英语听力精选进阶版 7368

A United States presidential commission investigating last year's catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf¹ of Mexico has recommended a series of wide-ranging reforms. In its final report, the commission calls for the creation of an independent safety agency, tougher government regulation, and more money and training for federal agencies. From Washington, here's Paul Adams.

负责调查去年墨西哥湾灾难性的漏油事故的美国总统委员会建议进行一系列广泛的改革。在最终报告中，该委员会呼吁成立独立的安全机构，进行更加严格的政府调控，对联邦机构投入更多资金，进行更多训练。华盛顿，Paul Adams报道。

The report urges adoption² of a safety case approach similar to that used in Europe's North Sea since the British Piper Alpha disaster in 1988. This requires that companies conduct a thorough evaluation³ of all risks associated with drilling a particular well before work begins. In a strongly-worded statement, one of the commission's co-chairs, William Reilly, said last year's accident was the almost inevitable⁴ result of years of industry and government complacency and carelessness.

该报告敦促采取类似于1998年英国帕玻尔·阿尔法(Piper Alpha)灾难后欧洲北海采取的安全方法。这要求所有公司在工作开始之前彻底评估与特定的油井开采有关的所有风险。在言辞强烈的声明中，该委员会联合主席William Reilly表示，去年的灾难几乎是石油行业和政府自满疏忽的必然结果。

The head of the American negotiating team on Sudan has hinted at the possibility of the normalisation of relations between Sudan and the US. US ambassador Princeton Lyman told the BBC Arabic Service that to achieve this, the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir would need to recognise the eventual⁵ outcome of the referendum on possible independence for the south which is currently taking place.

美国赴苏丹谈判小组负责人暗示了苏丹和美国关系正常化的可能性。美国大使普林斯顿·利曼(Princeton Lyman)告诉BBC阿拉伯服务，为了达到这一目标，苏丹总统巴希尔将必须认可南苏丹目前正在举行的独立公投的最终结果。

"If the referendum is effective and the results are recognised by the government of Sudan, the president would indicate his intention to start the process for removing Sudan from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. And then it takes several months to complete that process and consultations⁶ with Congress."

“如果公投有效，投票结果也得到苏丹政府的认可，总统将表示从恐怖主义发源国名单中清除苏丹的过程。完成该过程以及与国会磋商可能要需要几个月的时间。”

Following another day of violence in Tunisia, the communications minister has told a news conference that the number of dead has reached 21 since the weekend. But local residents say the number is much higher.

突尼斯又一天的暴力过后，通讯部长告诉新闻发布会，自周末以来的死亡人数已经达到21人。但是当地居民称实际数字要高的多。

Thousands more Australians have been forced to leave their homes around the Queensland capital Brisbane as the state's worst floodwaters for 50 years continue to rise. Further upstream, the town of Toowoomba was hit on Tuesday night by what was described as a terrifying "inland tsunami⁷" raging through the streets. Ten people were killed, and almost 80 are said to be missing.

在澳大利亚昆士兰州首府布里斯班，由于该州50年来最严重的洪水袭击，又有数千人被迫背井离乡。在上游，Toowoomba镇周二晚上被街道上涌起的恐怖的“内陆海啸”袭击。据称共有10人死亡，大约80人失踪。

Egypt has recalled its ambassador to the Vatican. The move comes a day after Pope Benedict's strongly-worded appeal to the governments of predominantly Muslim countries to do more to protect their Christian⁸ minorities. Here's David Willey.

埃及召回驻梵蒂冈大使。此举发生在教皇本笃言辞激烈地要求穆斯林主宰的埃及政府采取更多措施保护基督教少数派。David Willey报道。

Egypt has accused the Pope of meddling⁹ in its internal affairs. The Egyptians insist that they are capable of protecting all their citizens and blame foreign elements for the New Year's Day suicide bomb that killed more than 20 worshippers and policemen at a Coptic church in Alexandria, and left dozens more injured. There was no immediate¹⁰ comment from the Holy See, but off the record, the Pope's advisers¹¹ admit that they were expecting this type of reaction from the Muslim world.

埃及指控教皇干涉其国内事务。埃及人坚持称他们有能力保护所有公民，并指责外国势力发动了新年当天的自杀式爆炸袭击。袭击造成20多名礼拜者和警察在亚历山大的天主教堂遇难，此外还有几十人受伤。天主教教廷没有立即发表评论，但是教皇的顾问已经非正式地承认，他们认为穆斯林世界将会做出同样的反应。

World News from the BBC

Doctors treating the American congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords say she's breathing on her own. However, they say she remains¹² critically ill. Ms Giffords was shot in the head in Tucson, Arizona on Saturday in an attack in which six people were killed, including a nine-year-old girl. President Obama is expected to travel to Tucson on Wednesday for a memorial service.

为国会女众议员吉佛兹(Gabrielle Giffords)提供治疗的医生表示她现在已经可以自行呼吸。然而，他们说，她的情况依然非常危险。吉佛兹于周六在亚利桑那州的图桑头部中枪，6人在袭击中遇难，包括一名9岁的女孩。预期奥巴马总统周三将前往图桑参加追悼会。

German investigators¹³ looking into the contamination of animal feed with dioxin say it's now been found in pork. The chemical had already been detected in eggs and poultry¹⁴. Several hundred pigs at a farm in northern Germany were slaughtered¹⁵ after levels of dioxin were found to be 50% above permitted levels. From Berlin, here's Tristana Moore.

对动物饲料二恶英污染事件进行调查的德国调查人员表示，现在已经在猪肉中发现了二恶英。这种化学物质已经在蛋类和禽类中检查到。德国北部一家农场发现二恶英的含量超过允许水平的50%以后宰杀了几百头猪。柏林，Tristana Moore报道。

The farm used contaminated animal feed that has been traced back to a company in northern Germany which distributes oil for use in animal feed production. Government officials say polluted fats may have been used in making up to 150,000 tonnes of animal feed, which ended up in hundreds of farms all over Germany. While government experts insist the dioxin levels are not dangerous, consumer groups accuse the authorities of playing down the risk to human health and are calling for tougher regulations to be imposed on the animal feed industry.

这个农场使用了污染了的动物饲料，归根结底是由于德国北部一家公司，该公司提供生产饲料所需的油。政府官员表示，在制造150,000吨动物饲料的过程中可能使用了污染了的脂肪，这些饲料销往德国各地数百个农场。而政府专家坚持称，二恶英的含量还没有达到危险水平，消费者权益保护组织指控当局故意淡化二恶英对人类健康的危害，要求对动物饲料行业进行更加严格的监管。

The online social networking site MySpace is to cut nearly half its global workforce¹⁶. Around 500 jobs will go in the company, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. MySpace has been eclipsed in popularity by Facebook, but its founder¹⁷ Mark Zuckerberg is also facing problems. A court in San Francisco is hearing a fresh claim by two brothers, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, who say they invented Facebook.

社交网络MySpace决定将全球的工作人员裁减一半。该公司将减少500个工作岗位。该网站归Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation所有。MySpace的受欢迎程度已经不如Facebook，但是Facebook的创始人Mark Zuckerberg也面临着一些问题。旧金山一家法庭接到新的指控，Cameron和Tyler Winklevoss两兄弟声称Facebook是由他们发明的。

European astronomers¹⁸ have given a jubilant account of what they say are stunning¹⁹ discoveries made by the Planck space telescope. In its quest to search for more clues to the origin of the Universe, it's identified 15,000 new objects, among them clusters of galaxies²⁰ that are some of the largest structures ever seen in the cosmos²¹.

欧洲天文学家称，普朗克天文望远镜做出了惊人的发现，他们对此欢呼庆祝。在探寻宇宙起源的更多线索的过程中，该望远镜发现了15,000多种新的物体，其中包括许多星系，这是目前为止在宇宙中发现的最大的结构。

1 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

2 adoption   

n.采用，采纳，通过；收养

参考例句：

• An adoption agency had sent the boys to two different families.一个收养机构把他们送给两个不同的家庭。
• The adoption of this policy would relieve them of a tremendous burden.采取这一政策会给他们解除一个巨大的负担。

3 evaluation   

n.估价，评价；赋值

参考例句：

• I attempted an honest evaluation of my own life.我试图如实地评价我自己的一生。
• The new scheme is still under evaluation.新方案还在评估阶段。

4 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

5 eventual   

adj.最后的，结局的，最终的

参考例句：

• Several schools face eventual closure.几所学校面临最终关闭。
• Both parties expressed optimism about an eventual solution.双方对问题的最终解决都表示乐观。

6 consultations   

n.磋商（会议）( consultation的名词复数 )；商讨会；协商会；查找

参考例句：

• Consultations can be arranged at other times by appointment. 磋商可以通过预约安排在其他时间。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Consultations are under way. 正在进行磋商。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。

8 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

9 meddling   

v.干涉，干预（他人事务）( meddle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He denounced all "meddling" attempts to promote a negotiation. 他斥责了一切“干预”促成谈判的企图。 来自辞典例句
• They liked this field because it was never visited by meddling strangers. 她们喜欢这块田野，因为好事的陌生人从来不到那里去。 来自辞典例句

10 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

11 advisers   

顾问，劝告者( adviser的名词复数 )； （指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• a member of the President's favoured circle of advisers 总统宠爱的顾问班子中的一员
• She withdrew to confer with her advisers before announcing a decision. 她先去请教顾问然后再宣布决定。

12 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。

13 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 poultry   

n.家禽，禽肉

参考例句：

• There is not much poultry in the shops. 商店里禽肉不太多。
• What do you feed the poultry on? 你们用什么饲料喂养家禽?

15 slaughtered   

v.屠杀，杀戮，屠宰( slaughter的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The invading army slaughtered a lot of people. 侵略军杀了许多人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Hundreds of innocent civilians were cruelly slaughtered. 数百名无辜平民遭残杀。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

17 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。

18 astronomers   

n.天文学者，天文学家( astronomer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Astronomers can accurately foretell the date,time,and length of future eclipses. 天文学家能精确地预告未来日食月食的日期、时刻和时长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Astronomers used to ask why only Saturn has rings. 天文学家们过去一直感到奇怪，为什么只有土星有光环。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 stunning   

adj.极好的；使人晕倒的

参考例句：

• His plays are distinguished only by their stunning mediocrity.他的戏剧与众不同之处就是平凡得出奇。
• The finished effect was absolutely stunning.完工后的效果非常美。

20 galaxies   

星系( galaxy的名词复数 )； 银河系； 一群（杰出或著名的人物）

参考例句：

• Quasars are the highly energetic cores of distant galaxies. 类星体是遥远星系的极为活跃的核心体。
• We still don't know how many galaxies there are in the universe. 我们还不知道宇宙中有多少个星系。

21 cosmos   

n.宇宙；秩序，和谐

参考例句：

• Our world is but a small part of the cosmos.我们的世界仅仅是宇宙的一小部分而已。
• Is there any other intelligent life elsewhere in the cosmos?在宇宙的其他星球上还存在别的有智慧的生物吗？