英国新闻听力 卡尔扎伊命令四月底之前进行总统选举

The Afghan President Hamid Karzai has ordered the holding of presidential elections by the end of April despite concerns from the country’s Independent Election Commission over security and logistics. In January the commission delayed the vote to August in a move which was backed by the United States. Ian Pannell reports.

The presidential decree calls for the election to be held according to Article 61 of the constitution that clearly states that the vote can be held no later than April the 21st. But last month, the Independent Election Commission pushed that date back until late August fighting security and logistical problems. Hamid Karzai has been under considerable pressure over the delay accused of trying to extend his rule in breach¹ of the constitution. This announcement seems to be a calculated response to that.

The Pakistani Army says its six-month offensive against Taliban militants² in an area bordering Afghanistan has been successful. Major General Tariq Khan told journalists on a military trip to the Bajaur tribal³ region that security forces had broken the resistance of Taliban groups operating there. The regional authorities say that 1500 militants and nearly 100 Pakistani troops were killed in the offensive. America sees Pakistan’s semi-autonomous tribal areas as a safe haven⁴ for insurgents⁵.

The President of Venezuela Hugo Chavez has ordered the army to take control of all rice processing plants in the country in a controversy⁶ over prices. Mr. Chavez did not say whether the government intervention⁷ would be temporary or an initial step towards nationalization. Will Grand reports.

President Chavez ordered the military intervention during a live address to the nation. He said the measure was necessary as the processing companies were refusing to produce rice at the government controlled prices. If they try to stop production he said, I’ll expropriate them and pay nothing. The situation with basic foodstuffs⁸ in Venezuela is becoming ever more complicated. The government provides basic food for the poor in state-run markets called ‘mercales’. But many producers of rice, wheat and meat complain that the price regulations leave them without a profit and that many are facing bankruptcy⁹.

The President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe has told his supporters to accept the new power sharing government and not complain too much. Mr. Mugabe was speaking at a rally to celebrate his 85th birthday. He also said he’d continue seizing land from white farmers. The BBC is banned from Zimbabwe so Peter Biles sent this report from Johannesburg.

There’re around 400 white farmers remaining in Zimbabwe and over the past month there has been a first spate¹⁰ of so called farm invasions about 150 of those 400 farms have had their operations disrupted and some of the farmers have been evicted¹¹. And today, at his birthday celebrations in Chinhoyi, Mr. Mugabe said there is no going back on land reform, farms will not be returned to former white farmers, land distribution or land redistribution will continue; it will not stop.

The European Commission says it’s satisfied with guarantees by France that a new state loan plan to its car-making industry does not amount to protectionism. The commission said that France had spelled out the details of the plan to show that it did not contravene¹² the principles of the internal market.

The Indian government says it’s gravely concerned about the safety of civilians¹³ caught up in the fighting in Sri Lanka. Analysts¹⁴ in Colombo say the conflict is causing concern in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the home to millions of Tamils which has been putting pressure on Delhi to intervene. Anbarasan Ethirajan sent this report.

In his statement, the Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said, Delhi viewed with the grave concern the humanitarian¹⁵ crisis that was building up with every passing day in Sri Lanka and that many innocent lives had been lost in the conflict zone. He said the pause in hostilities¹⁶ must be used to evacuate¹⁷ Tamil civilians out of the war-affected areas to secure locations where proper rehabilitation¹⁸ was possible.

The Vatican says that the number of priests around the world is slowly but steadily¹⁹ rising. In its yearbook of statistics presented to Pope Benedict today, the Holy See says the number of priests has gone up by several hundred each year since 2000 after two decades of decline. The percentage of Roman Catholics around the world remains²⁰ stable at just over 1.1 billion.

Officials who oversee²¹ the laws of international football have agreed to an experimental rule change next season that would allow an extra assistant referee²² behind each goal. The experiment will take place in one of Europe’s top leagues yet to be decided²³. The officials have rejected other proposed changes to the rules including the idea of allowing a fourth substitute if a match goes into extra time and making a player cautioned for foul²⁴ play leave the field for a period as punishment.

阿富汗总统哈米德.卡尔扎伊不顾国家独立选举委员会对安全和后勤的担忧，毅然命令四月底之前举行总统选举。一月份由于一场由美国支持的运动的阻碍，委员会将选举推迟至八月。

宪法第61条明确规定选举应不迟于4月21日，总统要求进行选举的命令就是依此款而作出的。但是上个月，由于安全和后勤问题，独立选举委员会将日期推至八月底，哈米德.卡尔扎伊因此而备受压力，他被指控企图违背宪法以延长在位时间。哈米德的这一声明似乎是对该指控的有意反应。

巴基斯坦军方声称其在阿富汗边境为期6个月的对抗塔利班武装分子的战斗取得了胜利，少将塔里克.可汗在去巴焦尔部落的军事迁移中告诉记者说，安全部队已经击败了驻扎在那里的塔利班组织的反抗。地方当局声称，在此次攻击中有1500名武装分子和约100名巴基斯坦军人死亡。在美国看来，巴基斯坦半自治部落地区是叛乱分子的避风港。

委内瑞拉总统查韦斯命令军队接管全国大米加工厂以抑制米价上涨，查韦斯并没有表示政府的干预是暂时的还是实现国有化的第一步。

查韦斯总统在一个面对全国的现场发言中提出了军事干预，他说由于加工厂拒绝按政府要求的价格销售大米，这一措施的采取是必要的。他说，如果这些加工厂试图停止生产，他将无偿没收。委内瑞拉的基本粮食供应情况越来越复杂，政府在被称为“mercales”的国有市场上为穷人提供基本的粮食，但是许多大米、小麦和肉食供应商抱怨价格控制会使他们无利可图而面临破产。

津巴布韦总统穆加贝告诉他的支持者接受新政权、共同管理政府，而不是一直抱怨。穆加贝是在他的85岁生日的集会上做出讲话的，同时他说，他将继续从白人农场主手中夺得土地，津巴布韦不允许BBC对此进行报道，记者Peter Biles是从约翰内斯堡发回报道的。

津巴布韦还有约400名农场主，在过去的一个月里约有150家农场的生产被破坏，一些农场主被驱逐。今天在奇诺伊市举行的生日庆典上，穆加贝声称土地改革不会反悔，不会将农场返还给农场主，土地分配或者说土地再分配将继续进行、不会停止。

法国保证该国一项针对汽车制造商的新的国有贷款方案不会导致贸易保护主义，欧洲委员会对此表示满意。欧洲委员会声称该方案的细节解释得很清楚，以证明并没有违背国内市场的原则。

印度政府声称非常担心在斯里兰卡被抓的平民的安全，科伦坡的分析家声称这一冲突引起了人们对印度Tamil Nadu州的担心，该州是几百万坦米尔人的家乡，已对德里施加压力要求其进行干预。

印度外事部长Pranab Mukherjee在一份声明中表示，德里非常关心并考察了这一发生在斯里兰卡的日益严重的人道主义危机，在冲突地区已有许多无辜的生命死亡。他说必须摒弃敌意并将坦米尔平民撤出战争地区，迁至可以进行适当的恢复的安全地区。

梵蒂冈声称全球教士的数量增长缓慢但仍保持平稳上升，在今天向罗马教皇Benedict提交的统计年鉴中，罗马教廷声称教士数量在下降了20年以后，自2000年以来每年增长数百人。全球罗马天主教徒稳定保持在11亿多。

监督国际足球法的官员就一项实验性法规变动达成一致，该法规将于下季实施，它规定允许在每个球门后安排一位额外的边线裁判员。该实验将在欧洲一流的社团之一试用以决定是否可行。官方否决了被提出的其他变动，比如加时赛期间可以允许有第四位候补队员，以及提醒队员如果严重犯规，将被罚离开赛场一段时间。

1 breach   

n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破

参考例句：

• We won't have any breach of discipline.我们不允许任何破坏纪律的现象。
• He was sued for breach of contract.他因不履行合同而被起诉。

2 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。

3 tribal   

adj.部族的，种族的

参考例句：

• He became skilled in several tribal lingoes.他精通几种部族的语言。
• The country was torn apart by fierce tribal hostilities.那个国家被部落间的激烈冲突弄得四分五裂。

4 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。

5 insurgents   

n.起义，暴动，造反( insurgent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The regular troops of Baden joined the insurgents. 巴登的正规军参加到起义军方面来了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Against the Taliban and Iraqi insurgents, these problems are manageable. 要对付塔利班与伊拉克叛乱分子，这些问题还是可以把握住的。 来自互联网

6 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

7 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。

8 foodstuffs   

食物，食品( foodstuff的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Imports of foodstuffs accounted for a small proportion of total imports. 食物进口仅占总进口额的一小部份。
• Many basic foodstuffs, such as bread and milk, are tax-free. 许多基本食物如牛奶和面包是免税的。

9 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。

10 spate   

n.泛滥，洪水，突然的一阵

参考例句：

• Police are investigating a spate of burglaries in the area.警察正在调查这一地区发生的大量盗窃案。
• Refugees crossed the border in full spate.难民大量地越过了边境。

11 evicted   

v.（依法从房屋里或土地上）驱逐，赶出( evict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• A number of tenants have been evicted for not paying the rent. 许多房客因不付房租被赶了出来。
• They had evicted their tenants for non-payment of rent. 他们赶走了未交房租的房客。

12 contravene   

v.违反，违背，反驳，反对

参考例句：

• The moves contravene the peace plan agreed by both sides.这些举措违反了双方同意的和平方案。
• He said the article did not contravene the industry's code of conduct.他说这一条款并未违反行业的行为准则。

13 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。

14 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。

15 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。

16 hostilities   

n.战争；敌意(hostility的复数)；敌对状态；战事

参考例句：

• Mexico called for an immediate cessation of hostilities. 墨西哥要求立即停止敌对行动。
• All the old hostilities resurfaced when they met again. 他们再次碰面时，过去的种种敌意又都冒了出来。

17 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。

18 rehabilitation   

n.康复，悔过自新，修复，复兴，复职，复位

参考例句：

• He's booked himself into a rehabilitation clinic.他自己联系了一家康复诊所。
• No one can really make me rehabilitation of injuries.已经没有人可以真正令我的伤康复了。

19 steadily   

adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地

参考例句：

• The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
• Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。

20 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。

21 oversee   

vt.监督，管理

参考例句：

• Soldiers oversee the food handouts.士兵们看管着救济食品。
• Use a surveyor or architect to oversee and inspect the different stages of the work.请一位房产检视员或建筑师来监督并检查不同阶段的工作。

22 referee   

n.裁判员．仲裁人，代表人，鉴定人

参考例句：

• The team was left raging at the referee's decision.队员们对裁判员的裁决感到非常气愤。
• The referee blew a whistle at the end of the game.裁判在比赛结束时吹响了哨子。

23 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。

24 foul   

adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规

参考例句：

• Take off those foul clothes and let me wash them.脱下那些脏衣服让我洗一洗。
• What a foul day it is!多么恶劣的天气！