英语听力精选进阶版 8038

The governor of the besieged¹ Syrian city of Homs says around 200 people were evacuatedduring the day. Earlier, the Syrian Red Crescent managed to get trucks of food into the old city.Lyse Doucet is in Homs.

Three large buses pulled up, most of the passengers were young men. They were brought intothe abandoned ballroom² being used as a reception centre along with a small number of womenand children. But the men will now be questioned separately about their involvement in thewar. An operation the UN says, it's watching closely to ensure they are not mistreated. Somemen told us, they were fearful of their future. But everyone we spoke³ to was relieved that atlast, their long ordeal⁴ inside the besieged old city was now over.

At the peace talks taking place in Geneva, the opposition⁵ delegation⁶ laid out its transitionplan, but the government representatives refused to discuss it.

The governor of Borno state in northeast Nigeria says 39 people, including women and childrenhave been killed in an attack on the town of Konduga. The attack has been blamed on theIslamist militants⁷. From Lagos Will Ross reports.

What’re we hearing is that a large number of very-well armed fighters went into this town ofKonduga late on Tuesday. They were in pickup⁸ vehicles, a quite number of them dozens, aresident said. According to the people who survived the attack, they said that they saw thesoldiers there simply flee. They were outnumbered and outgunned, and then the armedIslamist militants presumably from the group known as Boko Haram, they then shot deadmany, many people, it's difficult to know the exact numbers. The governor of the state who'sbeen into the area said he counted 39 bodies.

One stumbling block in the South Sudanese peace talks has been removed. Seven prominentpoliticians have been allowed to travel to the talks in Ethiopia. They were detained at thebeginning of the crisis, but subsequently conditionally⁹ released. The rebels had insisted theymust take part in the negotiations¹⁰.

Much of Britain is continuing to experience some of its worst weather for years with gusts¹¹ ofwind reaching over 160km/hr. Thousands of homes are flooded. One of the most seniormembers of the military had described conditions as an almost unparalleled natural crisis.Angus Crawford has been watching developments on the River Thames.

A steady stream of sandbags has now been offloaded from lorries and been made ready forlocal distribution. There are still 14 severe flood warnings along the Thames, and with morebad weather forecast, the environment agency is warning the water levels could rise furtherlater in the week, possibly equalling 1947 which were the worst British floods of the 20thcentury.

World News from the BBC

At least 15,000 protesters wearing the red shirts, the Brazil's landless movement, havegathered around the Congress in the country's capital Brasilia. The protesters say they intendto deliver a letter demanding land reform to President Dilma Rousseff. There have been somescuffles with reports of teargas being fired by the police. The movement is known foroccupying farms it considers unproductive, and offering them to landless workers.

A judge in the American state of Kentucky has ruled that the state must recognize same-sexmarriages performed in other states. This removes the clause in Kentucky's ban on same-sexmarriages. The judge, John G. Heyburn II, said the existing law was demeaning to gay andlesbian people, he said the clause violated the US constitution's guarantee of equalprotection under the law.

The American scholar Wendy Doniger says she's very disappointed that all copies of her bookon Hinduism will be pulped¹² in India over a legal row. The Penguin¹³ publishing company withdrewThe Hindus: An Alternative History after Hindu campaign group alleged¹⁴ that the book offendedHindu sentiments. Ms. Doniger said the Indian law which was used against the publisher mustbe changed.

“The law is very cruel and it criminalizes a publisher for publishing a book that offends Hindu.So, it is the law that must be changed. Publishers, all publishers in India are subjected to thislaw, and many of them simply dropped the books as mainly there is any trouble. It waswonderful for Penguin to fight as long as they did.”

State media in China say the country's first moon rover has died on the Lunar surface. Thecraft known as Jade¹⁵ Rabbit landed on December 15th, but began experiencing technicalproblems last month. The state-owned news agency Xinhua said the rover could not berestored to full function. Correspondents say this failure was likely to be seen as a majorsetback to China's ambitious space program.

1 besieged   

包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Paris was besieged for four months and forced to surrender. 巴黎被围困了四个月后被迫投降。
• The community besieged the newspaper with letters about its recent editorial. 公众纷纷来信对报社新近发表的社论提出诘问，弄得报社应接不暇。

2 ballroom   

n.舞厅

参考例句：

• The boss of the ballroom excused them the fee.舞厅老板给他们免费。
• I go ballroom dancing twice a week.我一个星期跳两次交际舞。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 ordeal   

n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验

参考例句：

• She managed to keep her sanity throughout the ordeal.在那场磨难中她始终保持神志正常。
• Being lost in the wilderness for a week was an ordeal for me.在荒野里迷路一星期对我来说真是一场磨难。

5 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

6 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。

7 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。

8 pickup   

n.拾起，获得

参考例句：

• I would love to trade this car for a pickup truck.我愿意用这辆汽车换一辆小型轻便卡车。||The luck guy is a choice pickup for the girls.那位幸运的男孩是女孩子们想勾搭上的人。

9 conditionally   

adv. 有条件地

参考例句：

• We will provide necessary English training to the new employees conditionally. 公司将为员工提供必要的英语培训。
• China should conditionally support and participate in the coordination. 我国对此宜持有条件支持并参与的立场。

10 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

11 gusts   

一阵强风( gust的名词复数 )； （怒、笑等的）爆发； （感情的）迸发； 发作

参考例句：

• Her profuse skirt bosomed out with the gusts. 她的宽大的裙子被风吹得鼓鼓的。
• Turbulence is defined as a series of irregular gusts. 紊流定义为一组无规则的突风。

12 pulped   

水果的肉质部分( pulp的过去式和过去分词 )； 果肉； 纸浆； 低级书刊

参考例句：

• Debarking: Stripping bark from logs prior ro their being pulped. 去皮：制浆前，把树区性剥去树皮上的操作。
• Several thousand apples left unsold were pulped. 上千个未卖的苹果制成了果酱。

13 penguin   

n.企鹅

参考例句：

• The penguin is a flightless bird.企鹅是一种不会飞的鸟。
• He walked with an awkward gait like a penguin.他走路的步子难看得就像企鹅。

14 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

15 jade   

n.玉石；碧玉；翡翠

参考例句：

• The statue was carved out of jade.这座塑像是玉雕的。
• He presented us with a couple of jade lions.他送给我们一对玉狮子。