-
(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
Politics this week
Hillary Clinton announced that she is running for the White House in 2016. She vowed1 to get “unaccountable money” out of politics “once and for all,
even if that takes a constitutional amendment”. Her campaign is expected to raise at least 1 billion. On the Republican side Marco Rubio,
a Florida senator, joined a field that is fast becoming crowded.
A Florida doctor, Salomon Melgen, was indicted2 for defrauding3 Medicare, the government health scheme for the old, which he had billed for 105m over six years.
Earlier this month Mr Melgen and Senator Bob Menendez, a New Jersey4 Democrat5, were indicted for trading gifts for favours. Both men denied.
Sudan held a presidential election and, though the results will not be announced until April 27th,
most believe President Omar Hassan al-Bashir is sure of another term in office. Opposition6 groups boycotted7 the poll.
Sudan is war-ravaged and its economy is struggling. But Mr Bashir, indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court, has never looked stronger.
Russia has lifted a self-imposed ban on the sale to Iran of an advanced air-defence system,
a move criticised by the countries involved in talks to limit Tehran's nuclear programme.
America and Israel opposed selling the S-300 system to Iran on the grounds that it would make any air strikes on its nuclear facilities harder and upset the region's balance of military power.
The Shabab, al-Qaeda's affiliate9 in Somalia, exploded a car bomb outside the Ministry10 of Higher Education in Mogadishu, the capital. At least 19 people were killed, including seven attackers.
It comes on the heels of the Shabab's massacre11 at a university in Garissa, Kenya, in which gunmen killed 148 people.
Three weeks of air strikes by a Saudi-led coalition12 have done little to halt the advance of the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Pakistan has affirmed that it will not send in ground troops. Muhammad Javad Zarif, Iran's foreign minister, has laid out a four-point plan to resolve the crisis.
Yemen's civil war has benefited al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the group's most dangerous branch, which has taken over Mukalla, a Yemeni port.
But an American drone strike killed Ibrahim al-Rubeish, a top figure in the outfit13.
A court in Japan blocked the reopening of a nuclear power plant in Fukui on the main island's west coast.
The Takahama plant had already obtained approval from Japan's nuclear regulator. It is a blow to Shinzo Abe, the prime minister.
Nuclear power generated 30% of Japan's electricity before the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear disaster, after which the country's nuclear power stations were shut down.
The government in China released five feminist14 activists15 detained for planning protests against sexual harassment16 on public transport on March 8th,
International Women's Day. They may still be prosecuted17 for supposedly creating a disturbance18.
In response to protests in Hong Kong against mainland Chinese who buy goods in bulk to resell, China limited residents of Shenzhen,
across the border from Hong Kong, to visiting the territory just once a week. Goods in Hong Kong are cheaper and more trusted,
but a surge of mainland Chinese visitors has bred resentments19.
India relaxed the last of the restrictions20 on the production of goods, including pickles21 and chutneys, that are “reserved” exclusively for small businesses.
At the peak of industrial policy in the 1970s some 800 goods were similarly reserved.
The British election creaked into third gear with the launch of the parties'manifestos. With the polls still too tight to call,
the Conservatives promised more free child care and subsidies22 for social-housing tenants23. Labour vowed to avoid further borrowing and keep cutting the deficit24.
Good weather encouraged more boatloads of would-be migrants across the Mediterranean25. The Italian coastguard rescued hundreds,
but as many as 400 were feared drowned after one boat capsized off Libya. The UN said not enough was being done to save lives
The extreme-right Jobbik party shocked Hungary's ruling right-wing Fidesz party by winning a by-election. Jobbik claims that it,
not the left, is now the only plausible26 opposition to the Fidesz prime minister, Viktor Orban.
Turkey attacked Pope Francis and the European Parliament after both described the Ottoman massacres27 of Armenians in 1915-16 as genocide.
Turkish objections to the word have intensified28 in the run-up to the centenary of the start of the killings29 on April 24th.
Despite a purported30 ceasefire, renewed violence broke out in eastern Ukraine. Ukraine said six of its soldiers had been killed;
pro-Russian rebels said one of their fighters had died.
Barack Obama and Raul Castro held the first substantive31 meeting between the leaders of the United States and Cuba in nearly 60 years at a summit in Panama.
Mr. Castro railed against the embargo32 that the United States imposed on Cuba, which was loosened last December,
but called Mr. Obama an “honest man”. After the summit the United States removed Cuba from its list of state sponsors of terrorism.
The decision eliminates an obstacle to restoring diplomatic relations.
FARC guerrillas killed at least ten Colombian soldiers and wounded 17 more. The army claimed that the FARC initiated33 the attacks.
That would make it the most serious breach34 yet of a ceasefire declared by the rebel group in December. Colombia's president,
Juan Manuel Santos, ordered a resumption of air raids on the FARC, which he had suspended in March.
The two sides have been holding talks aimed at ending the 50-year conflict.
Eduardo Galeano, a radical35 Uruguayan writer, has died, aged8 74. He is most famous for “Open Veins36 of Latin America”,
which blamed the region's problems on European colonisers and the United States. Late in life he said that the book belonged to “a past era”.
1 vowed | |
起誓,发誓(vow的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
2 indicted | |
控告,起诉( indict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
3 defrauding | |
v.诈取,骗取( defraud的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
4 jersey | |
n.运动衫 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
5 democrat | |
n.民主主义者,民主人士;民主党党员 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
6 opposition | |
n.反对,敌对 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
7 boycotted | |
抵制,拒绝参加( boycott的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
8 aged | |
adj.年老的,陈年的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
9 affiliate | |
vt.使隶(附)属于;n.附属机构,分公司 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
10 ministry | |
n.(政府的)部;牧师 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
11 massacre | |
n.残杀,大屠杀;v.残杀,集体屠杀 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
12 coalition | |
n.结合体,同盟,结合,联合 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
13 outfit | |
n.(为特殊用途的)全套装备,全套服装 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
14 feminist | |
adj.主张男女平等的,女权主义的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
15 activists | |
n.(政治活动的)积极分子,活动家( activist的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
16 harassment | |
n.骚扰,扰乱,烦恼,烦乱 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
17 prosecuted | |
a.被起诉的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
18 disturbance | |
n.动乱,骚动;打扰,干扰;(身心)失调 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
19 resentments | |
(因受虐待而)愤恨,不满,怨恨( resentment的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
20 restrictions | |
约束( restriction的名词复数 ); 管制; 制约因素; 带限制性的条件(或规则) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
21 pickles | |
n.腌菜( pickle的名词复数 );处于困境;遇到麻烦;菜酱 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
22 subsidies | |
n.补贴,津贴,补助金( subsidy的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
23 tenants | |
n.房客( tenant的名词复数 );佃户;占用者;占有者 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
24 deficit | |
n.亏空,亏损;赤字,逆差 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
25 Mediterranean | |
adj.地中海的;地中海沿岸的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
26 plausible | |
adj.似真实的,似乎有理的,似乎可信的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
27 massacres | |
大屠杀( massacre的名词复数 ); 惨败 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
28 intensified | |
v.(使)增强, (使)加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
29 killings | |
谋杀( killing的名词复数 ); 突然发大财,暴发 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
30 purported | |
adj.传说的,谣传的v.声称是…,(装得)像是…的样子( purport的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
31 substantive | |
adj.表示实在的;本质的、实质性的;独立的;n.实词,实名词;独立存在的实体 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
32 embargo | |
n.禁运(令);vt.对...实行禁运,禁止(通商) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
33 initiated | |
n. 创始人 adj. 新加入的 vt. 开始,创始,启蒙,介绍加入 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
34 breach | |
n.违反,不履行;破裂;vt.冲破,攻破 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
35 radical | |
n.激进份子,原子团,根号;adj.根本的,激进的,彻底的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
36 veins | |
n.纹理;矿脉( vein的名词复数 );静脉;叶脉;纹理 | |
参考例句: |
|
|