澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2011-04-20

 The Prime Minister Julia Gillard leaves on her week-long Asian tour later this morning. Her first stop will be Japan, where she hopes to visit tsunami-affected areas. It’s then on to South Korea and then China, where she hopes to kick along negotiations¹ for a free trade agreement. 

 

Those rivers of gold from the mining boom just aren’t flowing like they used to. Federal Treasurer² Wayne Swan will deliver a pre-budget speech in Brisbane today and he’ll be warning of leaner times ahead. He says mining investment is expected to double next financial year, but it won’t come with a tax windfall. 

 

More than 2,000 Jetstar passengers were stranded³ in Sydney overnight. Sixteen passengers managed to get through a terminal without being screened because of a power failure. That meant all the passengers in the terminal had to be screened again. More delays are expected today as the airline clears the backlog⁴. 

 

The flood threat has eased in the southern Queensland town of Roma. Dozens of people were evacuated⁵ ahead of an expected flood peak of just over eight metres. But the waters only got over 7.5 metres overnight. Still the mayor says that would have been enough to flood up to 160 homes. 

 

An international conference called to raise money for new safety measures at Chernobyl has fallen short of its target. It’s 25 years since the world’s worst nuclear disaster. The Ukrainian government wants to build a new sarcophagus around the damaged reactor⁶. 

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 treasurer   

n.司库，财务主管

参考例句：

• Mr. Smith was succeeded by Mrs.Jones as treasurer.琼斯夫人继史密斯先生任会计。
• The treasurer was arrested for trying to manipulate the company's financial records.财务主管由于试图窜改公司财政帐目而被拘留。

3 stranded   

a.搁浅的，进退两难的

参考例句：

• He was stranded in a strange city without money. 他流落在一个陌生的城市里， 身无分文，一筹莫展。
• I was stranded in the strange town without money or friends. 我困在那陌生的城市，既没有钱，又没有朋友。

4 backlog   

n.积压未办之事

参考例句：

• It will take a month to clear the backlog of work.要花一个月的时间才能清理完积压的工作。
• Investment is needed to reduce the backlog of repairs.需要投资来減轻积压的维修工作。

5 evacuated   

撤退者的

参考例句：

• Police evacuated nearby buildings. 警方已将附近大楼的居民疏散。
• The fireman evacuated the guests from the burning hotel. 消防队员把客人们从燃烧着的旅馆中撤出来。

6 reactor   

n.反应器；反应堆

参考例句：

• The atomic reactor generates enormous amounts of thermal energy.原子反应堆发出大量的热能。
• Inside the reactor the large molecules are cracked into smaller molecules.在反应堆里，大分子裂变为小分子。