时事与雅思学习系列聚焦比利时恐袭：经济学人(节选)

摘要：时事与雅思学习，其实一点都不矛盾，雅思中国网编辑会给大家带来关于最新时事热点的精华外文，比如BBC，经济学人，华盛顿邮报等等，尽量覆盖到美式英语和英式英语，从这些报道里提取出可以为我们烤鸭在雅思备考中所需要的高分词汇，语料等等。

经济学人观点：The Brussels attacks show that Islamic State is still growing in ambition and capability

Europe must confront the possibility of such attacks on a regular basis

（布鲁塞尔爆炸案表明伊斯兰国的野心和实力依然在持续增长。）（欧洲必须每日应对此类可能的袭击。）

1.BELGIUM’S satisfaction at finding Salah Abdeslam, the man believed to have been the Islamic State (IS) logistics(后勤) chief behind the Paris terror attacks, which took the lives of 130 people four months ago, was always likely to be fleeting(短暂的). That it had taken so long to track Mr Abdeslam down was worrying. That he was found staying in the apartment of a friend’s mother in Molenbeek, the district of Brussels that is probably home to the highest concentration of jihadist sympathisers in Europe, is an indication of chronic(长期的) intelligence failure on the part of Belgian’s State Security Service and the police.

2.But perhaps the biggest worry is the discovery that IS's network in Belgium, and perhaps across Europe, is so extensive(广泛的). To be able to conduct serial complex attacks—such as the multiple bombings in Brussels’ international airport and metro system, which killed at least 30 people on the morning of March 22nd—suggests IS can draw on perhaps hundreds of supporters, some of whom have reliable bomb-making expertise(专业技能) and know how to communicate securely.

3.Some will argue that the timing of the attacks on Brussels, coming so soon after the arrest of Mr Abdeslam, is a coincidence(巧合). But that probably underestimates(低估) the scale of the IS operation in Belgium. Indeed, Mr Abdeslam’s arrest may well have been the trigger for another cell to go into action with a plan that had been some weeks or months in preparation.

本段特别分析：从Some will argue that，到but，再到Indeed，是一个非常流畅的分析过程，绝对的雅思主体段论述过程的既视感。

4.There are still hopes that Mr Abdeslam’s arrest and almost certain extradition(引渡) to France will yield information that fills in the gaps in what is known about the Paris and Brussels attacks. But what has been learned so far by French investigators after the interrogation(审讯)of witnesses and investigation of both the crime scenes and places where the terrorists had lived is disturbing enough.

5.An overriding(最重要的)concern is the extent of the network across Europe that IS appears to have been building for at least the past three years as a platform for sustaining a series of major terrorist outrages(暴行)in different cities. There are known to be 18 people being held in six countries who are suspected of helping the Paris attackers. That is likely to be only the tip of the iceberg.

完美长句分析：

BELGIUM’S satisfaction at finding Salah Abdeslam, the man believed to have been the Islamic State (IS) logistics(后勤) chief behind the Paris terror attacks, which took the lives of 130 people four months ago, was always likely to be fleeting(短暂的).

句子主干：satisfaction was always likely to be fleeting。

the man为Salah Abdeslam的同位语，believed to....attacks是过去分词短语做后置定语修饰the man。which...ago是定语从句，修饰Salah Abdeslam。所以，在句子的主干之间，插入了一个同位语，一个定语从句。

这个句子有几点值得学习：

1. satisfaction的使用，英语中将动词/形容词进行名词化是一种及其常见的使表达更为紧凑的方法。原本的be satisfied with，用一个n就实现了。对于动词/形容词进行名词化，推荐一篇雅思中国网文章，手把手教你怎样在雅思小作文中写出完美长句，其中很直观地对比了变化前后句子的优劣。

2.同位语(man...attacks)作为一中常见的插入式结构，起到了解释说明的作用，作用相当于一个定语从句，一个形容词。

3.过去分词短语做(believed to....attacks)后置定语，同样是起修饰作用，相当于一个形容词。注意 sb/sth be believed to do sth的表达（...据信...）

这句话，综合运用了同位语，过去分词短语，定语从句，再加上之前的名词化表达等多样化结构，使得这个句子在信息量上非常丰富，同时也不显得臃肿。

绝对好词分享：

on a daily basis（经济学人观点）每日地。

意思近似于daily和every day，可是却是更加地道，更为老外所喜欢，无论是口语和写作中。

on the part of(1段4行) 由...所做或所经历（done or experienced by ...）。

等同于on sb's part。eg: A little humility on her part would be appreciated（她能表现出一点谦逊就谢天谢地了。）.

draw on(2段3行) 利用/凭借。

近似于use/exploit，是一个非常地道的小词短语，英国人最爱。

timing(3段1行) 时机，把握时机的能力。e

g: Your timing is perfect, since the dinner is ok in 2 minutes. 我们常常说的天时，不就是这个good timing嘛！