BBC新闻100篇 News Item 19-英语听力

[00:00.00]Leading United States officials have said the American military [00:03.52]will continue its presence in Afghanistan for a number of years [00:07.00]despite beginning to withdraw in 2011. [00:09.86]In a series of media reappearances, [00:11.73]officials stressed that the date should be seen [00:13.90]as the beginning of handing over responsibility to Afghan forces. [00:16.52]Imtiaz Tyab report from Washington. [00:19.81]Speaking on a Sunday morning political chat show, [00:22.43]the Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that [00:24.79]despite President Obama's plan to begin [00:26.84]withdrawing the troops from the region in July, 2011, [00:30.32]the US was likely to maintain a significant military presence in Afghanistan [00:34.87]for a number of years. [00:36.48]The Defense Secretary said [00:38.04]the pullout date was said [00:39.47]to underline the urgent need for the Afghans [00:41.77]to speed up recruiting and training soldiers [00:44.38]and getting them into the field. [00:46.25]A comment's followed criticism from opposition Republicans [00:49.30]who say announcing a withdraw date [00:51.53]sent a dangerous signal to insurgents.