英语听力精选进阶版 7717

The media tycoon¹ Rupert Murdoch has told a British inquiry² into media ethics³ that he's never asked a prime minister for anything. Mr Murdoch said he wanted to end what he called the myth that he'd used the power or influence of one of his British newspapers to gain favourable⁴ treatment.

媒体大亨鲁伯特·默多克向有关媒体道德的英国调查表示，他从未向哪位总理要求过什么。有传闻说他利用他一份英国报纸的权力或影响力来获取优惠待遇，默多克说希望这种传闻能结束。

"Politicians go out of their way to impress people in the press. I think that's part of the democratic process. All politicians of all sides like to have their views known by the editors, hoping that they will be put across , hoping that they will succeed in impressing people. That's the game."

“政客们不辞辛劳想在媒体上给民众留下印象，我想这就是民主进程的一部分。各方的所有政客们都希望编辑们知道自己的观点，希望大家能明白自己的观点，希望能成功地在民众心中留下好感。这就是游戏规则。”

He said that if he was solely⁵ concerned with commercial interest, he would always have backed the Conservative Party because it was more supportive of business.

他说，如果他只考虑商业利益的话，他会一直支持保守党，因为保守党更支持商业。

The French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe has said that the UN Security Council might have to consider action backed up by military force in Syria if the current peace plan fails. Activists⁶ say the violence is continuing with more than 20 people killed during the day. Jim Muir has been following events from neighbouring Lebanon.

In the city of Hama, distraught residents pulled from the rubble⁷ of a destroyed building the broken body of a two-year-old little girl, one of at least seven people who activists said were killed in violent shelling of the quarter by government forces. Two UN observers were a short distance away in the centre of town. There was more deadly shelling in the town and the south and deaths from sniping in suburbs of Damascus despite UN monitors being close to both places. The French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe has had enough. He said that if the Syrian regime does not comply with the truce⁸ by early May, the Security Council should consider authorising military intervention⁹.

The head of Israel's armed forces has said he doesn't think Iran will develop nuclear weapons. In an interview with an Israeli newspaper, Lieutenant¹⁰ General Benny Gantz said the Iranian leadership was made up of "rational people". It would not want, as he put it, to " go the extra mile ".

以色列武装部队最高领导人说，他认为伊朗不会生产核武器。中将甘茨在接受以色列一家报纸的采访时说，伊朗的领导层都是“理性的人”。据他所说，他们不会费那么大精力的。

In the United States, the Republican Newt Gingrich is about to withdraw from the race to be his party's presidential candidate. American media said Mr Gingrich would suspend his campaign next Tuesday. Addressing Republican supporters in North Carolina, Mr Gingrich said he still believed that he would be the best candidate, but he had to be honest about what was happening in the real world, and that he would now give his support to Mr Romney.

美国共和党人金里奇将从该党总统候选人竞选中撤出，美国媒体称，金里奇会在下周二停止竞选。金里奇在北卡罗莱纳州向支持者发表讲话说，他仍相信自己是最佳候选人，但他必须承认现实世界所发生的事，并支持罗姆尼。

"I am committed to this party. I am committed to defeating Obama. We will find ways to try to be helpful. I do think it's pretty clear that Governor Romney is ultimately going to be the nominee¹¹, and we'll do everything we can to make sure that he is, in fact, effective. And we as a team are effective both in winning this fall and then frankly¹² in governing." Newt Gingrich speaking earlier (And that's) This is the World News from the BBC.

“我忠于本党，一心打败奥巴马。我们会想办法做有益之事，罗姆尼州长会成为最后的被提名人，我们会尽一切努力实现这个目标。作为一支团队，我们会最终赢得今年秋季的决赛并坦率执政。”

The Libyan authorities have banned political parties based on religion, tribe or ethnicity . The announcement comes two months before elections to choose an assembly which will form a government and write a new constitution. Libya's National Transitional Council said the ban was in the interests of national unity¹³. It's been denounced as undemocratic by the Muslim Brotherhood¹⁴, which formed a political party in March and was expected to perform well in the elections.

比利亚当局禁止基于宗教、部落或种族的党派。两个月后，埃及即将选举成立政府并起草新宪法的议会。利比亚全国过渡委员会称，该禁令是为了全国团结而发布的。穆斯林兄弟组织称此举不民主，该组织三月份成了一个政党，并有可能在选举中表现不错。

A military judge in the United States has rejected a request to throw out all the charges in the case of Bradley Manning, the soldier accused of leaking thousands of classified documents to the whistle-blowing website Wikileaks. The decision made at a hearing in Fort Meade, Maryland means Private Manning's trial will go ahead in September as planned.

美国一位军事法官驳回要求抛弃布拉德·曼宁案件中的所有指控的请求，曼宁被指控向举报网站维基解密泄露数十万份秘密文档。马里兰州米德堡的一次听审会做出了这个决定，这意味着对士兵曼宁的审判将在九月份如期进行。

In what's being seen as a landmark¹⁵ case, an Indian woman has legally annulled¹⁷ a marriage that her parents arranged for her when she was a child. Laxmi Sargara, who is now 18, was married at the age of one to a three-year-old groom¹⁸ in the state of Rajasthan. Jo Jolly reports.

一名印度妇女通过法律程序解除了幼年时父母为自己安排的婚姻，这件案例被视为一个里程碑。在拉贾斯坦邦，今年18岁的Laxmi Sargara一岁时，就被嫁给一位三岁的新郎。Jo Jolly报道。

The teenager only found out about her marriage this month when her parents told her she would have to move to her in-laws' house. After asking a local social worker for help, Laxmi was able to persuade her husband to sign a legal document to annul¹⁶ the marriage and have this verified by a government official. Child marriage is illegal in India but is still common in many rural areas. Campaigners hope this case will encourage others to fight against the practice.

本月，Laxmi的父母告诉她必须搬到夫家去住，她这才知道自己的婚姻大事。Laxmi向当地的社会工作者求助，成功劝说丈夫签署法律文件终结婚姻，并得到政府官员的批准。童婚在印度为非法，但在许多农村地区仍很普遍。活动人士希望这件案例能鼓励其他人打破这种习俗。

Scientists at a German research institute say satellite data from Global Positioning Systems, or GPS, could be used to provide much faster tsunami¹⁹ warnings. The scientists say they've analysed data gathered from over 500 GPS stations at the time a devastating²⁰ earthquake hit Japan in March last year. They say it could have been used to predict both the correct magnitude of the quake and the size of the resultant tsunami in just three to four minutes, faster than traditional methods.

德国一研究所的科学家说，全球定位系统（GPS）可以用来提供更快速的海啸预警。科学家说，他们分析了去年3月日本大地震时500个GPS站点的数据，称GPS可以用来预测更准确的地震震级，并在三到四分钟内预测出随后的海啸级别，比传统的方法要快。

1 tycoon   

n.有钱有势的企业家，大亨

参考例句：

• The tycoon is on the verge of bankruptcy.那名大亨濒临破产的边缘。
• The tycoon has many servants to minister to his needs.那位大亨有很多人服侍他。

2 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。

3 ethics   

n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准

参考例句：

• The ethics of his profession don't permit him to do that.他的职业道德不允许他那样做。
• Personal ethics and professional ethics sometimes conflict.个人道德和职业道德有时会相互抵触。

4 favourable   

adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的

参考例句：

• The company will lend you money on very favourable terms.这家公司将以非常优惠的条件借钱给你。
• We found that most people are favourable to the idea.我们发现大多数人同意这个意见。

5 solely   

adv.仅仅，唯一地

参考例句：

• Success should not be measured solely by educational achievement.成功与否不应只用学业成绩来衡量。
• The town depends almost solely on the tourist trade.这座城市几乎完全靠旅游业维持。

6 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》

7 rubble   

n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾

参考例句：

• After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
• After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。

8 truce   

n.休战，(争执，烦恼等的)缓和；v.以停战结束

参考例句：

• The hot weather gave the old man a truce from rheumatism.热天使这位老人暂时免受风湿病之苦。
• She had thought of flying out to breathe the fresh air in an interval of truce.她想跑出去呼吸一下休战期间的新鲜空气。

9 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

10 lieutenant   

n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员

参考例句：

• He was promoted to be a lieutenant in the army.他被提升为陆军中尉。
• He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官，递上了一张简短的便条进去。

11 nominee   

n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者

参考例句：

• His nominee for vice president was elected only after a second ballot.他提名的副总统在两轮投票后才当选。
• Mr.Francisco is standing as the official nominee for the post of District Secretary.弗朗西斯科先生是行政书记职位的正式提名人。

12 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

13 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

14 brotherhood   

n.兄弟般的关系，手中情谊

参考例句：

• They broke up the brotherhood.他们断绝了兄弟关系。
• They live and work together in complete equality and brotherhood.他们完全平等和兄弟般地在一起生活和工作。

15 landmark   

n.陆标，划时代的事，地界标

参考例句：

• The Russian Revolution represents a landmark in world history.俄国革命是世界历史上的一个里程碑。
• The tower was once a landmark for ships.这座塔曾是船只的陆标。

16 annul   

v.宣告…无效，取消，废止

参考例句：

• They have the power to alter or annul inappropriate decisions of their own standing committees.他们有权改变或者撤销本级人民代表大会常务委员会不适当的决定。
• The courts later found grounds to annul the results,after the king urged them to sort out the "mess".在国王敦促法庭收拾烂摊子后，法庭随后宣布废除选举结果。

17 annulled   

v.宣告无效( annul的过去式和过去分词 )；取消；使消失；抹去

参考例句：

• Their marriage was annulled after just six months. 他们的婚姻仅过半年就宣告取消。
• Many laws made by the former regime have been annulled. 前政权制定的许多法律被宣布无效。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 groom   

vt.给（马、狗等）梳毛，照料，使...整洁

参考例句：

• His father was a groom.他父亲曾是个马夫。
• George was already being groomed for the top job.为承担这份高级工作，乔治已在接受专门的培训。

19 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。

20 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。