高级英语听力 lesson 9

 

Lesson Nine

  Section One: News in Brief

  Tapescript
  1. There was an assassination¹ attempt against Indian Prime Minister
  Rajiv Gandhi today.  A man fired several shots at Gandhi and other
  Indian leaders participating in an open-air praver meeting.  Gandhi
  was not injured.  Six people received minor² wounds when the
  gunman burst from the brushes where he had apparently³ hidden pri-
  or to the cerem4Dny.to avoid security checks.  He surrendered when
  guards surrounded.him. Those in charge of Gandhi's security have
  been suspended, and an investigation⁴ is under way.

  2. Jess Moore, NASA's top official in charge of the shuttle program
  when Challenger exploded, announced today he's leaving his new
  post as Director of the Johnson Space Center.  Moore will take a
  leave of absence and then be reassigned to NASA headquarters in
  Washington.  NPR's Daniel Zwerdling reports.  'The obvious ques-
  tion, of course, is this: Is Jess Moore leaving his job and taking a
  year off work because of the Challenger accident?  Moore came un-
  der quite a bit of pressure before a congressional committee early
  this summer when his former assistant testified that he told Moore in
  detail almost a year ago that there were serious proble'ms with the,
  shuttle rocket's 0-rings, the same 0-rings that eventually caused
  the Challenger accident.  That testimony⁶ flatly contradicted what
  Moore's been saying all along: that he did not know the 0-ring
  problems were serious until after the Challenger exploded.  Congres-
  sional sources who've interviewed Moore told me that they have no
  way of knowing just who's telling the truth, Moore, or Moore's for-
  mer assistant.  But one top congressional aide who met with Moore
  recently says the NASA veteran's been depressed⁷ since the Chal-
  lenger blew up.  He says, 'Moore doesn't have the edge he used to.
  He's hollow inside, just like a lot of guys at NASA who worked on
  the shuttle.  ' 'Jess Moore,' the aide says, 'is not the man he was be-
  fore⁵ the accident, and he needs a rest.' I'm Daniel Zwerdling in
  Washington."

  Section Two: News in Detail

  Tapescript
       Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi survived an assassination
  attempt in New Delhi today.  The assailant fired a succession of shots
  at Gandhi, who was attending a Hindu prayer service with his wife
  and Indian President Zail Singh.  Official sources have called the in-
  cident a major security lapse⁸.  Witnesses say Gandhi told security
  guards two times he had heard gun shots; the security forces
  reportedly dismissed the noise as motorcycle backfire.  It was over
  half an hour later that police finally surrounded and captured the
  gunman.  Six people were injured during the arrest.  The BBC's
  Humphrey Hoxley reports.

     'An official statement from the Home Ministry⁹ said that those
  police officials who were directly responsible for the security ar-
  rangements for Mr. Gandhi have been suspended from duty.  Senior
  officials in the Ministry say that a top-level investigation is under
  way to determine why the security around the Prime Minister, who's
  meant to be one of the most closely protected government leaders in
  the world, collapsed¹¹ and how a gunman armed with an illegally
  manufactured revolver broke through the security cordon¹² undetect-
  ed to get within a few feet of the Prime Minister.  Police say the
  gunman who's in his twenties may even have fired at Mr. Gandhi
  and his party as they were approaching the area to commemorate¹³ the
  birthday of the independence leader Mohandas Gandhi, who is cre-
  mated there.  The area was searched immediately; but security men
  failed to spot the gunman, who was hiding on top of a concrete shel-
  ter hidden among thick green vines.  The man opened fire again when
  Mr. Gandhi was leaving half an hour later.  But when he was spotted¹⁴,
  eyewitnesses¹⁵ say, he threw up his arms and shouted in Hindi, "I sur-
  render.' Police say he's not connected with any terrorist organiza-
  tion., nor is he part of the Sikh movement which murdered Mr.
  Gandhi's mother, Indira, two years ago.  Humphrey Hoxley, BB4C,
  Delhi.

  @tion Three: Special Report

  Tapescript
      It is not just the weather with which farmers contend; there are
  higher costs for growing food and lower prices when selling it.  And
  these combined to make farming an increasingly difficult life, espec-
  ially for small family farms.  In New York, a new organization called
  'Farm Hands' is trying to help struggling farms in the region by
  linking city dwellers¹⁶ with farmers.  As John Kailish reports, the
  scheme seems to benefit both.
      Last week, two actors, a housewife, a tour guide, a dog walker
  and an unemployed¹⁷ social worker, all from the New York metropoli-
  tan area, spent a day working on Hall Gibson's fruit and vegetable
  farm located in the Upstate New York town of Brewster.  The con-
  tingent also included two four-year-olds.  The group listened
  attentively¹⁸ as Gibson gave the lengthy¹⁹ orientation²⁰ talk complete with
  aerial photographs of his 125-acre farm.  'This area was called part
  of the New York milk shed.  One of the big incentives²¹ to producing
  milk in this area was the founding of the Borden plant.' After the
  orientation talk the group walked to a five-acre field that was lined
  with rows of tomatoes and turnips²², eggplants and cabbage.  Gibson
  gave some brief picking instructions to two women who were going
  to harvest cherry tomatoes.  'If they are split like this, throw them
  ,away or eat them.' "OK.' The transplanted urbanites picked six
  bushels of tomatoes and sixty pints²³ of raspberries over the course of
  several hours.  The farmhands were perfect strangers when they left
  Manhattan, but out in the field in Putnam County, they had no
  trouble striking up conversations that included such heady topics as
  romance in television.
     Laura Moore, a housewife and part-time teacher from
  Brooklyn, has made four trips to area farms with her daughter
        She was picking yellow lowacid tomatoes as she explained

    why she enjoys the Farm Hands program.
       "It's therapeutic²⁴, mentally, physically²⁵, and it's exhilarating.  This
    is my way of getting out, escaping the city life for a while.  I love the
    city.  But in the fresh air, you get a feeling that you are really living."
       In addition to the one-day farm outings, Farm Hands also
    places individuals ( . farms for periods ranging from a week to sev-
    eral months.  In exchange for their labor²⁶, participants get a minimum
    wage, room and board, or produce to take back with them to the
    city.  In its first year of operation, Farm Hands has placed twenty
    people on farms for a period of two months or longer.  More than
    two hundred people have gone on the one-day work intensives or
    the field trips that are often more play than work.  Hall Gibson has
    had four long term farm-hands this summer.  At the moment, he's
    benefiting from the hard work of a twenty- eight-year-old New
    York City painter named Debby Fisher.  Because Gibson's farm is
    organic, weeds are a major problem.  Farmer Gibson says that when
    Debby Fisher clears weeds from the fields, she works like a demon²⁷.
         'She's been just driven to rescue crops and she's rescued a num-
    ber of crops.  My bok choy crop - the best I've ever had - was res-
    cued by her.  Debby is a gem¹⁰.'
         The Farm Hands program was founded  by
    twenty-seven-year-old Wendy Dubid, an enthusiastic advocate of
    linking farms and cities.  In an interview at a farmers' market in New
    York city, Dubid said Farm Hands may mean cheap labors²⁸ for
    farmers, but she maintains the program has a broader impact.
         "It's not just the labor that helps those farmers; it's the appre-
    ciative consumers.  They suddenly realize after an hour of picking
    raspberries and scratching their own arms on the bramble, they un-
    derstand the farm reality and the value of food, and may become
    valuable consumers and customers for those farmers.'
         Dubid says there was only one Farm Hand placement that did
    not work out this year, a fifteen-year-old football player who an-
    tagonized his host family in Upstate New York.  Farmhands are
    currently working in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey²⁹.  Plans
    are already under way to expand the Farm Hands program to
    Maryland, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Vermont.

1 assassination   

n.暗杀；暗杀事件

参考例句：

• The assassination of the president brought matters to a head.总统遭暗杀使事态到了严重关头。
• Lincoln's assassination in 1865 shocked the whole nation.1865年，林肯遇刺事件震惊全美国。

2 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

3 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

4 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

5 fore   

adv.在前面；adj.先前的；在前部的；n.前部

参考例句：

• Your seat is in the fore part of the aircraft.你的座位在飞机的前部。
• I have the gift of fore knowledge.我能够未卜先知。

6 testimony   

n.证词；见证，证明

参考例句：

• The testimony given by him is dubious.他所作的证据是可疑的。
• He was called in to bear testimony to what the police officer said.他被传入为警官所说的话作证。

7 depressed   

adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的

参考例句：

• When he was depressed,he felt utterly divorced from reality.他心情沮丧时就感到完全脱离了现实。
• His mother was depressed by the sad news.这个坏消息使他的母亲意志消沉。

8 lapse   

n.过失，流逝，失效，抛弃信仰，间隔；vi.堕落，停止，失效，流逝；vt.使失效

参考例句：

• The incident was being seen as a serious security lapse.这一事故被看作是一次严重的安全疏忽。
• I had a lapse of memory.我记错了。

9 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

10 gem   

n.宝石，珠宝；受爱戴的人 [同]jewel

参考例句：

• The gem is beyond my pocket.这颗宝石我可买不起。
• The little gem is worth two thousand dollars.这块小宝石价值两千美元。

11 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

12 cordon   

n.警戒线，哨兵线

参考例句：

• Police officers threw a cordon around his car to protect him.警察在他汽车周围设置了防卫圈以保护他。
• There is a tight security cordon around the area.这一地区周围设有严密的安全警戒圈。

13 commemorate   

vt.纪念，庆祝

参考例句：

• This building was built to commemorate the Fire of London.这栋大楼是为纪念“伦敦大火”而兴建的。
• We commemorate the founding of our nation with a public holiday.我们放假一日以庆祝国庆。

14 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

15 eyewitnesses   

目击者( eyewitness的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The examination of all the eyewitnesses took a week. 对所有证人的质询用了一周的时间。
• Several eyewitnesses testified that they saw the officers hit Miller in the face. 几位目击证人证明他们看见那几个警官打了米勒的脸。

16 dwellers   

n.居民，居住者( dweller的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes. 城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They have transformed themselves into permanent city dwellers. 他们已成为永久的城市居民。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

18 attentively   

adv.聚精会神地；周到地；谛；凝神

参考例句：

• She listened attentively while I poured out my problems. 我倾吐心中的烦恼时，她一直在注意听。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She listened attentively and set down every word he said. 她专心听着，把他说的话一字不漏地记下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 lengthy   

adj.漫长的，冗长的

参考例句：

• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
• The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。

20 orientation   

n.方向，目标；熟悉，适应，情况介绍

参考例句：

• Children need some orientation when they go to school.小孩子上学时需要适应。
• The traveller found his orientation with the aid of a good map.旅行者借助一幅好地图得知自己的方向。

21 incentives   

激励某人做某事的事物( incentive的名词复数 )； 刺激； 诱因； 动机

参考例句：

• tax incentives to encourage savings 鼓励储蓄的税收措施
• Furthermore, subsidies provide incentives only for investments in equipment. 更有甚者，提供津贴仅是为鼓励增添设备的投资。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

22 turnips   

芜青( turnip的名词复数 )； 芜菁块根； 芜菁甘蓝块根； 怀表

参考例句：

• Well, I like turnips, tomatoes, eggplants, cauliflowers, onions and carrots. 噢，我喜欢大萝卜、西红柿、茄子、菜花、洋葱和胡萝卜。 来自魔法英语-口语突破（高中）
• This is turnip soup, made from real turnips. 这是大头菜汤，用真正的大头菜做的。

23 pints   

n.品脱( pint的名词复数 )；一品脱啤酒

参考例句：

• I drew off three pints of beer from the barrel. 我从酒桶里抽出三品脱啤酒。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Two pints today, please. 今天请来两品脱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

24 therapeutic   

adj.治疗的，起治疗作用的；对身心健康有益的

参考例句：

• Therapeutic measures were selected to fit the patient.选择治疗措施以适应病人的需要。
• When I was sad,music had a therapeutic effect.我悲伤的时候，音乐有治疗效力。

25 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

26 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。

27 demon   

n.魔鬼，恶魔

参考例句：

• The demon of greed ruined the miser's happiness.贪得无厌的恶习毁掉了那个守财奴的幸福。
• He has been possessed by the demon of disease for years.他多年来病魔缠身。

28 labors   

v.努力争取(for)( labor的第三人称单数 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转

参考例句：

• He was tiresome in contending for the value of his own labors. 他老为他自己劳动的价值而争强斗胜，令人生厌。 来自辞典例句
• Farm labors used to hire themselves out for the summer. 农业劳动者夏季常去当雇工。 来自辞典例句

29 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。