighting the government. Eastern Ghouta is a suburb of Damascus, the Syrian capital, almost 400,000 people live there, and eastern Ghouta has been completely surrounded by Syrian government forces for more than four years. It’s supposed to be what’s called a de-escalation zone, meaning an area where civilians¹ can live without being targeted by anyone fighting in Syria’s civil war.

头条新闻是管关于中东，在叙利亚的最后一个地区，战斗正在变得更加激烈。叙利亚的最后一部分由反政府的叛军控制。东古塔是大马士革的郊区，叙利亚首都大马士革有近40万人居住，而东古塔已经被叙利亚政府军完全包围了4年多。它被认为是所谓的“降级区”，意思是平民可以在没有任何战斗人员袭击的情况下生活。

But observes in the region say that shelling and a series of airstrikes by the Syrian government have killed at least 250 civilians in the past 48 hours and turn parts of eastern Ghouta to rubble². A hospital director there says the airstrikes are nothing new, that they have been going on for years, but that residents have not seen anything like the violence of recent days. So, why was eastern Ghouta targeted?

但该地区的观察人士说，在过去的48小时里，叙利亚政府的炮击和一系列空袭造成至少250名平民死亡，并将东部的部分地区变成了废墟。医院的一位负责人说，空袭并不是什么新鲜事，他们已经进行了数年，但居民们从未看到最近几天发生的暴力事件。那么，为什么东古塔是袭击的目标呢?

The Syrian government says rockets and mortars³ were launched from there on Tuesday and that they killed five civilians and injured 20 others.

叙利亚政府表示，周二从那里发射了火箭弹和迫击炮，造成5名平民死亡，20人受伤。

Government media say the Syrian army responded with, quote, precise strikes that targeted rocket launchers and defensive⁴ positions of the armed rebels there.

叙利亚官方媒体表示，叙利亚军队对那里的武装反叛分子的火箭发射装置和防御阵地进行了精确定位。

The ISIS terrorist group has also played a part in Syria’s civil war but it’s lost a lot of ground in the country over the past year and Syrian government forces supported by Russia are making a major effort to take over the remaining areas that are held by rebels.

ISIS恐怖组织在叙利亚内战中也扮演了重要角色，但在过去的一年里，该组织在叙利亚失去了很多地盘，而俄罗斯支持的叙利亚政府军正在努力夺回被叛军占领的剩余地区。

The civilians who live in eastern Ghouta say they expect the government will launch an offensive on the ground in the days ahead.

居住在东古塔的平民表示，他们预计政府将在未来几天发动进攻。

The conflict in Syria has been going on since 2011. The United Nations estimates that 400,000 people have been killed and millions have had to leave their homes or get out of the country altogether.

叙利亚的冲突自2011年以来一直在持续。联合国估计有40万人被杀，数百万人不得不离开家园或离开这个国家。

1 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。

2 rubble   

n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾

参考例句：

• After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
• After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。

3 mortars   

n.迫击炮( mortar的名词复数 )；砂浆；房产；研钵

参考例句：

• They could not move their heavy mortars over the swampy ground. 他们无法把重型迫击炮移过那片沼泽地。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Where the hell are his mortars? 他有迫击炮吗？ 来自教父部分

4 defensive   

adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的

参考例句：

• Their questions about the money put her on the defensive.他们问到钱的问题，使她警觉起来。
• The Government hastily organized defensive measures against the raids.政府急忙布置了防卫措施抵御空袭。