英语听力精选进阶版 7646

Britain has ordered the closure of the Iranian embassy in London and said staff must leave within 48 hours. The British Foreign Secretary William Hague announced the measures a day after protesters stormed the British embassy and diplomatic compounds in Iran. An Iranian government spokesman described the British response as "hasty" and warned that Iran would take further appropriate action. James Robbins reports.

英国下令关闭驻伊朗使馆，称工作人员必须在48小时内离开。英国外长威廉·海格宣布这项措施，一天前抗议者向冲击英国驻伊朗使馆和外交公寓。伊朗政府发言人称英国的反应“太匆忙”，警告说，伊朗将进一步采取适当措施。James Robbins报道。

Britain's foreign secretary was blunt. He told members of parliament that the Iranian demonstrators had systematically¹ vandalised and looted the homes of British embassy staff in Tehran. Mr Hague said they stole personal possessions and set fire to the main embassy office building. The foreign secretary was clear this was the work of a student militia² controlled by elements of what he called the Iranian regime. William Hague said no difficulty in relations between the two countries could excuse Iran's failure to protect diplomatic staff under the terms of the Vienna Convention.

英国外长直言不讳，他告诉议员，伊朗抗议者有组织地破坏并劫掠了英国使馆工作人员在德黑兰的房屋。海格说，他们偷走了私人物品，还放火烧了使馆主办公大楼。外长明确指出，这是一个学生民兵组织干的坏事，他们被所谓伊朗政权里的一群人控制。威廉·海格说，根据《维也纳条约》，两国关系间不存在任何困难，可以原谅伊朗未能保护外交人员的过失。

Other European countries have reacted to the storming of the British embassy. France and Germany have recalled their ambassadors for consultations³. A French foreign ministry⁴ official said Iran had violated international law.

其他欧洲国家对英国使馆受冲击一事均做出反应。法国和德国已召回大使商讨问题，法国一名外交部官员说，伊朗违反了国际法。

Stock markets around the world have rallied after the central banks of six leading economies launched coordinated⁵ action to improve the availability of credit. American stocks jumped 3% in early trading following similar rises on European markets. Our business editor Robert Peston reports.

六大主要经济体发起联合行动提高信贷能力后，全球股市有所恢复。美国股市早盘上涨3%，之前欧洲市场也有类似上涨。BBC商业编RobertPeston报道。

The central banks of the world's biggest developed economies have taken pre-emptive action to prevent a domino effect of banks collapsing⁶ in the event that these banks find themselves unable to borrow the major currencies they need. Now in recent weeks, there's been evidence that big eurozone banks have found it harder and more expensive to borrow dollars. Investors⁷ do seem impressed. Share prices - especially the share prices of banks - have risen sharply in markets across the world on the perception that there's been a fall in the risk of a return to conditions of unbearable⁸ stress in banking⁹ markets.

世界最大发达经济的央行已采取先发行动，阻止万一银行无法借到它们需要的主要货币，银行业发生多米诺骨牌式的崩溃局面。最近几周，有证据表明，欧元区大银行在美元借贷方面越来越难，成本也越来越高，投资者对此深有感触。由于相信银行业再次面临难以承受的压力的风险已经降低，全球市场股价，尤其是银行业股价已急剧上涨。

Trade unions in Britain have staged the biggest public sector¹⁰ strike in decades. Up to two million workers are opposing pension reforms that may lead to later retirement¹¹ and higher contributions. Tens of thousands of protesters marched in London, Manchester and Edinburgh. Here's our political correspondent Rob Watson.

英国工会经历了几十年来最大公共部门的罢工，200万名工人反对推迟退休和增加缴纳额度的养老金改革。成千上万名抗议者在伦敦、曼彻斯特和爱丁堡集会游行。BBC政治记者Rob Watson报道。

Trade union leaders - among them, Mark Serwotka - accused the government of trying to balance the heavily indebted books on the backs of public sector workers.

工会领导人Mark Serwotka谴责政府，称其为了平衡沉重的债务，将压力转移到公共部门职员头上来。

"Yesterday the chancellor¹² gave us more unremitting gloom where he made it clear that working people would be targeted. So today is the opportunity for millions to say no. We're not paying the price for this. We didn't cause it, and what you're doing is making the situation worse."

“昨天财政大臣向我们传达了更郁闷的信息，他说，工薪阶层是改革的对象。所以，今天我们数百万人要对此说‘不’。我们不想为这个买单，问题不是我们造成的，你们所做的只是让情况更恶化。”

Although the strike closed many schools, the government claimed the disruption was not as widespread as feared. In parliament, the Prime Minister David Cameron described the strike as "something of a damp squib".

尽管这次罢工中，许多学校都关了门，政府仍称事态还不像人们担心的那样普遍。首相戴维德·卡梅隆说在议会上称这次罢工很失败。

World News from the BBC

An inquiry¹³ has heavily criticised one of Britain's leading universities for accepting a donation from a charity run by Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of the former Libyan leader. A report by a senior former judge, Lord Woolf, said the London School of Economics had made mistakes that had damaged its reputation. The $2.3m donation was made six weeks after Saif al-Islam was awarded a doctorate¹⁴. The BBC's diplomatic correspondent Bridget Kendall has been examining the report.

因接受利比亚前领导人儿子赛义夫·伊斯兰·卡扎菲的捐赠，英国一所一流大学在一份调查中遭严重批评。这份报告由一名前高级法官LordWoolf所作，他说，伦敦政治经济学院（LSE）的所作所为已损害了其声誉。这笔2.3百万美元的捐赠是赛义夫·伊斯兰被授予博士学位的六周后给出的。BBC外交记者Bridget Kendall调查了这份报告。

It talks about a chapter of failures, about the LSE being unfortunate and naive¹⁵ in (both) the timing¹⁶ of when it accepted the initial donation - just weeks after it had given Saif Gaddafi a PhD - and also saying that links with the Gaddafi regime were allowed to grow unchecked.

这份报告提到LSE所犯的错误，称其接受最初捐赠的时机很不幸，也很幼稚，当时正是赛义夫·卡扎菲被授予博士学位后数周，报告称，这件事还与卡扎菲政权无节制地膨胀有关。

Questions have been raised about whether the thesis that he submitted for his PhD was really his own work - there's indication in this report that he did get quite a lot of work from outside - and whether there was plagiarism¹⁷ and indeed ghost-writing.

这引起了一些疑问，如赛义夫提交的博士论文是否是自己所做，这份报告中的证据表明，赛义夫的论文得到外部的很多帮助，或许是剽窃，或许是他人代笔。

Five Somali men have been jailed for taking a French couple hostage on board their yacht three years ago. A court in Paris sentenced the men to between four and eight years in prison, but dropped charges against a sixth defendant¹⁸. It's the first case of Somali piracy¹⁹ to be heard in the French courts.

三年前在自己快艇上绑架一对法国夫妇的五名索马里男子已被监禁，巴黎一家法院将他们判刑4到8年监禁，但放弃对第六名被告的指控。这是法国法院听审的第一起索马里海盗案件。

The Syrian authorities say they've freed more than 900 prisoners involved in recent anti-government protests. State media said the amnesty followed the release of more than 1,500 prisoners earlier this month. Pressure is continuing to mount on the Syrian government to end its violent suppression of the protests.

Police in Mexico have discovered a 600-metre tunnel used to smuggle²⁰ drugs from the northwestern city of Tijuana to the United States. They also found three tonnes of marijuana at the tunnel's entrance, which was close to the headquarters of the federal police. The tunnel had lights, a ventilation system and rails to transport the drugs. It runs from a warehouse²¹ in Tijuana to another in San Diego.

墨西哥警方发现一条长600米的隧道，用于将毒品从北部城市Tijuana走私到美国。在联邦警察总部附近的隧道入口处，还发现三顿的大麻。隧道里有灯、通风系统和运输毒品的铁轨。从Tijuana的仓库通到圣地亚哥的仓库。

1 systematically   

adv.有系统地

参考例句：

• This government has systematically run down public services since it took office.这一屆政府自上台以来系统地削减了公共服务。
• The rainforest is being systematically destroyed.雨林正被系统地毀灭。

2 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。

3 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》

4 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

5 coordinated   

adj.协调的

参考例句：

• The sound has to be coordinated with the picture. 声音必须和画面协调一致。
• The numerous existing statutes are complicated and poorly coordinated. 目前繁多的法令既十分复杂又缺乏快调。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

6 collapsing   

压扁[平]，毁坏，断裂

参考例句：

• Rescuers used props to stop the roof of the tunnel collapsing. 救援人员用支柱防止隧道顶塌陷。
• The rocks were folded by collapsing into the center of the trough. 岩石由于坍陷进入凹槽的中心而发生褶皱。

7 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

8 unbearable   

adj.不能容忍的；忍受不住的

参考例句：

• It is unbearable to be always on thorns.老是处于焦虑不安的情况中是受不了的。
• The more he thought of it the more unbearable it became.他越想越觉得无法忍受。

9 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

10 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。

11 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

12 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。

13 inquiry   

n.打听，询问，调查，查问

参考例句：

• Many parents have been pressing for an inquiry into the problem.许多家长迫切要求调查这个问题。
• The field of inquiry has narrowed down to five persons.调查的范围已经缩小到只剩5个人了。

14 doctorate   

n.(大学授予的)博士学位

参考例句：

• He hasn't enough credits to get his doctorate.他的学分不够取得博士学位。
• Where did she do her doctorate?她在哪里攻读博士？

15 naive   

adj.幼稚的，轻信的；天真的

参考例句：

• It's naive of you to believe he'll do what he says.相信他会言行一致，你未免太单纯了。
• Don't be naive.The matter is not so simple.你别傻乎乎的。事情没有那么简单。

16 timing   

n.时间安排，时间选择

参考例句：

• The timing of the meeting is not convenient.会议的时间安排不合适。
• The timing of our statement is very opportune.我们发表声明选择的时机很恰当。

17 plagiarism   

n.剽窃，抄袭

参考例句：

• Teachers in America fight to control cheating and plagiarism.美国老师们努力对付欺骗和剽窃的问题。
• Now he's in real trouble.He's accused of plagiarism.现在他是真遇到麻烦了。他被指控剽窃。

18 defendant   

n.被告；adj.处于被告地位的

参考例句：

• The judge rejected a bribe from the defendant's family.法官拒收被告家属的贿赂。
• The defendant was borne down by the weight of evidence.有力的证据使被告认输了。

19 piracy   

n.海盗行为，剽窃，著作权侵害

参考例句：

• The government has already adopted effective measures against piracy.政府已采取有效措施惩治盗版行为。
• They made the place a notorious centre of piracy.他们把这地方变成了臭名昭著的海盗中心。

20 smuggle   

vt.私运；vi.走私

参考例句：

• Friends managed to smuggle him secretly out of the country.朋友们想方设法将他秘密送出国了。
• She has managed to smuggle out the antiques without getting caught.她成功将古董走私出境，没有被逮捕。

21 warehouse   

n.仓库；vt.存入仓库

参考例句：

• We freighted the goods to the warehouse by truck.我们用卡车把货物运到仓库。
• The manager wants to clear off the old stocks in the warehouse.经理想把仓库里积压的存货处理掉。