澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2011-03-07

 There are more signs today that Libya is descending¹ into a bitter civil war. Government forces have launched counter-offensive on several rebel-held towns. At least 15 rebels have been injured in an attack on the town of Bin² Jawad. There’ve been conflicting reports about which side is gaining the upper hand.

 

Thousands of anti-government protesters have marched in Beirut, calling for political reform. They are calling for an end to sectarian power sharing. Lebanon has been without a functioning government and Hezbollah and its allies toppled Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri in January. The country currently operates under a power-sharing deal between different religious sects³.

 

Julia Gillard has arrived in Washington for her first visit there as Prime Minister. She’ll meet the US President Barack Obama tomorrow. An exit strategy for the Afghanistan war and the global economic recovery will be key topics for the talks.

 

Hundreds of people have marched through the streets of the Afghan capital Kabul demanding the withdrawal⁴ of foreign troops. The protest was prompted by the deaths of nine children who were killed in a NATO air raid in a remote part of the country. The United States has apologised for the incident, but Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai says the apology is not enough.

 

And the Federal Government admits it’s having trouble selling a carbon tax but denies it’s losing the debate. The Acting⁵ Prime Minister Wayne Swan has acknowledged there’s confusion about the plan. He says it’s the big polluters and not householders who’ll pay the tax.

1 descending   

n. 下行 adj. 下降的

参考例句：

• The results are expressed in descending numerical order . 结果按数字降序列出。
• The climbers stopped to orient themselves before descending the mountain. 登山者先停下来确定所在的位置，然后再下山。

2 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

3 sects   

n.宗派，教派( sect的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Members of these sects are ruthlessly persecuted and suppressed. 这些教派的成员遭到了残酷的迫害和镇压。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He had subdued the religious sects, cleaned up Saigon. 他压服了宗教派别，刷新了西贡的面貌。 来自辞典例句

4 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。

5 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。