英语听力精选进阶版 7576

The Nato-led mission in Afghanistan, Isaf, has suspended the transfer of detainees to some Afghan jails following allegations of widespread torture. The suspension applies to eight provinces where there are concerns that prisoners could be mistreated in custody¹. A UN report describes how prisoners have been beaten and in some cases electrocuted. Quentin Sommerville reports from Kabul.

The torture was commonplace and systematic². Prisoners, many of whom had been handed over by Nato troops, were beaten with rubber hoses, threatened with sexual assault and in some cases given electric shocks. Most of those suspected of being insurgents⁴ were held without charge. Many of the accusations⁵ came in an as-yet unpublished UN report. In one case, a 19-year-old man was beaten for 19 days straight. He eventually bled to death.

A heavily armed convoy⁶ of 50 Libyan vehicles is driving through the African state of Niger after crossing the desert border from Libya. The US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the American ambassador in Niger had discussed the convoy with officials there. She said Niger was being urged to cooperate with Libya's National Transitional Council.

"Apparently⁷ a convoy has entered, and it does include some senior members of the Gaddafi regime, but we do not believe that Gaddafi himself was among them. We have strongly urged the Nigerien officials to detain those members of the regime. We've also urged them to work with the TNC with regard to their interest in any of these individuals and bringing those who may need to be brought to justice."

The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that all military ties with Israel have been suspended. It's a sign of Turkey's growing anger over Israel's refusal to offer a full apology for its raid on a flotilla heading for Gaza last year, during which nine Turkish activists⁸ were killed. Most military deals, however, have been concluded. Mr Erdogan also said that commercial relations would be suspended.

The Italian government has announced its latest revisions to an austerity package aimed at stabilising the country's finances as tens of thousands of Italians took part in protests against planned budget cuts. David Willey reports from Rome.

In Milan, striking workers threw eggs and smoke bombs at banks. In Turin, they scuffled with police while in Palermo in Sicily demonstrators burnt the flags of trade unions that refused to take part in the strike. Parliament is meeting to ratify⁹ a series of austerity measures enacted¹⁰ by the government last month to try to reassure¹¹ financial markets. The $68bn austerity package has been radically¹² revised in recent days as coalition¹³ members bickered¹⁴ over where the biggest new tax burden is to fall and which public services are to be axed.

BBC News

An Israeli air strike on Gaza is reported to have killed a Palestinian militant¹⁵ and injured two civilians¹⁶. The attack, near the city of Khan Yunis, came after militants¹⁷ fired mortars¹⁸ towards Israel. Earlier, Israeli soldiers clashed with militants near a border crossing between Israel and Gaza.

Politicians in Somalia have approved a deal aimed at installing an elected government within a year and restoring peace and security after decades of instability. At the end of a UN-backed conference in Mogadishu, they also agreed to pass anti-piracy legislation and write a new constitution. Here's our East Africa correspondent Will Ross.

Somalia's politicians have done the easy part - putting pen to paper. At the United Nations-backed conference in Mogadishu, they signed an agreement which sets out the roadmap towards elections next August and includes the lofty task of making the country secure. The Islamist insurgent³ groups like al-Shabab were not at this conference and have promised to keep fighting the government. Somalia's politicians are deeply divided along clan¹⁹ lines, and in the eyes of many Somalis, they've failed the people for years. Putting aside the political wrangles²⁰ to implement²¹ this roadmap would be a major achievement.

The Central Bank of Nigeria has announced plans to switch up to 1/10 of its financial reserves to the Chinese currency, the yuan, becoming the first African country to do so. The governor of the bank said the US budget deficit²² and the downgrading of its creditworthiness along with the European sovereign debt crisis meant there was a need for diversification²³ of reserve currencies.

The Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has signed a series of deals with his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina during a high-profile visit to Dhaka but failed to agree on a key issue of sharing water. Progress was made on trade, their common border and the fate of thousands of people living in enclaves in both countries.

1 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

2 systematic   

adj.有系统的，有计划的，有方法的

参考例句：

• The way he works isn't very systematic.他的工作不是很有条理。
• The teacher made a systematic work of teaching.这个教师进行系统的教学工作。

3 insurgent   

adj.叛乱的，起事的；n.叛乱分子

参考例句：

• Faruk says they are threatened both by insurgent and government forces.法鲁克说，他们受到暴乱分子和政府军队的双重威胁。
• The insurgent mob assembled at the gate of the city park.叛变的暴徒聚在市立公园的门口。

4 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

5 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

6 convoy   

vt.护送，护卫，护航；n.护送；护送队

参考例句：

• The convoy was snowed up on the main road.护送队被大雪困在干路上了。
• Warships will accompany the convoy across the Atlantic.战舰将护送该船队过大西洋。

7 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

8 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 ratify   

v.批准，认可，追认

参考例句：

• The heads of two governments met to ratify the peace treaty.两国政府首脑会晤批准和平条约。
• The agreement have to be ratify by the board.该协议必须由董事会批准。

10 enacted   

制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• legislation enacted by parliament 由议会通过的法律
• Outside in the little lobby another scene was begin enacted. 外面的小休息室里又是另一番景象。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

11 reassure   

v.使放心，使消除疑虑

参考例句：

• This seemed to reassure him and he continued more confidently.这似乎使他放心一点，于是他更有信心地继续说了下去。
• The airline tried to reassure the customers that the planes were safe.航空公司尽力让乘客相信飞机是安全的。

12 radically   

ad.根本地，本质地

参考例句：

• I think we may have to rethink our policies fairly radically. 我认为我们可能要对我们的政策进行根本的反思。
• The health service must be radically reformed. 公共医疗卫生服务必须进行彻底改革。

13 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

14 bickered   

v.争吵( bicker的过去式和过去分词 )；口角；（水等）作潺潺声；闪烁

参考例句：

• The afternoon sun bickered through the leaves. 午后的阳光闪烁于树叶之间。 来自辞典例句
• They bickered over [about] some unimportant thing. 他们为芝麻小事争吵。 来自辞典例句

15 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

16 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。

17 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。

18 mortars   

n.迫击炮( mortar的名词复数 )；砂浆；房产；研钵

参考例句：

• They could not move their heavy mortars over the swampy ground. 他们无法把重型迫击炮移过那片沼泽地。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Where the hell are his mortars? 他有迫击炮吗？ 来自教父部分

19 clan   

n.氏族，部落，宗族，家族，宗派

参考例句：

• She ranks as my junior in the clan.她的辈分比我小。
• The Chinese Christians,therefore,practically excommunicate themselves from their own clan.所以，中国的基督徒简直是被逐出了自己的家族了。

20 wrangles   

n.（尤指长时间的）激烈争吵，口角，吵嘴( wrangle的名词复数 )v.争吵，争论，口角( wrangle的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• We avoided wrangles and got down to business. 他们避免了争吵开始做正事。 来自辞典例句
• They hope to see politicians in exciting wrangles and to get some fun out of politics. 他们期望政治人物进行有趣的战斗，期望从政治中获得娱乐。 来自互联网

21 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

22 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

23 diversification   

n.变化，多样化；多种经营

参考例句：

• The seminar was to discuss diversification of agriculture. 该研讨会讨论的是农业多种经营。 来自辞典例句
• Firm diversification is increasingly achieved by the means of takeover and merger. 通过接管和兼并，厂商经营范围日益多样化。 来自辞典例句