英语听力精选进阶版 8059

Ukraine's interim¹ President Olexander Turchynov says the country's armed forces have beenput on full combat alert. The announcement made in a national televised address followedthe decision by the Upper House of the Russian Parliament authorizing² President Putin todeploy Russian troops to Ukraine if he felt it necessary. Earlier, Ukraine's Prime Minister ArseniyYatsenyuk said his government was convinced Moscow would not engage in militaryintervention as that would mean war and the end of relations between the two countries.David Stern reports from Kiev.

Mr. Turchynov and Mr. Yatsenyuk made their statements after a three-hour long meeting ofUkraine's Security and Defence heads. Mr. Yatsenyuk also said he was convinced Russia wouldnot launch an invasion, given the repercussions³. A Kremlin spokesman said Mr. Putin haddecided whether to send troops into Ukraine.

In the Ukrainian Republic of Crimea, the newly installed Prime Minister Sergiy Aksyonov hasbrought forward a referendum on the Peninsula status to March 30th. On Thursday, theregion's parliament called for a vote towards the end of May. Mark Lowen reports from Yalta inCrimea.

Crimea is lurching ever-closer towards conflict. The crisis here intensifying⁴ daily. After armedgroups occupied airports and communications buildings, the Ukrainian defense⁵ ministeraccused Moscow of sending 6,000 troops and 30 armed vehicles to back up its Black Seafleets. The new pro-Russian prime minister of Crimea brought forward a referendum onindependence to the end of this month saying all military and security services here are nowunder his control. The heightened tension is not only being felt here, there have been largepro-Russia demonstrations⁶ in the eastern Ukrainian cities of Donetsk and Kharkiv, as crowdstried unsuccessfully to occupy the administration buildings.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Security Council is holding another urgent meeting to discuss thecrisis in Ukraine. The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called for an immediaterestoration of calm and direct dialogue between all concerned. His comments were echoed bythe European Union's Foreign Policy chief Catharine Ashton who described Moscow's decisionon Russian armed force as an unwarranted escalation⁷ of tensions.

In China, a group of men armed with knives has killed at least 27 people at a train station in thesouthwestern city of Kunming. The official news agency Xinhua says more than 100 people wereinjured. Witnesses, writing on Chinese social media, said the attackers, many wearing blackrushed at waiting passengers, slashing⁸ and stabbing those too slow to run away. Picturesposted on the Internet showed bodies in pools of blood. The authorities called it apremeditated terrorist attack, although they are not saying who carried it out. Local media saidseveral of the attackers were shot by police.

World News from the BBC

Thousands of people have marched in the Swiss capital Bern in protest last month'sreferendum which approved immigration quotes for European Union citizens. AlthoughSwitzerland is not a member of the EU, it had singed⁹ up to the free movement of people aspart of a series of agreements aimed at protecting its access to Europe's single market.

A senior United Nations official has broken ranks with UN and publicly called for compensationfor the victims of a cholera¹⁰ epidemic¹¹ in Haiti which killed thousands of people since it beganfour years ago. The UN's top Human Right officer in Haiti has called for those responsible to bepunished as Mark Doyle reports.

Over 8,000 people have died from cholera in Haiti since 2010. It has been shown beyondreasonable doubt that the United Nations soldiers spread the disease by dumping infectedsewage near a river. The UN has claimed diplomatic immunity¹² . But now a senior UN HumanRights lawyer Gustavo Gallon has publicly broken ranks, saying silence is the worst response.Mr. Gallon said in a new UN report that those responsible should be punished and the victimscompensated.

Reports from the northeast of Nigeria say a jet has bombed a village in Borno state. Oneeyewitness told the BBC that about 20 civilians¹³ were killed and 25 others were wounded in theair strike which took place on Friday night close to the border with Cameroon. It's not knownwho carried out the attack, but the Nigerian military has previously¹⁴ bombed villages that itbelieves sheltering members of Boko Haram, an Islamist insurgent¹⁵ group.

A court in the southwestern Nigerian state of Osun handed out lengthy¹⁶ prison sentences totwo men convicted of stealing the state governor's phone and using it to defraud¹⁷ people in hiscontact list. The men had used governor Rauf Aregbesola's phone to impersonate him andpersuade his acquaintances to make payments.

1 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。

2 authorizing   

授权，批准，委托( authorize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Letters of Marque: Take letters from a warning friendly power authorizing privateering. 私掠许可证：从某一个国家获得合法抢劫的证书。
• Formal phavee completion does not include authorizing the subsequent phavee. 阶段的正式完成不包括核准随后的阶段。

3 repercussions   

n.后果，反响( repercussion的名词复数 )；余波

参考例句：

• The collapse of the company will have repercussions for the whole industry. 这家公司的垮台将会给整个行业造成间接的负面影响。
• Human acts have repercussions far beyond the frontiers of the human world. 人类行为所产生的影响远远超出人类世界的范围。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 intensifying   

v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的现在分词 )；增辉

参考例句：

• The allies are intensifying their air campaign. 联军部队正加大他们的空战强度。 来自辞典例句
• The rest of the European powers were in a state of intensifying congestion. 其余的欧洲强国则处于越来越拥挤的状态。 来自英汉非文学 - 历史

5 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

6 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

7 escalation   

n.扩大，增加

参考例句：

• The threat of nuclear escalation remains. 核升级的威胁仍旧存在。 来自辞典例句
• Escalation is thus an aspect of deterrence and of crisis management. 因此逐步升级是威慑和危机处理的一个方面。 来自辞典例句

8 slashing   

adj.尖锐的；苛刻的；鲜明的；乱砍的v.挥砍( slash的现在分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减

参考例句：

• Slashing is the first process in which liquid treatment is involved. 浆纱是液处理的第一过程。 来自辞典例句
• He stopped slashing his horse. 他住了手，不去鞭打他的马了。 来自辞典例句

9 singed   

v.浅表烧焦( singe的过去式和过去分词 )；（毛发）燎，烧焦尖端[边儿]

参考例句：

• He singed his hair as he tried to light his cigarette. 他点烟时把头发给燎了。
• The cook singed the chicken to remove the fine hairs. 厨师把鸡燎一下，以便去掉细毛。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

10 cholera   

n.霍乱

参考例句：

• The cholera outbreak has been contained.霍乱的发生已被控制住了。
• Cholera spread like wildfire through the camps.霍乱在营地里迅速传播。

11 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

12 immunity   

n.优惠；免除；豁免，豁免权

参考例句：

• The law gives public schools immunity from taxation.法律免除公立学校的纳税义务。
• He claims diplomatic immunity to avoid being arrested.他要求外交豁免以便避免被捕。

13 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。

14 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

15 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。

16 lengthy   

adj.漫长的，冗长的

参考例句：

• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
• The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。

17 defraud   

vt.欺骗，欺诈

参考例句：

• He passed himself off as the managing director to defraud the bank.他假冒总经理的名义诈骗银行。
• He is implicated in the scheme to defraud the government.他卷入了这起欺骗政府的阴谋。