澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2010-10-29

The number of people killed in the tsunami¹ off west Sumatra is expected to climb to more than 500. Officials in the Mentawai Islands are finding more victims of the tsunami that struck on Monday night. Three hundred and forty people so far are confirmed dead. Aerial surveys, however, have revealed many more corpses².

Also in Indonesia, a volcano in central Java has erupted again, spewing ash and hot gas into the air. The Mount Merapi volcano has already erupted several times this week, killing³ 32 people. More than 50,000 people have been moved to temporary shelters outside the danger zone.

The Federal Opposition⁴ leader says Labor⁵’s failing to live up to its aim of being a reforming government. Delivering the annual Alfred Deakin Lecture in Melbourne last night, Tony Abbott argued Labor’s confusing reform with big spending. He says Labor’s $43 billion broadband policy actually stifles⁶ competition.

The New South Wales Keneally Government is the least popular Labor government in Australian history, according to the latest Newspoll. The poll shows support for the party has dropped to just 23 per cent. Support for the state Opposition is double that at 46 per cent.

The Prime Minister Julia Gillard will arrive in Vietnam today for the East Asia Summit. Ms Gillard says she’ll use the summit to raise Australia’s strong concern about human rights in Burma. The PM will then visit Indonesia. She says any representations she makes on behalf of Schapelle Corby and the Bali Nine will be done in private.

1 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。

2 corpses   

n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The living soldiers put corpses together and burned them. 活着的战士把尸体放在一起烧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Overhead, grayish-white clouds covered the sky, piling up heavily like decaying corpses. 天上罩满了灰白的薄云，同腐烂的尸体似的沉沉的盖在那里。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

3 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

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 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

6 stifles   

（使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的第三人称单数 )； 镇压，遏制

参考例句：

• This stifles the development of the financial sector. 这就遏制了金融部门的发展。
• The fruits of such a system are a glittering consumer society which stifles creativity and individuality. 这种制度的结果就是一个压制创造性和个性的闪光的消费者社会。