澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2010-10-06

On her first international trip as Prime Minister, Julia Gillard has admitted the foreign relation is not her passion. The Prime Minister is at the Asia-Europe Meeting in Brussels, meeting with foreign dignitaries there.

A state of emergency has been declared in Hungary where a toxic¹ mud spill has swamped three villages. At least four people died and more than 120 people were injured when the red sludge burst from a dam at an aluminum² plant. Emergency services are trying to stop the mud from flowing into major waterways.

The man convicted of an attempted car bomb attack in New York’s Times Square has been sentenced to life in prison without parole. Earlier this year, Faisal Shahzad pleaded guilty to weapons and terrorism charges. At his sentencing, he told the judge that war with the Muslims has just begun and the US was facing imminent³ defeat.

A French financial trader has been sentenced to jail for masterminding one of the biggest trading frauds in history.  Jerome Kerviel was found guilty of betting nearly 70 billion dollars of Societe  Generale's money without the bank's knowledge. The bank says his covert⁴ stock trades lost more than seven billion dollars.

And it's been another golden day for Australia’s athletes in Delhi. Australia won another five gold medals at the Commonwealth⁵ Games overnight. Anne Meares led Australia’s winning site in the cycling, breaking her own record to take gold in the women's 500m time trial. Medals in cycling, swimming and gymnastics helped take Australia’s gold medal tally⁶ to nine.

1 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

2 aluminum   

n.(aluminium)铝

参考例句：

• The aluminum sheets cannot be too much thicker than 0.04 inches.铝板厚度不能超过0.04英寸。
• During the launch phase,it would ride in a protective aluminum shell.在发射阶段，它盛在一只保护的铝壳里。

3 imminent   

adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的

参考例句：

• The black clounds show that a storm is imminent.乌云预示暴风雨即将来临。
• The country is in imminent danger.国难当头。

4 covert   

adj.隐藏的；暗地里的

参考例句：

• We should learn to fight with enemy in an overt and covert way.我们应学会同敌人做公开和隐蔽的斗争。
• The army carried out covert surveillance of the building for several months.军队对这座建筑物进行了数月的秘密监视。

5 commonwealth   

n.共和国，联邦，共同体

参考例句：

• He is the chairman of the commonwealth of artists.他是艺术家协会的主席。
• Most of the members of the Commonwealth are nonwhite.英联邦的许多成员国不是白人国家。

6 tally   

n.计数器，记分，一致，测量；vt.计算，记录，使一致；vi.计算，记分，一致

参考例句：

• Don't forget to keep a careful tally of what you spend.别忘了仔细记下你的开支账目。
• The facts mentioned in the report tally to every detail.报告中所提到的事实都丝毫不差。