英语听力精选进阶版 8091

Russian troops have used armoured vehicles to force their way into a large military airbasenear the Crimean city of Sevastopol. Ukrainian servicemen of the Belbek base have beenrefusing to surrender. The BBC’s Ian Pannell was there.

There’ve been extraordinary scenes at what was Ukraine’s largest airbase here in the Crimea.At about 4:30 local time, two armoured Russian carriers burst through the perimeter¹ wall,smashing it down, and special forces then fanned out brandishing² machine guns. There wereloud explosions which we believe were distraction³ grenades. Automatic gunfire was heard and atleast one of the troops who was stationed here was believed to be injured. Russian troops arenow in control of this base as the Ukrainian troops must decide whether to switch allegianceor to leave for good.

Earlier, Russian troops took control of an airbase at Novofedorovka north of Sevastopol after itwas stormed by their supporters who smashed windows and tore down Ukrainian symbols.

Scientists in France have identified the Ebola virus as the source of an outbreak ofhaemorrhagic fever in Guinea, which is believed to have killed nearly 60 people. A Guineanofficial said about 80 cases had been identified mainly in the south of the country. Here’s ourAfrica editor Mary Harper.

The disease broke out six weeks ago but scientists in Guinea were unable to identify what itwas. It’s highly contagious⁴ with horrific symptoms. These include high fever, vomiting⁵ andbleeding from the eyes, ears, nose and other orifices. There have in recent years beenoutbreaks of Ebola in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

African Union forces and government troops in Somalia have taken the strategic town ofQoryoley, which has been held by the Islamist group al-Shabab for the past five years. Therewas heavy fighting which caused both civilian⁶ and military casualties. Many civilians⁷ have fled. ABBC correspondent in Qoryoley, which is about 90km south-west of the capital Mogadishu,says it’s significant because it was a base for foreign fighters.

Pope Francis has named the first members of a commission of experts to advise him on howto tackle the child sex abuse scandal that’s rocked the Catholic Church. The pope’sspokesman said the protection of children had now been made one of the church’s highestpriorities. From Rome, David Willie reports.

Among the experts is Marie Collins from the Irish Republic, who was a child in the 1960s withherself the victim of a paedophile priest. Pope Francis has been criticised for dragging his feeton remedying the damage done to the Catholic Church by clerical abuse and failing to exposealleged extensive cover-ups by bishops⁹ protecting some predator¹⁰ priests at the expense oftheir victims. Today’s announcement is the first tentative step towards establishing betterprotection for children against priest molesters.

World News from the BBC

Turkey’s finance minister has acknowledged that the ban imposed by the government onTwitter does not reflect well on the country. The minister Mehmet Simsek told the BBC hehoped full access to the social network could be restored, but insisted that Twitter had toobey Turkish court orders to remove links to alleged⁸ recordings¹¹ of the prime minister’s privateconversations.

“I’m not saying a complete ban on any social media platform reflects well. It doesn’t reflectwell. A full stop. But at the same time I don’t think any global company, whether it’s a mediacompany, whether it’s an industrial company, it shouldn’t see itself above the law.”

The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan imposed the ban after Twitter was used tospread allegations of corruption¹² against him.

There’s still no firm sign of the Malaysian airliner¹³ that went missing two weeks ago despite anintensified search operation in the southern Indian Ocean. Australian officials say there were nosightings of an object about 22 metres long seen on newly-released Chinese satellite pictures.Our correspondent Jonathan Head is on board one of the search planes.

Well, I’m sitting on board the New Zealand Air Force, P-3, a rare aircraft. The crew is settlingdown for the long four-hour journey out to the search site, some sitting in front of a bank oflarge computer screens, which will show what their sophisticated surveillance equipment candetect. And as you watch the vastness of the southern Indian Ocean sleeping beneath theplane, you are struck by the battling question as to why the Malaysian airliner could possiblyhave ended up in this lonely spot.

Tens of thousands of protesters from all over Spain have converged¹⁴ on the capital Madrid toprotest against austerity measures. Carrying banners with the slogan “marching for dignity”,the demonstrators urged the government to tackle unemployment, homelessness anddeepening poverty.

1 perimeter   

n.周边，周长，周界

参考例句：

• The river marks the eastern perimeter of our land.这条河标示我们的土地东面的边界。
• Drinks in hands,they wandered around the perimeter of the ball field.他们手里拿着饮料在球场周围漫不经心地遛跶。

2 brandishing   

v.挥舞( brandish的现在分词 )；炫耀

参考例句：

• The horseman came up to Robin Hood, brandishing his sword. 那个骑士挥舞着剑，来到罗宾汉面前。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He appeared in the lounge brandishing a knife. 他挥舞着一把小刀，出现在休息室里。 来自辞典例句

3 distraction   

n.精神涣散，精神不集中，消遣，娱乐

参考例句：

• Total concentration is required with no distractions.要全神贯注，不能有丝毫分神。
• Their national distraction is going to the disco.他们的全民消遣就是去蹦迪。

4 contagious   

adj.传染性的，有感染力的

参考例句：

• It's a highly contagious infection.这种病极易传染。
• He's got a contagious laugh.他的笑富有感染力。

5 vomiting   

吐

参考例句：

• Symptoms include diarrhoea and vomiting. 症状有腹泻和呕吐。
• Especially when I feel seasick, I can't stand watching someone else vomiting." 尤其晕船的时候，看不得人家呕。”

6 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。

7 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。

8 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

9 bishops   

（基督教某些教派管辖大教区的）主教( bishop的名词复数 )； （国际象棋的）象

参考例句：

• Each player has two bishops at the start of the game. 棋赛开始时，每名棋手有两只象。
• "Only sheriffs and bishops and rich people and kings, and such like. “他劫富济贫，抢的都是郡长、主教、国王之类的富人。

10 predator   

n.捕食其它动物的动物；捕食者

参考例句：

• The final part of this chapter was devoted to a brief summary of predator species.本章最后部分简要总结了食肉动物。
• Komodo dragon is the largest living lizard and a fearsome predator.科摩多龙是目前存在的最大蜥蜴，它是一种令人恐惧的捕食性动物。

11 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐

12 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

13 airliner   

n.客机，班机

参考例句：

• The pilot landed the airliner safely.驾驶员使客机安全着陆。
• The passengers were shepherded across the tarmac to the airliner.旅客们被引导走过跑道去上飞机。

14 converged   

v.（线条、运动的物体等）会于一点( converge的过去式 )；（趋于）相似或相同；人或车辆汇集；聚集

参考例句：

• Thousands of supporters converged on London for the rally. 成千上万的支持者从四面八方汇聚伦敦举行集会。
• People converged on the political meeting from all parts of the city. 人们从城市的四面八方涌向这次政治集会。 来自《简明英汉词典》