英语听力精选进阶版 7618

The Islamist party in Tunisia, Ennahda, is having coalition¹ talks with two left-wing secular² parties as official results are declared in the country's first free elections. The electoral commission confirmed that Ennahda was well ahead in the vote, but it's not expected to have an overall majority. Here's Pascale Harter.

The victory party at Ennahda headquarters has begun, and the official results of the election aren't even announced yet. But so transparent³ was the voting and the counting that political parties already know where they stand. Their representatives, international and national observers and even the press were allowed to witness the count. So Ennahda knows that it is the kingmaker but won't have quite enough votes to write Tunisia's constitution or form an interim⁴ government alone.

Urgent talks are continuing in Italy between the Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's party and his coalition partners to try to reach an agreement on financial reforms aimed at reducing the country's massive deficit⁵. So far, Mr Berlusconi has been unable to convince his main partners, the Northern League, to accept measures demanded by the EU in time for the European summit scheduled for Wednesday. A spokesman at the European Commission, Amadeu Altafaj-Tardio, says Italy shouldn't feel insulted by the demands.

"It's not about challenging sovereignty; it's not about lecturing; it's not about humiliating. We have 27 democratically elected governments which have agreed on reinforcing surveillance, on having a higher degree of coordination⁶ of their economic policies. It makes sense. It's one of the main lessons of this crisis."

European political leaders are still seeking agreement on key issues at Wednesday's summit that's seen as critical to end the continent's debt crisis. Germany's Chancellor⁷ Angela Merkel is seeking parliamentary approval for plans to boost the power of the eurozone rescue fund without increasing the German taxpayers⁸' contribution. There's still no deal on how much Greek debt held by private sector⁹ institutions should be written off.

Relief workers in Ethiopia say refugees who fled from famine and fighting in neighbouring Somalia now face deteriorating¹⁰ health conditions because of the start of the rainy season. Aid workers face a new challenge as they try to prevent children who've managed to gain some weight from succumbing¹¹ to diarrhoea and other illnesses. Aria¹² Daniakka is an emergency coordinator¹³ with Medecins Sans Frontieres.

"It's raining every day. The people in the camp, they live in precarious¹⁴ conditions, and we do see an increase in diarrhoeal diseases. So there is a concern that the children who did manage to gain some weight in the last few weeks might be pushed back."

Prisoners in the earthquake-hit city of Van, in eastern Turkey, have rioted. Eyewitnesses¹⁵ said flames and smoke billowed into the night sky and shots were heard. The trouble is reported to have begun when a strong aftershock caused panic among the inmates¹⁶. Turkish state television reports more than 450 people are now known to have died.

World News from the BBC

A local official in Niger says the only son of Colonel Gaddafi who's still unaccounted for, Saif al-Islam, has been seen near the border with Libya and was being assisted by ethnic¹⁷ Tuaregs. Saif al-Islam is wanted by the International Criminal Court. It's understood that his brother al-Saadi Gaddafi sought refuge last month in Niger. Earlier, Libyan officials said the bodies of Colonel Gaddafi and his son Mutassim had been buried in a secret location in the Libyan desert.

Israel's security cabinet has approved a deal to swap¹⁸ 25 Egyptian prisoners for an American-Israeli student arrested in Cairo for spying. His supporters say he'd simply travelled to Egypt because he was fascinated with Arabic culture.

India's cabinet has approved a major new plan to create 100 million new jobs in manufacturing by the year 2022. The national manufacturing policy aims to increase manufacturing to 25% of the country's gross domestic product by then.

The last of the United States most powerful nuclear bombs has been dismantled¹⁹ in Texas. The B53 bomb was 600 times more powerful than that dropped on Hiroshima at the end of the Second World War. Jonny Dymond reports from Washington.

It took around an hour for the high explosive to be removed from around the nuclear material inside the B53, and then this relic²⁰ of the Cold War, which remained part of the US arsenal²¹ until 1997, was no more. Three hundred and forty B53s were built in the early 1960s. They were bunker busters. With five parachutes, they were designed to land softly on their target, and then with a nine megaton explosion, simulate an earthquake and destroy underground bunkers in which military and civilian²² leaders might be sheltering.

Gold is to be mined in Scotland for the first time in more than 500 years. The project has become commercially viable²³ due to the increasing international price of gold.

1 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。

2 secular   

n.牧师，凡人；adj.世俗的，现世的，不朽的

参考例句：

• We live in an increasingly secular society.我们生活在一个日益非宗教的社会。
• Britain is a plural society in which the secular predominates.英国是个世俗主导的多元社会。

3 transparent   

adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的

参考例句：

• The water is so transparent that we can see the fishes swimming.水清澈透明，可以看到鱼儿游来游去。
• The window glass is transparent.窗玻璃是透明的。

4 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。

5 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。

6 coordination   

n.协调，协作

参考例句：

• Gymnastics is a sport that requires a considerable level of coordination.体操是一项需要高协调性的运动。
• The perfect coordination of the dancers and singers added a rhythmic charm to the performance.舞蹈演员和歌手们配合得很好，使演出更具魅力。

7 chancellor   

n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长

参考例句：

• They submitted their reports to the Chancellor yesterday.他们昨天向财政大臣递交了报告。
• He was regarded as the most successful Chancellor of modern times.他被认为是现代最成功的财政大臣。

8 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

9 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

10 deteriorating   

恶化，变坏( deteriorate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The weather conditions are deteriorating. 天气变得越来越糟。
• I was well aware of the bad morale and the deteriorating factories. 我很清楚，大家情绪低落，各个工厂越搞越坏。

11 succumbing   

不再抵抗（诱惑、疾病、攻击等）( succumb的现在分词 )； 屈从； 被压垮； 死

参考例句：

• Mrs. Smith washed and ironed clothes for him, succumbing to him. 史密斯太太被他迷住了，愿意为他洗衣烫衣。
• They would not in the end abandon their vital interests by succumbing to Soviet blandishment. 他们最终决不会受苏联人的甜言蜜语的诱惑，从而抛弃自己的切身利益。

12 aria   

n.独唱曲，咏叹调

参考例句：

• This song takes off from a famous aria.这首歌仿效一首著名的咏叹调。
• The opera was marred by an awkward aria.整部歌剧毁在咏叹调部分的不够熟练。

13 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

14 precarious   

adj.不安定的，靠不住的；根据不足的

参考例句：

• Our financial situation had become precarious.我们的财务状况已变得不稳定了。
• He earned a precarious living as an artist.作为一个艺术家，他过得是朝不保夕的生活。

15 eyewitnesses   

目击者( eyewitness的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The examination of all the eyewitnesses took a week. 对所有证人的质询用了一周的时间。
• Several eyewitnesses testified that they saw the officers hit Miller in the face. 几位目击证人证明他们看见那几个警官打了米勒的脸。

16 inmates   

n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• One of the inmates has escaped. 被收容的人中有一个逃跑了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The inmates were moved to an undisclosed location. 监狱里的囚犯被转移到一个秘密处所。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

18 swap   

n.交换；vt.交换，用...作交易

参考例句：

• I will swap you my bicycle for your radio.我想拿我的自行车换你的收音机。
• This comic was a swap that I got from Nick.这本漫画书是我从尼克那里换来的。

19 dismantled   

拆开( dismantle的过去式和过去分词 )； 拆卸； 废除； 取消

参考例句：

• The plant was dismantled of all its equipment and furniture. 这家工厂的设备和家具全被拆除了。
• The Japanese empire was quickly dismantled. 日本帝国很快被打垮了。

20 relic   

n.神圣的遗物，遗迹，纪念物

参考例句：

• This stone axe is a relic of ancient times.这石斧是古代的遗物。
• He found himself thinking of the man as a relic from the past.他把这个男人看成是过去时代的人物。

21 arsenal   

n.兵工厂，军械库

参考例句：

• Even the workers at the arsenal have got a secret organization.兵工厂工人暗中也有组织。
• We must be the great arsenal of democracy.我们必须成为民主的大军火库。

22 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

23 viable   

adj.可行的，切实可行的，能活下去的

参考例句：

• The scheme is economically viable.这个计划从经济效益来看是可行的。
• The economy of the country is not viable.这个国家经济是难以维持的。