英语听力精选进阶版 7497

The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says his country will not close its borders to refugees from Syria as hundreds flee unrest in their country. Tanks and troops led by the Syrian president's brother are reportedly closing in on the town of Jisr al-Shughour. Britain and France are meanwhile about to table a United Nations Security Council resolution in New York condemning¹ Syria's repression² of anti-government protests. Here's our diplomatic correspondent James Robbins.

For weeks, the dominant³ countries at the United Nations in New York have failed to agree any collective condemnation⁴ of President Assad's government, so no one has tried to push the issue to a vote. But now Britain, France and standing⁵ half a step behind them the United States have decided⁶ that the scale of killing⁷ demands a response. The draft of an Anglo-French resolution condemns⁸ the repression, demands an immediate⁹ end and urges dialogue over legitimate¹⁰ demands for political reform. 

There's no talk of UN sanctions in the draft resolution, still less any threat of military action against Syria. But several countries oppose any resolution.

The chief prosecutor¹¹ of the International Criminal Court has said there is evidence that the Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi has ordered the rape¹² of hundreds of women as a weapon against anti-government forces. Luis Moreno-Ocampo said rape was a new part of Colonel Gaddafi's repression.

"The issue for us was, can we attribute these rapes¹³ to Gaddafi himself, or is it something that happened in the barracks and decided by some people. That was the hesitation¹⁴. But now we are getting some information that Gaddafi himself decided to rape, and this is new. It was never the pattern he used to control the population. The rape is a new aspect of the repression."

Reports from the Libyan city of Misrata say at least 10 Libyan rebels have been killed in military operations to push back pro-Gaddafi positions east and west of the city. From Misrata, David Loyn.

From early morning, heavy explosions could be heard to the east of Misrata as Colonel Gaddafi's forces responded with Grad rockets to a rebel offensive. For more than three weeks, Misrata's rebel army have remained at the fixed¹⁵ positions they've taken up after they forced Libyan government troops out of the city. But on Tuesday, they made a series of probing raids to the west, and now their first sustained assault to the east. Field ambulances took a steady stream of casualties for treatment. Nato forces were alerted to a move forward by Gaddafi's troops, but distinguishing between the two sides would have been difficult from the air in this fast-moving situation.

David Loyn in Misrata

A committee of United States senators has warned that Afghanistan risks sliding into economic depression when foreign troops withdraw in 2014. In a report assessing the effects of billions of dollars in aid to Afghanistan, the senators conclude that the money has produced mixed results.

This is the World News from the BBC.

The European Union has increased by 40% its compensation offer to farmers affected¹⁶ by the deadly E. coli outbreak in Germany, which has claimed more than 20 lives. This new offer is for more than $300m. Chris Morris reports from Brussels.

The compensation offer has been increased after big fresh vegetable producers, like Spain and France, said the initial proposal was insufficient¹⁷. But even the new figure comes nowhere near covering the full losses which the industry believes it's suffered after many European consumers stopped buying fresh vegetables. Spain, in particular, has said it expects 100% compensation for its farmers after German officials initially¹⁸ and erroneously said Spanish cucumbers were responsible for the outbreak.

British scientists say human hearts could be repairable in 10 years. Researchers found that if they gave a drug to labouratory mice before inducing heart attacks in them, the heart muscle would subsequently repair. James Gallagher reports.

The damage caused by a heart attack is permanent, or at least that's how the theory used to go. Repairing the hearts has been of growing importance. As more people survive heart attacks, more are living with damaged hearts, which struggle to pump enough blood around the body. This research, published in the journal Nature, looked at stem cells in mice, which line the hearts. When the mouse is in embryo¹⁹, these cells are able to transform cells into other heart tissue. This ability is dormant²⁰ in adults. The team at University College London found a drug to wake the cells up. Lead researcher Professor Paul Riley said this resulted in repair.

The former speaker of the Nigerian parliament has appeared in court, charged with 16 counts of corruption²¹. Dimeji Bankole pleaded not guilty to conspiring²² to buy luxury goods for Nigeria's National Assembly at inflated²³ prices and rigging the tendering process. The contracts amount to $60m. More charges are expected next week.

1 condemning   

v.（通常因道义上的原因而）谴责( condemn的现在分词 )；宣判；宣布…不能使用；迫使…陷于不幸的境地

参考例句：

• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。
• I concur with the speaker in condemning what has been done. 我同意发言者对所做的事加以谴责。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

2 repression   

n.镇压，抑制，抑压

参考例句：

• The repression of your true feelings is harmful to your health.压抑你的真实感情有害健康。
• This touched off a new storm against violent repression.这引起了反对暴力镇压的新风暴。

3 dominant   

adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因

参考例句：

• The British were formerly dominant in India.英国人从前统治印度。
• She was a dominant figure in the French film industry.她在法国电影界是个举足轻重的人物。

4 condemnation   

n.谴责; 定罪

参考例句：

• There was widespread condemnation of the invasion. 那次侵略遭到了人们普遍的谴责。
• The jury's condemnation was a shock to the suspect. 陪审团宣告有罪使嫌疑犯大为震惊。

5 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

6 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。

7 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。

8 condemns   

v.（通常因道义上的原因而）谴责( condemn的第三人称单数 )；宣判；宣布…不能使用；迫使…陷于不幸的境地

参考例句：

• Her widowhood condemns her to a lonely old age. 守寡使她不得不过着孤独的晚年生活。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The public opinion condemns prostitution. 公众舆论遣责卖淫。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

9 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。

10 legitimate   

adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法

参考例句：

• Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。
• That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。

11 prosecutor   

n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人

参考例句：

• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。
• The prosecutor would tear your testimony to pieces.检查官会把你的证言驳得体无完肤。

12 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

13 rapes   

n.芸苔( rape的名词复数 )；强奸罪；强奸案；肆意损坏v.以暴力夺取，强夺( rape的第三人称单数 )；强奸

参考例句：

• The man who had committed several rapes was arrested. 那个犯了多起强奸案的男人被抓起来了。 来自辞典例句
• The incidence of reported rapes rose 0.8 percent. 美国联邦调查局还发布了两份特别报告。 来自互联网

14 hesitation   

n.犹豫，踌躇

参考例句：

• After a long hesitation, he told the truth at last.踌躇了半天，他终于直说了。
• There was a certain hesitation in her manner.她的态度有些犹豫不决。

15 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

16 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

17 insufficient   

adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的

参考例句：

• There was insufficient evidence to convict him.没有足够证据给他定罪。
• In their day scientific knowledge was insufficient to settle the matter.在他们的时代，科学知识还不能足以解决这些问题。

18 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

19 embryo   

n.胚胎，萌芽的事物

参考例句：

• They are engaging in an embryo research.他们正在进行一项胚胎研究。
• The project was barely in embryo.该计划只是个雏形。

20 dormant   

adj.暂停活动的；休眠的；潜伏的

参考例句：

• Many animals are in a dormant state during winter.在冬天许多动物都处于睡眠状态。
• This dormant volcano suddenly fired up.这座休眠火山突然爆发了。

21 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

22 conspiring   

密谋( conspire的现在分词 )； 搞阴谋； （事件等）巧合； 共同导致

参考例句：

• They were accused of conspiring against the king. 他们被指控阴谋反对国王。
• John Brown and his associates were tried for conspiring to overthrow the slave states. 约翰·布朗和他的合伙者们由于密谋推翻实行奴隶制度的美国各州而被审讯。

23 inflated   

adj.（价格）飞涨的；（通货）膨胀的；言过其实的；充了气的v.使充气（于轮胎、气球等）( inflate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）膨胀；（使）通货膨胀；物价上涨

参考例句：

• He has an inflated sense of his own importance. 他自视过高。
• They all seem to take an inflated view of their collective identity. 他们对自己的集体身份似乎都持有一种夸大的看法。 来自《简明英汉词典》