英国新闻听力 02

BBC News with Charles Caro.

Leaders from both parties in the US Senate are sounding increasingly confident that the chamber¹ will pass a revised version of the government's multi-billion-dollar rescue package for the American financial sector². The Senate is expected to vote on the issue within hours. Democrats³ and Republicans have also indicated that the support for the plan is growing in the House of Representatives which could vote on the revised proposals on Friday. From Washington, Rachel Harvey reports.

The central core of the rescue plan is the same as it's always been. Hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayers⁴' money to be made available to buy bad assets from banks, but senators have now added sweeteners to make the medicine more palatable⁵, including tax breaks and higher levels of insurance for depositors. A procession of speakers in the chamber have made clear that their constituents⁶ are both angry about the present and frightened about the future, something has to be done.

Mexico's Central Bank says the amount of money sent home by Mexicans living abroad has seen its biggest monthly drop since the bank started keeping the data on such transfers in 1995. Remittances⁷ are Mexico's second largest source of foreign income after oil exports with nearly all the money coming from Mexicans living and working in the United States. Analysts⁸ say the economic slowdown in the US has hit foreign workers hard.

The United Nations Humanitarian⁹ Chief, John Holmes, has warned that about half the population of Zimbabwe could soon be in need of constant food aid and medical assistance. Mr. Holmes told the BBC that three million people were already reliant on food aid and that figure could rise to five million by January when food stocks were at their lowest. Laura Trevelyan reports.

The violence around the disputed presidential election in March led many to flee their homes, now they need food. Spiraling inflation has only made matters worse. John Holmes says seeds and fertilizer are needed now before the next May's planting season which begins in five weeks' time. Foreign aid agencies were banished¹⁰ from Zimbabwe by the government, now they've been allowed back. Although President Mugabe has signed a power-sharing deal with the opposition¹¹, talks on forming a cabinet are deadlocked¹².

New research suggests that HIV, the virus that can lead to AIDS, may have been circulating among humans for more than a century. Analysis of an early previously¹³ unknown sample of the virus collected in Central Africa shows that it could have begun spreading among humans as early as the 1880s. Risto Pica reports.

The research has compared the new samples later ones and also ones of SIV -- the virus affecting apes. Calculating the rate of genetic¹⁴ change between them allowed the scientists to estimate when the ape virus mutated into the human one. They say it's likely to have happened around a hundred years ago, maybe even earlier. At first, only a few people caught the virus and scientists think the rise of cities in Africa may have helped it spread.

World News from the BBC.

A ban on smoking tobacco in public places has come into force in India. The ban covers hotels, restaurants, offices and public places, such as bus stops. More than a hundred million smokers¹⁵ are affected¹⁶ by the ban which the Indian government says is necessary in a country where one out of every ten deaths is attributed to smoking. However, a BBC correspondent says India has had strong anti-smoking laws before but was unable to enforce them effectively.

Police in California say they may have recovered items belonging to the millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett who disappeared on a flight in the western United States a year ago. Rajesh Mirchandani reports.

Police in the Mammoth¹⁷ Lakes area of eastern California say a hiker brought them some ID with Mr. Fossett's name on, some cash and a sweatshirt. The hiker told officers they had found the items near the town of Mammoth Lakes, a popular tourist resort high on the eastern flank of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Steve Fossett disappeared more than a year ago after taking off in a small plane from a private ranch¹⁸ in the neighboring state of Nevada. No sign of him was ever found and he was declared legally dead in February.

The British government has decided¹⁹ to bring home the children of its diplomats²⁰ based in Pakistan. Foreign Office officials said the decision was based on a security review following the bomb attack on the Mariott Hotel in Islamabad last month which killed more than fifty people. About sixty children will be affected.

The world football governing body FIFA has warned Poland that it faces severe sanctions including exclusion²¹ from World Cup qualifying matches if a decision that suspends the management of its national Football Association is not reversed within days. The Polish government suspended the management earlier this week as part of an anti-corruption drive. But FIFA said that it could not accept political interference in the running of the game.

And that's the latest BBC News.

1 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

2 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

3 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

5 palatable   

adj.可口的，美味的；惬意的

参考例句：

• The truth is not always very palatable.事实真相并非尽如人意。
• This wine is palatable and not very expensive.这种酒味道不错，价钱也不算贵。

6 constituents   

n.选民( constituent的名词复数 )；成分；构成部分；要素

参考例句：

• She has the full support of her constituents. 她得到本区选民的全力支持。
• Hydrogen and oxygen are the constituents of water. 氢和氧是水的主要成分。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 remittances   

n.汇寄( remittance的名词复数 )；汇款，汇款额

参考例句：

• He sends regular remittances to his parents. 他定期汇款给他父母。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Remittances sometimes account for as much as 20% of GDP. 在这些国家中，此类汇款有时会占到GDP的20%之多。 来自互联网

8 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

9 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

10 banished   

v.放逐，驱逐( banish的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was banished to Australia, where he died five years later. 他被流放到澳大利亚，五年后在那里去世。
• He was banished to an uninhabited island for a year. 他被放逐到一个无人居住的荒岛一年。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 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。

12 deadlocked   

陷入僵局的；僵持不下的

参考例句：

• The plan deadlocked over the funds. 这个计划由于经费问题而搁浅了。
• The meeting deadlocked over the wage issue. 会议因工资问题而停顿下来。

13 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

14 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

15 smokers   

吸烟者( smoker的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Many smokers who are chemically addicted to nicotine cannot cut down easily. 许多有尼古丁瘾的抽烟人不容易把烟戒掉。
• Chain smokers don't care about the dangers of smoking. 烟鬼似乎不在乎吸烟带来的种种危害。

16 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。

17 mammoth   

n.长毛象；adj.长毛象似的，巨大的

参考例句：

• You can only undertake mammoth changes if the finances are there.资金到位的情况下方可进行重大变革。
• Building the new railroad will be a mammoth job.修建那条新铁路将是一项巨大工程。

18 ranch   

n.大牧场，大农场

参考例句：

• He went to work on a ranch.他去一个大农场干活。
• The ranch is in the middle of a large plateau.该牧场位于一个辽阔高原的中部。

19 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

20 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》

21 exclusion   

n.拒绝，排除，排斥，远足，远途旅行

参考例句：

• Don't revise a few topics to the exclusion of all others.不要修改少数论题以致排除所有其他的。
• He plays golf to the exclusion of all other sports.他专打高尔夫球，其他运动一概不参加。