Hourly News 每日新闻 17:00 2011/09/24

 Palestine formally applies for full UN membership 

Despite mounting pressures, including the repeated U.S. veto threats, Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas has formally presented the application letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a bid to seek the UN recognition of Palestine as a full member state. 

The meeting between Ban and Abbas took place on the sidelines of the general debate of the 66th General Assembly session. 

The United Nations Security Council will have consultations² Monday afternoon on the application of Palestine for UN membership.

 

China's top legislator starts Kazakhstan visit 

China's top legislator Wu Bangguo is in Almaty to start a five-day official goodwill³ visit to Kazakhstan, the first visit to the Central Asian country by a top Chinese lawmaker.

Wu Bangguo arrived in Almaty, the country's biggest city, after concluding his visit to Russia, Belarus and Uzbekistan. Kazakhstan is the last leg of his four-nation Eurasian tour.

 

Chinese FM attends BRICS foreign ministers' meeting 

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi attended a meeting of foreign ministers from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) and met respectively with his Russian and Nigerian counterparts in New York.

The foreign ministers of the five BRICS countries agreed to further enhance practical cooperation and improve coordination⁴ in international affairs. 

They also exchanged views on the issues of Libya, Syria, the Palestine-Israel conflict, the international financial system reform, climate change, sustainable development and anti-terrorism.

 

NASA says defunct⁵ satellite falls back to Earth 

The U.S. space agency NASA says a decommissioned U.S. satellite fell back to Earth but its precise re-entry time and location remained unknown.

The NASA stresses the risk to public safety or property is extremely small.

The UARS satellite, launched in 1991 from a space shuttle, was the first multi-instrumented satellite to observe numerous chemical constituents⁶ of the atmosphere with a goal of better understanding atmospheric⁷ photochemistry and transport.

 

First Chinese cargo⁸ flight lands in St. Louis, U.S. 

The first cargo flight from China which departed from Shanghai has landed in Missouri state's St. Louis Lambert International Airport, marking the establishment of a link between China's financial hub and the U.S. heartlands.

Both American and Chinese notables including Chinese Consul¹ General to Chicago Yang Guoqiang and St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay⁹ attended the welcoming ceremony and expressed their confidence that the two countries would both benefit from the new aviation connection. 

China Cargo, the airline managing the trans-Pacific aviation route, currently plans to run weekly flights between Shanghai and St. Louis, with officials seeking to boost the frequency to three shipments a week before the U.S. holiday season.

 

China promotes use of agricultural machinery¹⁰ for autumn production 

China's ministry¹¹ of Agriculture says as the nation's grain production is heavily reliant on autumn crops, agricultural authorities should coordinate¹² their efforts to maximize mechanical advantages in production of crops harvested during this season.

It says areas of corn crops harvested by machines will reach 9.6 million hectares) this autumn, accounting¹³ for 31 percent of the crop's total, while 69 percent of rice crops will be reaped by machines.

The ministry urges local authorities to send technicians to help the use of agricultural machines and promote technologies for agricultural mechanization.

 

China finds over 170,000 violations¹⁴ in campaign to regulate use of government cars 

Over 170,000 cars purchased and used by government officials have been deemed to be unnecessary or "too luxurious¹⁵" for official use under a campaign to regulate the use of government cars.

He Guoqiang, the top anti-graft official of the Communist Party of China (CPC) has told an anti-corruption¹⁶ conference in Beijing that the next stage of the campaign will consist of correcting the violations and intensifying¹⁷ daily supervision¹⁸.

China launched a campaign in May to regulate the use of public funds for government vehicles in order to reduce unnecessary public spending. 

Another campaign targeted at corruption in the construction industry resulted in 38,000 reports of violations and over 19,000 investigations¹⁹.

 

Pension insurance to cover all Chinese senior citizens by 2015

China's State Council, the country's Cabinet, says all of China's senior citizens living in rural and urban areas will be covered by pension insurance by 2015, according to a plan for senior citizens' development in the 12th Five-Year Plan period.

The plan says China's population aged²⁰ sixty and over will increase to 221 million by 2015, which will raise their proportion of the entire population to 16 percent.

Besides pension insurance, the government will also improve elderly care services across the country.

Community medical centers will create health records for those aged 65 and older in the next five years

1 consul   

n.领事；执政官

参考例句：

• A consul's duty is to help his own nationals.领事的职责是帮助自己的同胞。
• He'll hold the post of consul general for the United States at Shanghai.他将就任美国驻上海总领事(的职务)。

2 consultations   

n.磋商（会议）( consultation的名词复数 )；商讨会；协商会；查找

参考例句：

• Consultations can be arranged at other times by appointment. 磋商可以通过预约安排在其他时间。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Consultations are under way. 正在进行磋商。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 goodwill   

n.善意，亲善，信誉，声誉

参考例句：

• His heart is full of goodwill to all men.他心里对所有人都充满着爱心。
• We paid ￡10,000 for the shop,and ￡2000 for its goodwill.我们用一万英镑买下了这家商店，两千英镑买下了它的信誉。

4 coordination   

n.协调，协作

参考例句：

• Gymnastics is a sport that requires a considerable level of coordination.体操是一项需要高协调性的运动。
• The perfect coordination of the dancers and singers added a rhythmic charm to the performance.舞蹈演员和歌手们配合得很好，使演出更具魅力。

5 defunct   

adj.死亡的；已倒闭的

参考例句：

• The scheme for building an airport seems to be completely defunct now.建造新机场的计划看来整个完蛋了。
• This schema object is defunct.No modifications are allowed until it is made active again.此架构对象不起作用。在重新激活之前，不能进行任何改动。

6 constituents   

n.选民( constituent的名词复数 )；成分；构成部分；要素

参考例句：

• She has the full support of her constituents. 她得到本区选民的全力支持。
• Hydrogen and oxygen are the constituents of water. 氢和氧是水的主要成分。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 atmospheric   

adj.大气的，空气的；大气层的；大气所引起的

参考例句：

• Sea surface temperatures and atmospheric circulation are strongly coupled.海洋表面温度与大气环流是密切相关的。
• Clouds return radiant energy to the surface primarily via the atmospheric window.云主要通过大气窗区向地表辐射能量。

8 cargo   

n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物

参考例句：

• The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
• A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。

9 slay   

v.杀死，宰杀，杀戮

参考例句：

• He intended to slay his father's murderer.他意图杀死杀父仇人。
• She has ordered me to slay you.她命令我把你杀了。

10 machinery   

n.(总称)机械，机器；机构

参考例句：

• Has the machinery been put up ready for the broadcast?广播器材安装完毕了吗？
• Machinery ought to be well maintained all the time.机器应该随时注意维护。

11 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

12 coordinate   

adj.同等的，协调的；n.同等者；vt.协作，协调

参考例句：

• You must coordinate what you said with what you did.你必须使你的言行一致。
• Maybe we can coordinate the relation of them.或许我们可以调和他们之间的关系。

13 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。

14 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

15 luxurious   

adj.精美而昂贵的；豪华的

参考例句：

• This is a luxurious car complete with air conditioning and telephone.这是一辆附有空调设备和电话的豪华轿车。
• The rich man lives in luxurious surroundings.这位富人生活在奢侈的环境中。

16 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

17 intensifying   

v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的现在分词 )；增辉

参考例句：

• The allies are intensifying their air campaign. 联军部队正加大他们的空战强度。 来自辞典例句
• The rest of the European powers were in a state of intensifying congestion. 其余的欧洲强国则处于越来越拥挤的状态。 来自英汉非文学 - 历史

18 supervision   

n.监督，管理

参考例句：

• The work was done under my supervision.这项工作是在我的监督之下完成的。
• The old man's will was executed under the personal supervision of the lawyer.老人的遗嘱是在律师的亲自监督下执行的。

19 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

20 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。