英语听力精选进阶版 7436

Libyan rebels who have been advancing west along the coast towards Colonel Gaddafi’s strongholds have been stopped by gunfire from government forces. Ben Brown sent this report from the oil town of Ras Lanuf which some of the rebels have fallen back to. 

It’s been a bad day for the rebels. It began with them claiming that they had taken Sirte, Colonel Gaddafi’s birthplace and hometown. That claim turned out to be wildly premature¹. In fact, the rebels have been stopped just beyond the town of Bin² Jawad, many miles from Sirte. Rebels told us they have been ambushed³ by Gaddafi loyalists from the desert and from the beach. The great rebel advance of the weekend appears to have been halted in its track, for now at least.

A senior American military official has denied that the United States is directly supporting Libyan rebels. Speaking at a news conference in the Pentagon, Vice⁴ Admiral William Goldoni gave this assessment⁵ of the conflict. 

Opposition⁶ forces are in control of Ajdabiya and have pushed west to within eighty miles of Sirte. We believe the regime is preparing to dig in at Sirte, setting up a number of check points and placing tanks throughout the city. Likewise for Zintan, where we assessed the regime is preparing to reinforce existing positions. Reporting from Misrata indicates heavy fighting, particularly near the city centre.

Earlier the leaders of France and Britain called on Libyans to begin preparing for a new era without Colonel Gaddafi. In a joint⁷ statement, Nicola Sarkozy and David Cameron said Colonel Gaddafi must go immediately. They urged his supporters to drop him before it was too late. The Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the international air strikes against Libyan government forces had gone beyond protecting civilians⁸ and amounted to interference in a civil war. 

Forces loyal to the internationally recognised President of Ivory Coast, Alassane Ouattara, have taken the western town of Duekoue after heavy fighting there. The strategically important town is the fifth Mr Ouattara’s forces have taken in their fight against forces loyal to Laurent Gbagbo, who refuses to give up the presidency⁹. John James reports. 

Officials in the pro-Ouattara forces say their fighters have started moving south over a former ceasefire line after being attacked by militia¹⁰ groups and mercenaries loyal to President Gbagbo. These claims are difficult to verify, but what is clear is that the formal rebels are themselves on the offensive on two additional fronts. In public at least, the state army has remained loyal to President Gbagbo, but the majority of the army voted for his rival Alassane Ouattara and are outside if keep retaliations like the Republican Guard, there is little enthusiasm for a fight.

John James reporting. 

Russian officials say the air force has bombed an Islamist training base in the Russian Republic of Ingushetia, killing¹¹ 17 rebels. They said the base was used to train suicide bombers¹². 

You are listening to the World News from the BBC. 

A massive explosion at an ammunition¹³ factory in Yemen has killed at least 78 people. The blast near the southern town of Jaar injured dozens of others and could be heard up to 15 kilometres away. The explosion occurred as local people looted the factory a day after it had briefly¹⁴ been taken over in a raid by a group of armed men. 

The President of football’s governing body, FIFA, has criticised Brasil, saying it needs to accelerate preparations for the next World Cup Finals in 2014. Sepp Blatter said Brasil was behind where the previous hosts South Africa were at a similar stage. Work on many of the stadiums is behind schedule and political squabbles have delayed the decision about which Brasilian city will host the draw for the qualify rounds. 

The former American President Jimmy Carter has arrived in Cuba at the start of a three-day private visit. He is expected to meet the Cuban President Raul Castro and discuss the case of an imprisoned¹⁵ US contractor¹⁶ that strained relations between the two countries. Michael Voss reports from Havana.

Jimmy Carter flew into Havana aboard a private executive jet. It’s widely expected that he will try to use his influence to help secure the release of the imprisoned American contractor, Alan Gross. Earlier this month, Mr. Gross was sentenced to 15 years in jail for supplying illegal satellite and other communications equipment to the island's small Jewish community. The Obama administration has made it clear that there can be no further major US initiatives to ease relations as long as he remains¹⁷ behind the bars. 

The European Commission has proposed that petrol and diesel¹⁸ cars be banned from European city centres by 2050. The Transport Commissioner¹⁹ Siim Kallas said there needs to be a profound shift in travel patterns to reduce emissions²⁰ and reliance on oil. He said travel was a basic right and the European Union must not curb²¹ people’s mobility²² but should instead pursue cleaner technologies. 

1 premature   

adj.比预期时间早的；不成熟的，仓促的

参考例句：

• It is yet premature to predict the possible outcome of the dialogue.预言这次对话可能有什么结果为时尚早。
• The premature baby is doing well.那个早产的婴儿很健康。

2 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

3 ambushed   

v.埋伏( ambush的过去式和过去分词 )；埋伏着

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The military vehicles were ambushed. 军车遭到伏击。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 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。

5 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

6 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

7 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

8 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。

9 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

10 militia   

n.民兵，民兵组织

参考例句：

• First came the PLA men,then the people's militia.人民解放军走在前面，其次是民兵。
• There's a building guarded by the local militia at the corner of the street.街道拐角处有一幢由当地民兵团守卫的大楼。

11 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。

12 bombers   

n.轰炸机( bomber的名词复数 )；投弹手；安非他明胶囊；大麻叶香烟

参考例句：

• Enemy bombers carried out a blitz on the city. 敌军轰炸机对这座城市进行了突袭。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Royal Airforce sill remained dangerously short of bombers. 英国皇家空军仍未脱离极为缺乏轰炸机的危境。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 ammunition   

n.军火，弹药

参考例句：

• A few of the jeeps had run out of ammunition.几辆吉普车上的弹药已经用光了。
• They have expended all their ammunition.他们把弹药用光。

14 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

15 imprisoned   

下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was imprisoned for two concurrent terms of 30 months and 18 months. 他被判处30个月和18个月的监禁，合并执行。
• They were imprisoned for possession of drugs. 他们因拥有毒品而被监禁。

16 contractor   

n.订约人，承包人，收缩肌

参考例句：

• The Tokyo contractor was asked to kick $ 6000 back as commission.那个东京的承包商被要求退还6000美元作为佣金。
• The style of house the contractor builds depends partly on the lay of the land.承包商所建房屋的式样，有几分要看地势而定。

17 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。

18 diesel   

n.柴油发动机，内燃机

参考例句：

• We experimented with diesel engines to drive the pumps.我们试着用柴油机来带动水泵。
• My tractor operates on diesel oil.我的那台拖拉机用柴油开动。

19 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

20 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

21 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

22 mobility   

n.可动性，变动性，情感不定

参考例句：

• The difference in regional house prices acts as an obstacle to mobility of labour.不同地区房价的差异阻碍了劳动力的流动。
• Mobility is very important in guerrilla warfare.机动性在游击战中至关重要。