Hourly News 每日新闻 2014-02-16

 Second round of Geneva II talks to extend into Saturday: UN

The second round negotiations¹ of the Geneva II international conference on Syria has concluded without achieving tangible² results.

UN-Arab League Special Envoy³ to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi said a proposed agenda for the next round of talks was agreed between delegates of the Syrian government and the opposition⁴, but did not reveal the exact date. 

The four-point agenda included fighting violence and terrorism, the transitional governing body, national institutions, and as well as national reconciliation⁵ and national debate, according to Brahimi.

 

Death toll⁶ rises to four in Indonesian volcano eruption⁷

The death toll from eruption of Kelud volcano in Indonesia's province of East Java increased to four on Saturday with all of them living within the radius⁸ of 7 kilometers from the crater⁹ of the volcano. 

Due to impacts of the eruption, Indonesia has closed 7 airports on Java island until further notice.

UN chief hails formation of new Lebanese government

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon has welcomed the formation of a new government in Lebanon and called for a successful presidential elections in the Middle East country. 

Earlier Saturday, a new government led by new Prime Minister Tamam Salam was formed in Lebanon, after a 10-month deadlock¹⁰.

 

Plane forced to turn around after hitting birds in China

An airplane was forced to return to the airport in eastern Chinese city of Hefei after hitting birds en route to Beijing Saturday, but no casualties have been reported.

The China Eastern Airlines plane, was struck by birds on its right engine, about 10 minutes after takeoff at 7:58 a.m. 

The bird strike led to a mechanical fault in the engine, forcing the plane to turn around. The flight was canceled later and passengers were transferred to another plane. 

It is the second such accident in two days at the Xinqiao airport. 

The aviation authorities are investigating the two accidents.

 

Firework frenzy¹¹ in China aggravates¹² air pollution

China's environmental watchdog said on Saturday that 33 of the 161 cities monitored nationwide were hit by heavy air pollution on the Lantern Festival, due to firework revelry and unfavorable weather conditions.

Beijing, together with its surrounding cities such as Shijiazhuang, Baoding, Xingtai and Hengshui, was rated by the Ministry¹³ of Environmental Protection as "severely¹⁴ polluted" .

An official with the ministry says the northern Tianjin-Hebei region will continue to suffer mild to moderate air pollution on Sunday and Monday due to unfavorable atmospheric¹⁵ conditions. 

Beijing will see heavy to severe air pollution over the following two days.

 

China reports new H7N9 cases, cities ban poultry¹⁶ trading

Chinese cities have stepped up control of the live poultry trade as the number of human H7N9 bird flu infections continues to rise.

Health authorities in east China's Anhui Province on Saturday reported a new human H7N9 infection.

The health department in south China's Guangdong Province on Saturday also reported two new H7N9 infection cases. 

There have been more than 120 human H7N9 cases reported in China so far this year, and at least 32 deaths.

Poultry trade has been considered a primary source of human infection for the virus, as most of the diagnosed patients had close contact with poultry.

 

China's new loans reach 1.32 trillion yuan

China's new yuan-denominated lending reached 1.32 trillion yuan (216 billion U.S. dollars) in January, up over 246 billion yuan year on year.

The central bank says the country's social financing, a measure of funds raised by entities¹⁷ through bank credit and other means, amounted to 2.58 trillion yuan last month, surging over 1.3 trillion yuan from December and up 39 billion yuan from a year earlier.

M2, a broad measure of money supply that covers cash in circulation and all deposits, increased 13.2 percent year on year to 112 trillion yuan at the end of January. 

The narrow measure of money supply (M1), which covers cash in circulation plus demand deposits, expanded 1.2 percent to 31 trillion yuan at the end of last month.

 

Chinese film "Black Coal, Thin Ice" won Golden Bear in 64th Berlinale

Chinese film "Black Coal, Thin Ice" won the Golden Bear, the top jury prize awarded to the best film, in the 64th Berlin International Film Festival on Saturday. 

Chinese Actor Liao Fan, for the role of Zhang Zili in film "Black Coal, Thin Ice" , won the Silver Bear for Best Actor.

Chinese Zhou Yang wins Olympic women's short track 1,500m gold

Chinese Zhou Yang defended her women's 1,500m short track speed skating gold medal at the Sochi Olympic Games on Saturday.

The 22-year-old Zhou surged to win the final in 2:19.140 and South Korea's Shim Suk Hee took the silver.

Italian Arianna Fontana got the bronze.

1 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

2 tangible   

adj.有形的，可触摸的，确凿的，实际的

参考例句：

• The policy has not yet brought any tangible benefits.这项政策还没有带来任何实质性的好处。
• There is no tangible proof.没有确凿的证据。

3 envoy   

n.使节，使者，代表，公使

参考例句：

• Their envoy showed no sign of responding to our proposals.他们的代表对我方的提议毫无回应的迹象。
• The government has not yet appointed an envoy to the area.政府尚未向这一地区派过外交官。

4 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

5 reconciliation   

n.和解，和谐，一致

参考例句：

• He was taken up with the reconciliation of husband and wife.他忙于做夫妻间的调解工作。
• Their handshake appeared to be a gesture of reconciliation.他们的握手似乎是和解的表示。

6 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

7 eruption   

n.火山爆发；（战争等）爆发；（疾病等）发作

参考例句：

• The temple was destroyed in the violent eruption of 1470 BC.庙宇在公元前1470年猛烈的火山爆发中摧毁了。
• The eruption of a volcano is spontaneous.火山的爆发是自发的。

8 radius   

n.半径，半径范围；有效航程，范围，界限

参考例句：

• He has visited every shop within a radius of two miles.周围两英里以内的店铺他都去过。
• We are measuring the radius of the circle.我们正在测量圆的半径。

9 crater   

n.火山口，弹坑

参考例句：

• With a telescope you can see the huge crater of Ve-suvius.用望远镜你能看到巨大的维苏威火山口。
• They came to the lip of a dead crater.他们来到了一个死火山口。

10 deadlock   

n.僵局，僵持

参考例句：

• The negotiations reached a deadlock after two hours.两小时后，谈判陷入了僵局。
• The employers and strikers are at a deadlock over the wage.雇主和罢工者在工资问题上相持不下。

11 frenzy   

n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动

参考例句：

• He was able to work the young students up into a frenzy.他能激起青年学生的狂热。
• They were singing in a frenzy of joy.他们欣喜若狂地高声歌唱。

12 aggravates   

使恶化( aggravate的第三人称单数 )； 使更严重； 激怒； 使恼火

参考例句：

• If he aggravates me any more I shall punish him. 如果他再惹我生气，我就要惩罚他。
• Now nothing aggravates me more than when people torment each pther. 没有什么东西比人们的互相折磨更使我愤怒。

13 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。

14 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

15 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。

16 poultry   

n.家禽，禽肉

参考例句：

• There is not much poultry in the shops. 商店里禽肉不太多。
• What do you feed the poultry on? 你们用什么饲料喂养家禽?

17 entities   

实体对像； 实体，独立存在体，实际存在物( entity的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Our newspaper and our printing business form separate corporate entities. 我们的报纸和印刷业形成相对独立的企业实体。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities. 北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。