英国新闻听力 135

A powerful underwater earthquake has struck in the South Pacific between Samoa and American Samoa. A tsunami¹ is reported to have hit a village and there is said to have been deaths, though details are still coming in. Phil Mercer reports from Sydney.

The US Geological Service said the quake struck 35 kilometres below the ocean floor between American Samoa and Samoa. A tsunami alert has been issued for parts of the South Pacific including Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand, where authorities have warned people to stay off beaches. Waves in excess of 1.5 metres struck American Samoa, where residents were forced to flee to higher grounds. At least one village has been destroyed and there are reports of fatalities². Islanders said they felt a huge jolt³ and tremors⁴ that lasted for up to three minutes.

Relief workers trying to help hundreds of thousands of people affected⁵ by devastating⁶ floods in the Philippines say they are overwhelmed by the scale of what’s required. The Philippine government says about 250 people are known to have been killed.

In his first meeting with President Obama, the new NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has promised that the North Atlantic Alliance will remain in Afghanistan as long as it takes to finish its task there. He said responsibility for the war there was shared, and he supported Mr. Obama’s decision to reassess his strategy before committing more troops.

"Our operation in Afghanistan is not America’s responsibility or burden alone. It is and it will remain a team effort. I agree with President Obama in his approach: strategy first, then resources. The first thing is not numbers, it is to find and fine-tune the right approach to implement⁷ the strategy."

Mr. Rasmussen’s comments come as President Obama begins a major review of his strategy in Afghanistan.

A leading Guinean opposition⁸ figure Alpha Conde has told the BBC that there will be no retreat from the opposition’s demands that the military government step down. Speaking from New York, Mr. Conde, who heads the Rally of the People of Guinea party, said he would return to Guinea. On Monday, security forces opened fire on civilians⁹ during an opposition rally in the capital Conakry. Human rights activists¹⁰ say 157 people were killed. Our West Africa correspondent Caspar Leighton reports.

The full scale of the violence meted¹¹ out on the people of Conakry has emerged as politicians and NGOs have counted the dead. But with reports that soldiers were taking some of the deaths to army camps, the final figure may never be known. Over a thousand are reported wounded. Witnesses talk of people being rounded up, beaten and bayoneted. The population in Conakry for now remains¹² in doors, too frightened to go out and face the security forces.

You are listening to World News from the BBC.

Two days before multi-party talks in Geneva, Iran has said it won’t discuss what it calls its nuclear “rights” or uranium enrichment at a newly revealed plant in Qom. The head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization said uranium enrichment wouldn’t be suspended, a condition set by the United Nations Security Council, but he said that Iran would soon give the United Nations nuclear agency, the IAEA, a timetable to inspect the new plant.

Swiss diplomats¹³ have for the first time been allowed to visit three Americans detained in Iran. The two men and one woman have been held since the end of July, when they apparently¹⁴ strayed across the border while hiking in northern Iraq. Switzerland represents US interest in Iran as the US has no formal diplomatic relations with Iran.

The British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has given his last major speech to his Labour Party members ahead of a general election due next year. Opinion polls suggest Labour could be heading for a severe defeat and Mr. Brown tried to rally activists, telling them they could, as he put it, "change the world again".

"Our country faces the biggest choice for a generation, so we need to fight, not bow out, not walk away, not give in, not give up, but fight, fight to win for Britain."

Mr. Brown promised to abandon unpopular legislation introducing compulsory¹⁵ identity cards and he pledged a referendum on changing the British voting system. He strongly criticized the opposition conservatives, saying they’d embraced pessimism¹⁶ and austerity.

The Kenyan Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula has said that western diplomats should change the way they deal with his country. Mr. Wetangula told the BBC that diplomatic relations could not be meaningful if they were based on what he called a master-servant attitude. He was speaking after summoning the American ambassador in Nairobi, Michael Ranneberger, to express his displeasure about letters the US sent to Kenyan officials threatening them with sanctions if they continued to block reforms.

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 fatalities   

n.恶性事故( fatality的名词复数 )；死亡；致命性；命运

参考例句：

• Several people were injured, but there were no fatalities. 有几个人受伤，但没有人死亡。
• The accident resulted in fatalities. 那宗意外道致多人死亡。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 jolt   

v.（使）摇动，（使）震动，（使）颠簸

参考例句：

• We were worried that one tiny jolt could worsen her injuries.我们担心稍微颠簸一下就可能会使她的伤势恶化。
• They were working frantically in the fear that an aftershock would jolt the house again.他们拼命地干着，担心余震可能会使房子再次受到震动。

4 tremors   

震颤( tremor的名词复数 )； 战栗； 震颤声； 大地的轻微震动

参考例句：

• The story was so terrible that It'sent tremors down my spine. 这故事太可怕，它使我不寒而栗。
• The story was so terrible that it sent tremors down my spine. 这故事太可怕，它使我不寒而栗。

5 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

6 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

7 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

8 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。

9 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

10 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 meted   

v.（对某人）施以，给予（处罚等）( mete的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The severe punishment was meted out to the unruly hooligan. 对那个嚣张的流氓已给予严厉惩处。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The money was meted out only after it had been carefully counted. 钱只有仔细点过之后才分发。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

12 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

13 diplomats   

n.外交官( diplomat的名词复数 )；有手腕的人，善于交际的人

参考例句：

• These events led to the expulsion of senior diplomats from the country. 这些事件导致一些高级外交官被驱逐出境。
• The court has no jurisdiction over foreign diplomats living in this country. 法院对驻本国的外交官无裁判权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 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。

15 compulsory   

n.强制的，必修的；规定的，义务的

参考例句：

• Is English a compulsory subject?英语是必修课吗？
• Compulsory schooling ends at sixteen.义务教育至16岁为止。

16 pessimism   

n.悲观者，悲观主义者，厌世者

参考例句：

• He displayed his usual pessimism.他流露出惯有的悲观。
• There is the note of pessimism in his writings.他的著作带有悲观色彩。