英国新闻听力 29

BBC News with Charles Caro.

The President-elect of the United States Barack Obama has said that he will confront the economic crisis head-on when he takes office in January. He said a stimulus¹ package to boost the economy was long overdue² and would be his first priority. From Chicago, Jamie Coomarasamy reports.

On another day of sobering economic news, the president-elect struck a somber³ tone as he sought to reassure⁴ the public he was focused firmly on the economy. Flanked by an economic team which includes heavy weights from the worlds of business and finance, Barack Obama's first appearance since being elected was short on detail although he made it clear that passing a new economic stimulus package would be his priority. And he was careful not to step on President Bush's toes, twice repeating that the country only had one president at a time. As for his cabinet appointment, he said he would be making them with what he called deliberate haste.

A school with hundreds of children inside has collapsed⁵ on the outskirts⁶ of Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince. At least 30 people are reported to have been killed, many more have been injured. The charity, Medecins Sans Frontieres, says that it's pulled out more than 80 people, many with life-threatening injuries. Children and teachers are still trapped in the rubble⁷. A BBC journalist in Haiti Joseph Guyla Delva had described the rescue operation.

As of now, about 30 people have been killed and I’ve seen people still under the debris⁸, calling for help, like a boy asking for the firefighters to cut his legs so that he could get out of, from down there. So it is a very sad situation, and, and a lot of parents are trying to rush to [the] place, to try to see whether their loved ones have been killed or still alive. So, soldiers are trying to do their best to try to cope with that situation right now.

The authorities on the Cayman Islands have ordered the evacuation of all low-lying areas ahead of the imminent⁹ arrival of Hurricane Paloma. US forecasters say the storm has now become a major Category-3 hurricane. It's later expected to make landfall in Cuba which has already been hit by four other storms this hurricane season.

A summit in Kenya on the crisis in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has been dismissed as of little use by a spokesman for the Congolese rebel group led by Laurent Nkunda. The spokesman insisted the crisis would be settled only by direct talks with the government, a demand that has been rejected. At the Nairobi meeting, African leaders said that they would send troops to eastern Congo if necessary to enforce peace. They also urged all sides to allow humanitarian¹⁰ corridors to be set up as soon as possible.

An international health agency in Zimbabwe's Central Bank has returned more than seven million dollars in aid money which it'd confiscated¹¹ last year. The Global Fund for AIDS said that Zimbabwe had also agreed that it could now use foreign currency in all its transactions in Zimbabwe.

World News from the BBC.

China's state news agency says that thousands of people have attacked police in the southern city of Shenzhen on the border with Hong Kong. The agency said that the crowd were protesting about the death of a motorcyclist. Police has set up a checkpoint to catch illegal motorists and when the motorcyclist didn't stop, the police threw his radio at the man, making him crash, and one police car was set on fire in the protest.

New Zealanders are voting in the general election that could end nearly a decade of government under the Labor¹² leader Helen Clark. Mrs. Clark, who's had three terms as prime minister, has presided over strong economic growth. However, this year, New Zealand has been hit by recession. And polls suggest that the centre-right National Party could make significant gains.

The UN General Assembly has voted to end smoking at UN headquarters in New York in line with the ban on smoking in public places throughout the rest of the city. It's now up to the Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to actually enforce the measure, which, as our UN correspondent Laura Trevelyan reports, may not be easy.

Welcome to the Barney's café in the basement of the United Nations, haunt of smoking diplomats¹³. Because the United Nations is international territory, New York City's ban on smoking in public places has never applied¹⁴ here. But now this safe haven¹⁵ for smokers¹⁶ is threatened. The UN General Assembly has voted to ban smoking at UN headquarters, and ban the sale of cigarettes, and that could be tricky¹⁷. Diplomats from all 192 countries at the UN love to come here and puff¹⁸ away.

A suspected member of the Mafia who went into a clinic in Italy for liposuction surgery has ended up losing more than his excess weight. Domenico Magnoli also lost his freedom, because when he recovered consciousness, he was greeted by nurses and visitors bearing flowers who were, in fact, police officers in disguise. A Police spokesman said we performed a little operation of our own.

BBC News.

1 stimulus   

n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物

参考例句：

• Regard each failure as a stimulus to further efforts.把每次失利看成对进一步努力的激励。
• Light is a stimulus to growth in plants.光是促进植物生长的一个因素。

2 overdue   

adj.过期的，到期未付的；早该有的，迟到的

参考例句：

• The plane is overdue and has been delayed by the bad weather.飞机晚点了，被坏天气耽搁了。
• The landlady is angry because the rent is overdue.女房东生气了，因为房租过期未付。

3 somber   

adj.昏暗的，阴天的，阴森的，忧郁的

参考例句：

• He had a somber expression on his face.他面容忧郁。
• His coat was a somber brown.他的衣服是暗棕色的。

4 reassure   

v.使放心，使消除疑虑

参考例句：

• This seemed to reassure him and he continued more confidently.这似乎使他放心一点，于是他更有信心地继续说了下去。
• The airline tried to reassure the customers that the planes were safe.航空公司尽力让乘客相信飞机是安全的。

5 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。

6 outskirts   

n.郊外，郊区

参考例句：

• Our car broke down on the outskirts of the city.我们的汽车在市郊出了故障。
• They mostly live on the outskirts of a town.他们大多住在近郊。

7 rubble   

n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾

参考例句：

• After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
• After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。

8 debris   

n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片

参考例句：

• After the bombing there was a lot of debris everywhere.轰炸之后到处瓦砾成堆。
• Bacteria sticks to food debris in the teeth,causing decay.细菌附着在牙缝中的食物残渣上，导致蛀牙。

9 imminent   

adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的

参考例句：

• The black clounds show that a storm is imminent.乌云预示暴风雨即将来临。
• The country is in imminent danger.国难当头。

10 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。

11 confiscated   

没收，充公( confiscate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Their land was confiscated after the war. 他们的土地在战后被没收。
• The customs officer confiscated the smuggled goods. 海关官员没收了走私品。

12 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。

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 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

15 haven   

n.安全的地方，避难所，庇护所

参考例句：

• It's a real haven at the end of a busy working day.忙碌了一整天后，这真是一个安乐窝。
• The school library is a little haven of peace and quiet.学校的图书馆是一个和平且安静的小避风港。

16 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。

17 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

18 puff   

n.一口(气)；一阵(风)；v.喷气，喘气

参考例句：

• He took a puff at his cigarette.他吸了一口香烟。
• They tried their best to puff the book they published.他们尽力吹捧他们出版的书。