英国新闻听力 116

After prolonged negotiations¹ and political wrangling², President Barack Obama has signed into law an economic stimulus³ package worth almost 800 billion dollars. He said the packag aimed to keep the American dream alive, but was only the start of a long hard road to set the economy on firmer foundations. Mr. Obama emphasized that the measures would benefit the environment, employment, health, education and infrastructure⁴.

"Just as President Kennedy sparked an explosion of innovation when he set America’s sights on the moon, I hope this investment will ignite our imagination once more, spurring new discoveries and breakthroughs in science, in medicine, in energy, to make our economy stronger and our nation more secure, and our planet safer for our children."

Some news just in. A White House spokesman has said that President Barack Obama has approved a 17,000 troop increase for Afghanistan. In a statement, President Obama said the increase was necessary to stabilize⁵ a deteriorating⁶ situation in Afghanistan. He said the country had not received the resources it needed.

Federal regulators in the United States have charged the financier and cricket impresario⁷, Allen Stanford, with what they described as massive fraud. A spokesman for the Securities and Exchange Commission said the fraud was of shocking magnitude and that has spread around the world. From New York, Greg Wood reports.

Although better known for his involvement in cricket, Sir Allen Stanford’s wealth is based on the investment empire he runs. Today the US financial watchdog, the Securities and Exchange Commission, charged Sir Allen and two other people with orchestrating a fraudulent multibillion-dollar investment program. Federal agencies were seen entering his company's offices in Huston, Texas. The SEC alleges⁸ that Stanford subsidiary company in Antigua sold eight billion dollars worth of so-called certificates of deposit to investors⁹ by promising¹⁰ them improbable and unsubstantiated high interest rates.

The United Nations in Gaza has issued an urgent appeal for the return of thousands of kilograms of explosives that have disappeared from a warehouse¹¹ guarded by Hamas. The bombs and shells were dropped by Israel during its recent offensive but failed to explode. Tim Franks reports from Jerusalem.

The UN experts have been liaising with Hamas authorities in Gaza to arrange for the safe disposal of the munitions¹². The UN staff had also been waiting for the Israeli army to allow them to bring into Gaza the specialist equipment needed for them to destroy the explosives. But two days ago, when UN officials returned to the warehouse, they found that most of the explosives had gone missing. An Israeli army spokesman told the BBC that the bombs had been commandeered by Hamas militants¹³. A UN official said that its staff were urgently trying to establish where the explosives had gone and have called for their safe return.

World News from the BBC.

The Movement for Democratic Change in Zimbabwe has said that criminal charges against one of its senior members are malicious¹⁴ and politically motivated. The charges against Roy Bennett, who was chosen to be a deputy minister in the new unity¹⁵ government with Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF, ranged from plotting terrorism to weapons and immigration offences. The charges were brought as the unity government held its first cabinet meeting.

The founder¹⁶ of the US cable television channel aimed at countering Muslim stereotypes¹⁷ has been charged with murdering his wife. Muzzammil Hassan went to police near the offices of Bridges TV in New York State on Thursday, and told them his wife was dead. Andy Gallagher reports from Washington.

Police found Aasiya Hassan’s body at the television station. She’d been beheaded. Officers say she placed a protection order against her husband and had recently filed for a divorce. In a statement on its website, the station said it was shocked and saddened by the murder and Mr. Hassan's subsequent arrest. He is due to appear in court on Wednesday. The couple had two children, aged¹⁸ four and six.

Chinese officials say that AIDS was the country’s leading cause of death from infectious diseases last year. A report by China’s Ministry¹⁹ of Health ranked AIDS above tuberculosis²⁰ and rabies for the first time, saying it had killed almost 7,000 people in the first nine months of 2008. The ministry said the total number of cases of HIV in China was now more than 260,000, almost double the figure published three years ago.

The Jazz musician, Louie Bellson, described by Duke Ellington as the world’s greatest drummer, has died in Los Angeles at the age of 84. Mr. Bellson was a big band drummer in the 40s and 50s, who performed with Benny Goodman, Count Basie and Duke Ellington among others. He was also a prolific²¹ small group player, recording²² with Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, and James Brown as well as a composer and arranger.

经过长时间的协商和政治争论，奥巴马总统终于签署了一项约8000亿美元的经济刺激方案为法律，他说该方案将再造美国梦，但是这只是建造坚强的经济这条漫长而艰难道路的开始，奥巴马强调，这些措施将使环境、就业、健康、教育和基础设计各领域受惠。

“就像肯尼迪总统提出爆炸性的登月计划，我想这项投入将更加激发我们的想象，在科学、医药、能源领域激发新的发现和突破，让我们的经济更加强大，国家更加安全，让我们的后代在这个星球上更安全地生活。”

据白宫发言人透露的消息，奥巴马总统已经批准增加17，000名士兵派往阿富汗，在一份声明中，奥巴马总统说这是为了维护正在恶化状态的阿富汗的稳定，这个国家还不曾得到它所需要的资源。

联邦当局指控美国金融家和板球投资者Allen Stanford犯下大量欺诈罪，证券交易委员会的发言人说其罪行已遍及全世界。

尽管Stanford更因投资于板球而著名，但他的主要财富却来自他的金融集团，今天美国金融监督部门，即证券投资委员会(SEC)指控Stanford和另外两人进行高达数十亿美元的诈骗投资。联邦调查机构前往他在德克萨斯州休斯顿的公司进行搜查。SEC指控Stanford在Antigua的分公司出售价值80亿美元的所谓“高收益信用证”。

联合国驻加沙机构呼吁归还成千上万公斤的爆炸物，这些爆炸物是从哈马斯的一个兵火库消失的。以色列在最近的进攻中扔出这些炸弹和弹片，但当时没有爆炸。

联合国专家已与哈马斯驻加沙的当局联系上，以为安全处理这些弹药做准备。联合国工作人员在等待以色列军队将弹药带到加沙，并用专业设备毁掉。但是两天前，当联合国官员返回兵火库时，他们发现大部分弹药已经消失。一位以色列官员告诉BBC记者，这些弹药已被哈马斯军队带走，一位联合国官员说，他们的工作人员正在试图寻找这些弹药，并将其安全运回。

津巴布韦民主改革运动组织声称，一起对其高级成员的犯罪起诉是恶意的和有政治目的的。这起起诉针对的是Roy Bennett，他在穆加贝的新联合政府中被当选为副部长，罪名被罗列为阴谋恐怖活动、武装和移民犯罪等。该指控在联合政府的首次内阁会议上被提出。

美国一家针对穆斯林的有线电视创始人被指控杀妻，Muzzammil Hassan周四来到纽约桥梁电视台附近的警察局，告诉警察他的妻子死了。

警察在该电视台发现了Aasiya Hassan的尸体，她被斩首了。官方说她曾就丈夫的家庭暴力请求援助，最近还申请了离婚。该电视台的网站声明这一消息很令人震惊，并为该谋杀案及Hassan先生的被捕感到悲伤，他将于周三出庭。这对夫妇有两个孩子，分别为4岁和6岁。

中国官方声称艾滋病是导致该国去年感染性疾病死亡的主要原因，一份来自中国卫生部的报告首次将艾滋病列于肺结核和狂犬病之前，声称在2008年的前九个月有约七千人死于艾滋病。卫生部部长说中国目前死于艾滋病病毒的案例超过了260，000人，几乎是三年前公布的数字的两倍。

爵士音乐家路易.贝尔森去世，享年84岁，他被爱灵顿称为是世界上最好的鼓手。贝尔森先生是上世纪四五十年代一位杰出的鼓手，他和Benny Goodman, Count Basie及Duke Ellington都合作过。他也是一位多产的演出者、作曲家和编曲家。

1 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

2 wrangling   

v.争吵，争论，口角( wrangle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The two sides have spent most of their time wrangling over procedural problems. 双方大部分时间都在围绕程序问题争论不休。 来自辞典例句
• The children were wrangling (with each other) over the new toy. 孩子为新玩具（互相）争吵。 来自辞典例句

3 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。

4 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

5 stabilize   

vt.（使）稳定，使稳固，使稳定平衡；vi.稳定

参考例句：

• They are eager to stabilize currencies.他们急于稳定货币。
• His blood pressure tended to stabilize.他的血压趋向稳定。

6 deteriorating   

恶化，变坏( deteriorate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The weather conditions are deteriorating. 天气变得越来越糟。
• I was well aware of the bad morale and the deteriorating factories. 我很清楚，大家情绪低落，各个工厂越搞越坏。

7 impresario   

n.歌剧团的经理人；乐团指挥

参考例句：

• The impresario will present an expanded series of concerts next season.下个季节将举办一次大型的系列音乐会。
• The impresario had buttoned his astrakhan coat.乐团经理扣好了羔皮外套。

8 alleges   

断言，宣称，辩解( allege的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The newspaper article alleges that the mayor is corrupt. 报纸上断言该市长腐败。
• Steven was tardy this morning and alleges that his bus was late. 史提芬今天早上迟到的说词是公车误点了。

9 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

10 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

11 warehouse   

n.仓库；vt.存入仓库

参考例句：

• We freighted the goods to the warehouse by truck.我们用卡车把货物运到仓库。
• The manager wants to clear off the old stocks in the warehouse.经理想把仓库里积压的存货处理掉。

12 munitions   

n.军火，弹药；v.供应…军需品

参考例句：

• The army used precision-guided munitions to blow up enemy targets.军队用精确瞄准的枪炮炸掉敌方目标。
• He rose [made a career for himself] by dealing in munitions.他是靠贩卖军火发迹的。

13 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

14 malicious   

adj.有恶意的，心怀恶意的

参考例句：

• You ought to kick back at such malicious slander. 你应当反击这种恶毒的污蔑。
• Their talk was slightly malicious.他们的谈话有点儿心怀不轨。

15 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

16 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

17 stereotypes   

n.老套，模式化的见解，有老一套固定想法的人( stereotype的名词复数 )v.把…模式化，使成陈规( stereotype的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Such jokes tend to reinforce racial stereotypes. 这样的笑话容易渲染种族偏见。
• It makes me sick to read over such stereotypes devoid of content. 这种空洞无物的八股调，我看了就讨厌。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

18 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

19 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。

20 tuberculosis   

n.结核病，肺结核

参考例句：

• People used to go to special health spring to recover from tuberculosis.人们常去温泉疗养胜地治疗肺结核。
• Tuberculosis is a curable disease.肺结核是一种可治愈的病。

21 prolific   

adj.丰富的，大量的；多产的，富有创造力的

参考例句：

• She is a prolific writer of novels and short stories.她是一位多产的作家，写了很多小说和短篇故事。
• The last few pages of the document are prolific of mistakes.这个文件的最后几页错误很多。

22 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。