英国新闻听力 03

BBC News with Nick Kelly.

The first and only televised debate between the two American vice¹ presidential candidates is due to take place shortly. The debate will pit the relatively² unknown Republican Sarah Palin against the political veteran, the Democrat³ Joe Biden who’s served six terms in the US Senate. Kevin Connolly reports.

The vice presidential debates don't usually generate much excitement among American voters, but Campaign 2008 is proving very different. Sarah Palin is probably the most-talked-about candidate for the office in American history. The woman who's lack of experience in national politics is slowly turning from an asset into a liability for her party. If she performs unconvincingly in the debate as she has in some recent television interviews, she could seriously damage Republican chances of retaining the White House. Her Democratic rival Joe Biden is vastly more experienced, but his reputation for long-windedness could prevent him from capitalizing on any [of] Sarah Palin's slips.

The Head of the Metropolitan⁴ Police in London, Ian Blair, is resigning. His decision follows months of criticism of his leadership and handling of key investigations⁵, such as the killing⁶ of a Brazilian man who was mistaken by police for a terrorist. Sir Ian, who is Britain's top police officer, said he was leaving because he no longer had the backing of the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson. Mr. Johnson said London's police force needed a new leader. "There comes a time in any organization when it becomes clear that it would benefit from new leadership and new clarity of purpose. I believe that time is now."

Canadian researchers say they've discovered a huge Chinese surveillance system that records and senses messages sent through the Internet telephone service Skype. The researchers say security lapses/ enabled them to view more than 150,000 messages filtered by the system, many of which contained politically sensitive words such as Tibet or Taiwan.

Police in the United States have confirmed that the wreckage⁷ of a light plane found in a remote area of eastern California belonged to the millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett, who disappeared a year ago. Rajesh Mirchandani reports.

He took off from a private ranch⁸ in the neighboring state of Nevada in September last year. He filed no flight plan. Despite searches over 50,000 square kilometers, no sign of him was found, and he was declared legally dead in February. The area where the wreckage has now been found, 85 kilometers from where he took off, was originally searched from the air, but with that altitude it might not have revealed a crash site. A ground search is now underway for the explorer's body.

More than 1,000 people in Mexico City have paid tribute to those who died when security forces opened fire on an unarmed students' demonstration⁹ 40 years ago. The incident took place weeks before the city hosted the 1968 Olympic Games and received widespread publicity¹⁰. Many details remain unclear.

World News from the BBC.

Share prices in New York have ended the day more than 3% down, following bad news on the United States economy. The US government said unemployment benefit claims had risen to the highest level for seven years, and orders received by American factories had fallen. The figures were published as the US House of Representatives considers President Bush's multi-billion-dollar rescue plan for America's financial sector¹¹. From Washington, here's Rachel Harvey.

Getting this huge bill through the Senate provided some respite¹² for the Bush administration and nervous markets. But the real test is to get it passed in a much more reluctant House. There is almost universal distaste of the prospect¹³ of using hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayers¹⁴' money, that is voters' money, to rescue the financial system. Conservative Republicans are ideologically¹⁵ opposed to such government intervention¹⁶. Some Democrats¹⁷ worry about what it will do to America's spiraling national debt.

The former commander of the Yugoslav national army, Momcilo Perisic, has gone on trial at The Hague on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Prosecutors¹⁸ say he was key player in the late Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic's plan to create a Greater Serbia by purging¹⁹ parts of Croatia and Bosnia of non-Serbs. Gen. Perisic has pleaded not guilty. He's accused of helping²⁰ to channel weapons to Bosnian Serb forces and of allowing his troops to use cluster bombs against civilians²¹ during an attack on the Croatian capital Zagreb in 1995.

And the German fee collection agency, GEZ, has issued an apology, after sending television license²² payment reminders²³ to the romantic poet, Friedrich Schiller, who died more than 200 years ago. The agency said the mistake was caused by the vast amount of data it holds. This wasn’t spotted²⁴ earlier because Schiller is a common surname. The reminders were delivered to a school bearing Schiller's name and kept arriving although its headmaster pointed²⁵ out that the addressee was no longer capable of enjoying television programs.

BBC News.

1 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

2 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

3 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

4 metropolitan   

adj.大城市的，大都会的

参考例句：

• Metropolitan buildings become taller than ever.大城市的建筑变得比以前更高。
• Metropolitan residents are used to fast rhythm.大都市的居民习惯于快节奏。

5 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

6 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

7 wreckage   

n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏

参考例句：

• They hauled him clear of the wreckage.他们把他从形骸中拖出来。
• New states were born out of the wreckage of old colonial empires.新生国家从老殖民帝国的废墟中诞生。

8 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。

9 demonstration   

n.表明，示范，论证，示威

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。

10 publicity   

n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告

参考例句：

• The singer star's marriage got a lot of publicity.这位歌星的婚事引起了公众的关注。
• He dismissed the event as just a publicity gimmick.他不理会这件事，只当它是一种宣传手法。

11 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。

12 respite   

n.休息，中止，暂缓

参考例句：

• She was interrogated without respite for twenty-four hours.她被不间断地审问了二十四小时。
• Devaluation would only give the economy a brief respite.贬值只能让经济得到暂时的缓解。

13 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

14 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。

15 ideologically   

adv. 意识形态上地，思想上地

参考例句：

• Ideologically, they have many differences. 在思想意识上，他们之间有许多不同之处。
• He has slipped back ideologically. 他思想退步了。

16 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

17 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》

18 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

19 purging   

清洗； 清除； 净化； 洗炉

参考例句：

• You learned the dry-mouthed, fear-purged, purging ecstasy of battle. 你体会到战斗中那种使人嘴巴发干的，战胜了恐惧并排除其他杂念的狂喜。
• Purging databases, configuring, and making other exceptional requests might fall into this category. 比如清空数据库、配置，以及其他特别的请求等都属于这个类别。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

20 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

21 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。

22 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。

23 reminders   

n.令人回忆起…的东西( reminder的名词复数 )；提醒…的东西；（告知该做某事的）通知单；提示信

参考例句：

• The film evokes chilling reminders of the war. 这部电影使人们回忆起战争的可怕场景。
• The strike has delayed the mailing of tax reminders. 罢工耽搁了催税单的投寄。

24 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。

25 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。