英语听力精选进阶版 8208

Talks to end a crippling strike in South Africa's platinum¹ mines have collapsed³ after the government abandoned mediation⁴ efforts between mine owners and workers. The government intervened in May to try to end months of deadlock⁵. Andrew Harding reports from Johannesburg.

This is a serious blow for South Africa's economy and for tens of thousands of families affected⁶ by the country's longest strike. The latest talks have been mediated⁷ by the new mining minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi. He's now dissolved those talks, leaving the world's three largest platinum mines still closed for business, and the wider economy slouching towards recession. A new mining union AMCU has been demanding more than double the basic wage. This follows the deaths in 2012 of 34 striking miners shot by police. Trust between unions, employers and government has since evaporated.

The leaders of Britain, Germany and the Netherlands are meeting in Sweden to talk about the future of the European Union. The German Chancellor⁸ Angela Merkel has publicly backed Jean-Claude Junker, a diplomat⁹ from Luxemburg, to become the next president of the European Commission. The other three countries oppose his candidacy. The British Prime Minister David Cameron said that all four leaders wanted to reform the EU.

We want to see a European Union that's more open, more competitive, more flexible, one that does less poisonous interference, but also is effective and helping¹⁰ to get the growth in jobs. There obviously is a link to that, the agenda, and the people who should be running these institutions. But this meeting today is really about content, about what Europe should be doing in the next few years.

Government inspectors¹² in England has found a number of schools have been infiltrated¹³ by radical¹⁴ Muslims who use intimidation¹⁵ to impose their ideology¹⁶ on them. The inspectors found that five state-run schools in the city of Birmingham had failed to safeguard pupils against extremism. The chief inspector¹¹ Sir Michael Wilshaw said he was shocked by the findings.

We found evidence that some head teachers including those with a proud record of raising standard have been marginalized or forced out of their jobs. This has left a vacuum in which schools previously¹⁷ rated good or outstanding have suffered enormous staff turbulence¹⁸, a collapse² in morale¹⁹, and a rapid decline in their overall effectiveness.

Parkview Education Trust which runs three of the schools insists that it doesn't tolerate or promote extremism of any kind.

The Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad has announced a general amnesty for prisoners in the country, but it's not clear if this means that opposition²⁰ activists²¹ or rebels might be among those released. The amnesty appears to be the most wide-ranging that president Assad has issued since the uprising against his rule started in 2011.

World News from the BBC.

Sepp Blatter, the head of international football's governing body FIFA has said that allegations of corruption²² over the choice of Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup tournament are motivated by racism²³. Addressing a meeting of African football officials in Brazil, Mr. Blatter said this was a kind of behaviour that FIFA needed to combat.

A new report in the United States has revealed widespread failure in healthcare provision for military veterans. Investigation²⁴ follows reports that some veterans have died because they hadn't seen a doctor in time. Here's Rajini Vaidyanathan.

An internal review has revealed that 64,000 patients never got an appointment after requesting one. And an additional 57,000 waited for more than three months to be seen. The report also showed that staff scheduling visits faked appointment times to meet performance goals, covering up the true scale of the problems. At the end of last month, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki resigned, after reports of problems initially²⁵ emerged.

The International Criminal Court has confirmed that it's filed charges against the Congolese former rebel leader Bosco Ntaganda. Judges of the court unanimously confirmed 18 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including rape²⁶, sexual slavery and conscription of child soldiers. General Ntaganda who's been held at the court for more than a year denies the charges.

More than 100 rescuers from Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Austria are working to bring out an injured man stuck inside one of the most complicated cave systems in Europe. The 52-year-old man was hurt by falling rocks nearly 1,000 meters below ground while exploring the Riescending Cave in the German Alps close to the Austrian border. So difficult were the climbing conditions underground that it took one of his companions 12 hours to reach the surface and raise the alarm.

1 platinum   

n.白金

参考例句：

• I'll give her a platinum ring.我打算送给她一枚白金戒指。
• Platinum exceeds gold in value.白金的价值高于黄金。

2 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

3 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

4 mediation   

n.调解

参考例句：

• The dispute was settled by mediation of the third country. 这场争端通过第三国的斡旋而得以解决。
• The dispute was settled by mediation. 经调解使争端得以解决。

5 deadlock   

n.僵局，僵持

参考例句：

• The negotiations reached a deadlock after two hours.两小时后，谈判陷入了僵局。
• The employers and strikers are at a deadlock over the wage.雇主和罢工者在工资问题上相持不下。

6 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

7 mediated   

调停，调解，斡旋( mediate的过去式和过去分词 )； 居间促成； 影响…的发生； 使…可能发生

参考例句：

• He mediated in the quarrel between the two boys. 他调解两个孩子之间的争吵。
• The government mediated between the workers and the employers. 政府在工人与雇主间搞调和。

8 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。

9 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。

10 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

11 inspector   

n.检查员，监察员，视察员

参考例句：

• The inspector was interested in everything pertaining to the school.视察员对有关学校的一切都感兴趣。
• The inspector was shining a flashlight onto the tickets.查票员打着手电筒查看车票。

12 inspectors   

n.检查员( inspector的名词复数 )；（英国公共汽车或火车上的）查票员；（警察）巡官；检阅官

参考例句：

• They got into the school in the guise of inspectors. 他们假装成视察员进了学校。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Inspectors checked that there was adequate ventilation. 检查员已检查过，通风良好。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 infiltrated   

adj.[医]浸润的v.（使）渗透，（指思想）渗入人的心中( infiltrate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The headquarters had been infiltrated by enemy spies. 总部混入了敌方特务。
• Many Chinese idioms have infiltrated into the Japanese language. 许多中国成语浸透到日语中。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

14 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

15 intimidation   

n.恐吓，威胁

参考例句：

• The Opposition alleged voter intimidation by the army.反对党声称投票者受到军方的恐吓。
• The gang silenced witnesses by intimidation.恶帮用恐吓的手段使得证人不敢说话。

16 ideology   

n.意识形态，(政治或社会的)思想意识

参考例句：

• The ideology has great influence in the world.这种思想体系在世界上有很大的影响。
• The ideal is to strike a medium between ideology and inspiration.我的理想是在意识思想和灵感鼓动之间找到一个折衷。

17 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。

18 turbulence   

n.喧嚣，狂暴，骚乱，湍流

参考例句：

• The turbulence caused the plane to turn over.空气的激流导致飞机翻转。
• The world advances amidst turbulence.世界在动荡中前进。

19 morale   

n.道德准则，士气，斗志

参考例句：

• The morale of the enemy troops is sinking lower every day.敌军的士气日益低落。
• He tried to bolster up their morale.他尽力鼓舞他们的士气。

20 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。

21 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》

22 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。

23 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

24 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

25 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

26 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。