The illusion that Egypt’s military-backed interim government was willing and able to take the country to inclusive elections after last month’s anti-Islamist coup vanished amid the carnage on Cairo’s streets on Wednesday. With chaos spreading across the country, the military has declared a state of emergency. As the army tightens its grip and the death toll mounts, so too does the threat of civil war.

　　Violence was inevitable once the security forces moved in on the Islamist protesters who have occupied public squares in Cairo to call for the release of former President Mohamed Morsi. All sides share the blame. Islamists have refused every offer of negotiation, demanding as a precondition the release and reinstatement of the deeply unpopular Mr Morsi. Worse, at the height of the violence, they called for more protesters to join the pitched battles instead of appealing for calm.

　　The military, which brought down a democratically elected government last month and now pulls the strings of a nominally civilian executive, has ignited Islamist fury further by trying to crush the Muslim Brotherhood. Hundreds of leaders have been rounded up and jailed, while Mr Morsi is being held on trumped-up charges. Until the resignation on Wednesday evening of Mohamed ElBaradei, secularists in the government have stood by as state forces were deployed against civilians in weeks of clashes that have left hundreds dead.

　　International efforts to bring the warring camps to the bargaining table have failed. Diplomatic missions by the US and EU could not prevent the bloodshed on Wednesday. Yet more than diplomacy is needed to overcome the intransigence of those who believe the only path to victory is the destruction of the other. Washington has so far refused to suspend the $1.3bn in aid to Egypt’s military. This should now be done until the violence is halted and all parties agree to talks. The release of Mr Morsi has to be on the table.

　　But pressure also has to be exerted on the Muslim Brotherhood. Turkey or Qatar are best placed to intervene with Egypt’s Islamists. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s prime minister, condemned the earlier military coup, but this should not rule out him acting as an intermediary in concert with other parties. Qatar could also play a useful role. The new emir may be wary of foreign entanglements but he and the rest of the world should be even more wary of the consequences for the region of a descent into sectarian anarchy in Egypt.

　　學(xué)習(xí)指南：

　　1.Word of the day

　　coup: a sudden, illegal and often violent, change of government 政變

　　e.g1：He seized power in a military coup in 1997.

　　例1：他在 1997 年的軍事政變中奪取了政權(quán)。

　　e.g2：She lost her position in a boardroom coup (= a sudden change of power among senior managers in a company).

　　例2：她在董事會(huì)的人事突變中失去了職位。

　　2.Phrase of the day

　　pitched battles：a fierce battle fought in close combat between troops in predetermined positions at a chosen time and place 激戰(zhàn)

　　3.Sentence of the day

　　The new emir may be wary of foreign entanglements but he and the rest of the world should be even more wary of the consequences for the region of a descent into sectarian anarchy in Egypt.

　　卡塔爾新任埃米爾或許對(duì)卷入外國(guó)事務(wù)感到擔(dān)心，但他以及國(guó)際社會(huì)的其他人士更應(yīng)該擔(dān)心的是，埃及若陷入宗派敵對(duì)的無(wú)政府狀態(tài)，會(huì)給該地區(qū)帶來(lái)的種種后果。

　　小編注：tangle的意思是“(線(xiàn)、毛發(fā)等的)纏結(jié)的一團(tuán)，亂團(tuán)，亂糟糟的一堆”，en是一個(gè)使動(dòng)的前綴，entangle就是使……糾纏在一起意思。你可以說(shuō)出幾個(gè)類(lèi)似的動(dòng)詞嗎?

　　4.Cultural point of the day

　　Muslim Brotherhood：穆斯林兄弟會(huì)是一個(gè)有近百年歷史的伊斯蘭復(fù)新運(yùn)動(dòng)宗教組織，最近因?yàn)榘＜皟?nèi)戰(zhàn)而常常見(jiàn)諸報(bào)端。其他有名的伊斯蘭組織還有哈馬斯(HAMAS，即Islamic Resistance Movement，伊斯蘭抵抗運(yùn)動(dòng))、基地組織(Al-Qaida)、東突厥斯坦伊斯蘭運(yùn)動(dòng)(Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement,ETIM) 等。

　　5.Translation of the day

　　As the army tightens its grip and the death toll mounts, so too does the threat of civil war.

　　在軍方收緊控制、死亡人數(shù)不斷上升之際，內(nèi)戰(zhàn)的威脅也在迫近。

　　小編注：death toll的意思是死亡人數(shù)，時(shí)政新聞中說(shuō)到死亡人數(shù)，幾乎用的都是這個(gè)詞，另外有一個(gè)表示傷亡人數(shù)的高頻詞是the number of casualties。

　　e.g:Clinton said the Obama administration deeply regrets the civilian casualties.