英语听力精选进阶版 8389

President Obama and President Raul Castro have announced that?the?United States and Cuba would start talks in the next few months aimed of restoring diplomatic relations. Jon Sopel?reports from Washington. 

奥巴马总统和劳尔卡斯特罗总统将就重建美-古外交关系在接下来几个月里举行会谈。下面是本台记者从华盛顿发回的报道。

“For over half a century since the world came to the brink¹ of nuclear war over the siting of Russian cruise missiles on the small Caribbean island, relations with the U.S. have been in the deep freeze. But now Cuba's prior status looks set to change, following this announcement from Barack Obama. 

在经过半个世纪的古巴导弹危机，美-古关系一度恶化。但是在奥巴马宣布改革之后古巴的国家地位预示着将会进行改变。

“We will end an outdated² approach that for decades has failed to advance our interests, and instead, we will begin to normalize relations between our two countries.” It's hard to exaggerate the importance of the announcement from the President. Every year, sanctions had been renewed on the grounds that Cuba, in America's eyes, was a state sponsor of terrorism. Trade bans were in place. Diplomatic relations were broken off, travel severely³ restricted. But now, that is all set to change.”

我们将结束一个旧时代，因为经过几十年的僵局冷战我们没能获得收益，相反，现在我们将重新开始两国之间的外交往来。来自总统的这番讲话让人们意识到这一决定的重要性。在美国眼中，古巴是一个支持恐怖主义的国家，所以每年都会对其进行更多制裁。禁止贸易往来，外交关系破裂，眼中限制旅行等。但是现在，所有这些都将发生改变。

President Castro has urged the U.S. to end a five decades old economic embargo⁴, saying it's done huge damage to Cuba. The embargo could only be lifted with the approval of Congress, which is controlled by the Republicans. They have traditionally opposed any such a move. President Obama said isolation⁵ had clearly failed and it did not serve anyone's interest to continue to push Cuba towards collapse⁶. But the House Speaker John Boehner said relations should not be normalized until Cubans enjoyed freedom.

卡斯特罗总统督促美国方面结束五十年经济禁运政策，称这对古巴影响非常大。而结束禁运政策只能由国会通过才得以实施，而共和党方面控制着国会。他们历来反对这种措施。奥巴马总统称孤立政策已经失败，并且把古巴推向崩溃的边缘对大家都没有益处。但是众议院议长约翰博纳表示这一关系直到古巴人民真正享受自由之后才能达到正常化。

Shortly before the statements by the two presidents, an American government contractor⁷ detained by the Cuban authorities five years ago, Alan Gross, landed in the U.S. Mr. Gross, who is in poor health, had been sentenced for importing banned satellite technology to Cuba. He welcomed the beginning of the new era in relations between the two countries. 

在双方总统发布声明前不久，一位5年前被拘留的美国政府承包商艾伦格罗斯得到古巴方面释放抵达美国。格伦斯现在健康状况不佳，因向古巴方面传输卫星技术被判刑。他对两国关系发生转变一事表示欢迎。

“To me, Cubans, or at least most of them, are incredibly kind, generous and talented. It pains me to see them treated so unjustly as a consequence of two governments' mutually belligerent⁸ policies. Five and a half decades of history shows us that such belligerence⁹ inhibits¹⁰ better judgment¹¹. Two wrongs never make a right.” 

对于我而言，古巴人，至少大多数都是非常善良的。而因为两国政府之间不友好给人民带来的不公平让我感到痛苦。50多年的历史告诉我们好战性蒙蔽了我们的双眼，让我们无法做出正确判断。而双方都存在错误的话永远不可能做出正确判断。

Havana has also frees an unnamed American intelligence officer who'd been in jail in Cuba for nearly twenty years. In exchange, Washington has released three high profile Cuban prisoners, part of the group known as the Cuban Five, who were serving lengthy¹² sentences for espionage¹³.

哈瓦那方面同时也释放了一名美国特工人员，该特工已经在古巴被拘留20年之久。作为交换，华盛顿方面释放了3名古巴囚犯，三人都是Cuban Five间谍组成员，长期从事间谍服务工作。

Schools, businesses and markets across northwest Pakistan have been closed in mourning for the more than 140 victims of the Taliban massacre¹⁴ in Peshawar. The Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif promised to rid his country of terrorism following the killings¹⁵.

位于巴基斯坦西北部的学校，商店和超市都关门闭店为白沙瓦遭遇塔利班袭击的140名遇难者进行哀悼。事件发生之后，总理纳瓦兹谢里夫承诺要带领其国家摆脱恐怖主义威胁。

You are listening to world news coming to you from the BBC.

您现在收听的是BBC世界新闻。

There are reports from Syria that more than 230 bodies have been found in a mass grave in the eastern province of Deir al-Zour. A British-based monitoring group, the Syrian Observatory¹⁶ for Human Rights, believes that the dead were members of the same tribe and that they were killed by militants¹⁷ loyal to the Islamic State group. Alan Johnston reports. 

据叙利亚报道在其东部 Deir al-Zour省一个万人坑已经发现了230多名尸体。叙利亚人权观察小组英国队表示相信这些死者来自同一部落，并且被效忠于伊斯兰恐怖组织的武装分子杀害。下面是本台记者发回的报道。

“The monitoring group says all the dead in this mass grave were from the tribe called the Ali Sheitat. Its members have stood up to the Islamic State after it seized their area. But IS crushed its display of resistance with great brutality¹⁸. Back in August, there were reports of many killings and the severed¹⁹ heads of tribe’s men had been left in public view on the streets. The monitoring group believes that the discovery of this mass grave brings the tribe's losses to more than 900.”

观察小组表示这些在万人坑找到的死者尸体都是来自名叫Ali Sheitat部落成员，该部落成员在伊斯兰恐怖组织占领该地区之后对武装分子做出反抗。伊斯兰武装分子残忍将其杀害。而在8月份，有相关报道称有更多其部落成员尸体和头部被仍掷在街道上。观察小组相信这一发现将其部落遇难总人数增加到了900多人。

The U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon says he is leaving today for West Africa to visit the countries affected²⁰ by the Ebola outbreak. He will travel to Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Mali.

联合国秘书长潘基文表示今天他将对西非受埃博拉疫情影响国家进行访问。访问国家包括几内亚，利比亚，塞拉利昂和马里。

Pope Francis has received an unusual gift on his 78th birthday, the sight of crowds of people dancing the tango in St. Peter's Square in Rome. More from David Willey. 

教皇圣弗朗西斯在他78岁生日的时候收到了一份特别的礼物，众多群众齐聚罗马圣彼得广场大跳探戈舞为教皇庆生。下面是本台记者发回的报道。

“The loudspeakers, which normally broadcast hymns²¹ and prayers, spilled out his favorite tango tunes²². Hundreds of couples weaved their way across the cobble stones to the slinky rhythms of the sensual Argentinian dance. It's our birthday present to the Pope, said one woman. When he was a teenager, Pope Francis used to love to dance the tango, his assistant told one of his biographers. The future Pope even worked briefly²³ as a dancer of a nightclub.” 

通常用来广播祷告和赞美诗的扬声器今天放起了探戈舞曲。数百名舞伴在鹅卵石广场上挥舞着性感谨慎的阿根廷舞蹈服装翩翩起舞。一名妇女说这是我们给教皇的生日礼物。当教皇还是孩子的时候他非常喜欢跳探戈，他的助手对他的传记作家这样讲。教皇还曾经梦想在夜总会当舞女。

1 brink   

n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿

参考例句：

• The tree grew on the brink of the cliff.那棵树生长在峭壁的边缘。
• The two countries were poised on the brink of war.这两个国家处于交战的边缘。

2 outdated   

adj.旧式的，落伍的，过时的；v.使过时

参考例句：

• That list of addresses is outdated,many have changed.那个通讯录已经没用了，许多地址已经改了。
• Many of us conform to the outdated customs laid down by our forebears.我们许多人都遵循祖先立下的过时习俗。

3 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

4 embargo   

n.禁运（令）；vt.对...实行禁运，禁止（通商）

参考例句：

• This country put an oil embargo on an enemy country.该国对敌国实行石油禁运。
• During the war,they laid an embargo on commerce with enemy countries.在战争期间，他们禁止与敌国通商。

5 isolation   

n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离

参考例句：

• The millionaire lived in complete isolation from the outside world.这位富翁过着与世隔绝的生活。
• He retired and lived in relative isolation.他退休后，生活比较孤寂。

6 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。

7 contractor   

n.订约人，承包人，收缩肌

参考例句：

• The Tokyo contractor was asked to kick $ 6000 back as commission.那个东京的承包商被要求退还6000美元作为佣金。
• The style of house the contractor builds depends partly on the lay of the land.承包商所建房屋的式样，有几分要看地势而定。

8 belligerent   

adj.好战的，挑起战争的；n.交战国，交战者

参考例句：

• He had a belligerent aspect.他有种好斗的神色。
• Our government has forbidden exporting the petroleum to the belligerent countries.我们政府已经禁止向交战国输出石油。

9 belligerence   

n.交战，好战性，斗争性

参考例句：

• He could be accused of passion,but never belligerence.可以说他很冲动，但不能说他爱挑事。
• He was almost back to his belligerent mood of twelve months ago.他故态复萌，几乎又像一年前那样咄咄逼人了。

10 inhibits   

阻止，抑制( inhibit的第三人称单数 )； 使拘束，使尴尬

参考例句：

• A small manufacturing sector inhibits growth in the economy. 制造业规模太小有碍经济增长。
• His bad English inhibits him from speaking freely. 他英语学得不好，这使他不能表达自如。

11 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。

12 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。

13 espionage   

n.间谍行为，谍报活动

参考例句：

• The authorities have arrested several people suspected of espionage.官方已经逮捕了几个涉嫌从事间谍活动的人。
• Neither was there any hint of espionage in Hanley's early life.汉利的早期生活也毫无进行间谍活动的迹象。

14 massacre   

n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀

参考例句：

• There was a terrible massacre of villagers here during the war.在战争中，这里的村民惨遭屠杀。
• If we forget the massacre,the massacre will happen again!忘记了大屠杀，大屠杀就有可能再次发生！

15 killings   

谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发

参考例句：

• His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。

16 observatory   

n.天文台，气象台，瞭望台，观测台

参考例句：

• Guy's house was close to the observatory.盖伊的房子离天文台很近。
• Officials from Greenwich Observatory have the clock checked twice a day.格林威治天文台的职员们每天对大钟检查两次。

17 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。

18 brutality   

n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮

参考例句：

• The brutality of the crime has appalled the public. 罪行之残暴使公众大为震惊。
• a general who was infamous for his brutality 因残忍而恶名昭彰的将军

19 severed   

v.切断，断绝( sever的过去式和过去分词 )；断，裂

参考例句：

• The doctor said I'd severed a vessel in my leg. 医生说我割断了腿上的一根血管。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We have severed diplomatic relations with that country. 我们与那个国家断绝了外交关系。 来自《简明英汉词典》

20 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。

21 hymns   

n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌( hymn的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• At first, they played the hymns and marches familiar to them. 起初他们只吹奏自己熟悉的赞美诗和进行曲。 来自英汉非文学 - 百科语料821
• I like singing hymns. 我喜欢唱圣歌。 来自辞典例句

22 tunes   

n.曲调，曲子( tune的名词复数 )v.调音( tune的第三人称单数 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调

参考例句：

• a potpourri of tunes 乐曲集锦
• When things get a bit too much, she simply tunes out temporarily. 碰到事情太棘手时，她干脆暂时撒手不管。 来自《简明英汉词典》

23 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。