英语听力：澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2013-11-22

 British police have rescued three women held against their will in a London house for 30 years. The women are from Britain, Ireland and Malaysia and are aged¹ between 30 and 69. Police say the British women appears to have spent most of her life in captivity² and all three are highly traumatized.

 

The Productivity Commission has proposed raising the pension age to 70 to avoid a looming³ budget crisis. It says urgent and wide-ranging structral reforms are needed to cope with Australia's aging population. It's calling on the Federal Government to consider guranteeing reverse mortgages to cut age care costs and improve the quality of care. 

 

A senior Indonesian politian has accused of Mr Abbott of mishandling the spying crisis. Tubeiger Hasernuden is a senior member of the country's Foreign Affairs Commission. He says the prime minister has shown a lack of diplomacy⁴ and should apologize.

 

Reserve Bank governor Glen Steven says the bank may consider intervening in currency markets to lower the value of the Australian dollar. His mark(口误) remarks had an instant effect. The dollar dived half a cent before recovering slightly. 

 

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has given his backing to a proposed security pact⁵ with the United States. He's urged a meeting of 2,000 Afghan elders to accept the deal. It will allow up to 15,000 foreign troops to stay in the country beyond next year.

1 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

2 captivity   

n.囚禁；被俘；束缚

参考例句：

• A zoo is a place where live animals are kept in captivity for the public to see.动物园是圈养动物以供公众观看的场所。
• He was held in captivity for three years.他被囚禁叁年。

3 looming   

n.上现蜃景（光通过低层大气发生异常折射形成的一种海市蜃楼）v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的现在分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近

参考例句：

• The foothills were looming ahead through the haze. 丘陵地带透过薄雾朦胧地出现在眼前。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Then they looked up. Looming above them was Mount Proteome. 接着他们往上看，在其上隐约看到的是蛋白质组山。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 回顾与展望

4 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。

5 pact   

n.合同，条约，公约，协定

参考例句：

• The two opposition parties made an electoral pact.那两个反对党订了一个有关选举的协定。
• The trade pact between those two countries came to an end.那两国的通商协定宣告结束。