英语听力精选进阶版 8483

The government of Nepal says it believes at least fifteen hundred people have been killed by a devastating¹ earthquake. The Information Minister, Minendra Rijal, says that number could triple in?the?next 24 hours, as many people are still thought to be buried in the debris² of collapsed³ buildings. Mr. Rijal said it was a calamity⁴ of enormous proportions. The epicentre of the quake was between the capital, Kathmandu and the city of Bokhara. More from our South Asia Editor, Anbarasan Ethirajan.

“It was the worst earthquake to hit Nepal in 80 years. Old brick buildings, powerlines keep crashing down, and large cracks opened upon streets and roads. Residents ran out of homes and buildings in panic. The tremor⁵ lasted for several minutes, and some witnesses said it was like being on a boat in heavy seas. A number of villages near the epicentre have been flattened⁶. Dozens of people are buried under the collapsed buildings.”A BBC journalist in Kathmandu says thousands of people are spending the night outside in the open, fearing further tremors⁷.

The earthquake triggered avalanches⁸ in the Himalayas, and a number of climbers are known to have died on Mount Everest. Neil Norton, who's leading a team of climbers on the north side of the mountain, said the fate of climbers on the southern side was uncertain.

“We've got a lot of Nepalese shepherds who obviously extremely worried of their friends and colleagues, and family members, not only in Kathmandu, but also obviously working on the south side of the mountain. So we are lending them our satellite phone to make phone calls home. What we do know is that the mountain is periled⁹ and shut for 3 days from today. And we'll just have to wait and see what happens next.”

Many countries and international charities have offered aid to Nepal to deal with the disaster. Neighbouring India was the first to send several aircrafts, carrying medical supplies and a mobile hospital. Bailly Sames is from the British Red Cross.

“Certainly, shelter and food is something that we are hearing is really urgent. Even if the homes haven't collapsed completely, they are still have aftershocks at the moment, so people are camping out in the open air. And some people, they've just lost their homes entirely¹⁰. But there's home neighbourhoods we haven't even heard from yet. Especially towards the epicentre, there's been landslides¹¹. We can't get to them. We are not hearing from them. And we fear when we do reach these places, the situation is going to be much worse.”

The European Union has announced that senior officials will sail on an Italian Naval¹² ship off the coast of Sicily on Monday to show their support for efforts to save the lives of migrants crossing the Mediterranean¹³ Sea. The E.U.'s Foreign Policy Chief, Federica Mogherin, will join the Head of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, and the Italian Prime Minister, Mario Renzi. More than a thousand migrants are thought to have died so far this month. 

World news from the BBC.

One of the world's biggest carmakers, Volkswagen, has announced that its Chairman, Ferdinand Pi?ch, has resigned with an immediate¹⁴ effect. Mr. Pi?ch, who's been a leading figure in the company for more than 20 years, had publicly criticized VW's Chief-Executive. More from Rob Young.

“For the past 2 weeks, there's been a very public and destabilising power struggle at the top of Volkswagen. On the one side, it's been the powerful Chairman, Ferdinand Pi?ch, grandson of the founder¹⁵ of the Porsche car company. On the other, the Chief-Executive, Martin Winterkorn, who Mr. Pi?ch seemed to dislike. The Board of Volkswagen has said it would extend the Chief-Executive's contract and had lost confidence in the Chairman. So Mr. Pi?ch and his wife have resigned all heir posts at the firm.”

Israeli police say they have shot dead a Palestinian who attacked a member of the security forces with a knife, a second such incident in 24 hours. The latest violence took place in the West Bank city of Hebron, where a border policeman was stabbed. Late on Friday, a Palestinian teenager was killed after a policeman was attacked with a meat cleaver¹⁶.

More than fifteen hundred protesters are marching in the American city of Baltimore in the latest protest over the death of a black man in police custody¹⁷. Demonstrations¹⁸ have taken place daily since the death of Freddie Gray last Sunday that turned out on Saturday was the largest yet. Mr. Gray suffered a fatal injury to his spinal¹⁹ cord a week after he was arrested. He is the latest of a series of black men who've died at the hands of the police.

A prominent Venezuelan opposition²⁰ leader has been moved from prison to hospital, so he can receive medical treatment. Antonio Ledezma, who is the Mayor of Caracas, was transferred from jail early on Saturday. He was arrested in February and is accused of plotting a coup²¹ against President Nicolas Maduro. The Attorney-General's Office said that he would be allowed to recuperate²² at home under house arrest. 

1 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

2 debris   

n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片

参考例句：

• After the bombing there was a lot of debris everywhere.轰炸之后到处瓦砾成堆。
• Bacteria sticks to food debris in the teeth,causing decay.细菌附着在牙缝中的食物残渣上，导致蛀牙。

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 calamity   

n.灾害，祸患，不幸事件

参考例句：

• Even a greater natural calamity cannot daunt us. 再大的自然灾害也压不垮我们。
• The attack on Pearl Harbor was a crushing calamity.偷袭珍珠港(对美军来说)是一场毁灭性的灾难。

5 tremor   

n.震动，颤动，战栗，兴奋，地震

参考例句：

• There was a slight tremor in his voice.他的声音有点颤抖。
• A slight earth tremor was felt in California.加利福尼亚发生了轻微的地震。

6 flattened   

[医]（水）平扁的，弄平的

参考例句：

• She flattened her nose and lips against the window. 她把鼻子和嘴唇紧贴着窗户。
• I flattened myself against the wall to let them pass. 我身体紧靠着墙让他们通过。

7 tremors   

震颤( tremor的名词复数 )； 战栗； 震颤声； 大地的轻微震动

参考例句：

• The story was so terrible that It'sent tremors down my spine. 这故事太可怕，它使我不寒而栗。
• The story was so terrible that it sent tremors down my spine. 这故事太可怕，它使我不寒而栗。

8 avalanches   

n.雪崩( avalanche的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The greatest dangers of pyroclastic avalanches are probably heat and suffocation. 火成碎屑崩落的最大危害可能是炽热和窒息作用。 来自辞典例句
• Avalanches poured down on the tracks and rails were spread. 雪崩压满了轨道，铁轨被弄得四分五裂。 来自辞典例句

9 periled   

置…于危险中（peril的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He periled his life to save her honour. 他以他的生命为孤注以保全她的名节。

10 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

11 landslides   

山崩( landslide的名词复数 )； （山坡、悬崖等的）崩塌； 滑坡； （竞选中）一方选票占压倒性多数

参考例句：

• Landslides have cut off many villages in remote areas. 滑坡使边远地区的许多村庄与外界隔绝。
• The storm caused landslides and flooding in Savona. 风暴致使萨沃纳发生塌方和洪灾。

12 naval   

adj.海军的，军舰的，船的

参考例句：

• He took part in a great naval battle.他参加了一次大海战。
• The harbour is an important naval base.该港是一个重要的海军基地。

13 Mediterranean   

adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的

参考例句：

• The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
• Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。

14 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

15 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

16 cleaver   

n.切肉刀

参考例句：

• In fact,a cleaver is a class of ax.实际上，切肉刀也是斧子的一种。
• The cleaver is ground to a very sharp edge.刀磨得飞快。

17 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

18 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。

19 spinal   

adj.针的，尖刺的，尖刺状突起的；adj.脊骨的，脊髓的

参考例句：

• After three days in Japan,the spinal column becomes extraordinarily flexible.在日本三天，就已经使脊椎骨变得富有弹性了。
• Your spinal column is made up of 24 movable vertebrae.你的脊柱由24个活动的脊椎骨构成。

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 coup   

n.政变；突然而成功的行动

参考例句：

• The monarch was ousted by a military coup.那君主被军事政变者废黜了。
• That government was overthrown in a military coup three years ago.那个政府在3年前的军事政变中被推翻。

22 recuperate   

v.恢复

参考例句：

• Stay in the hospital for a few more days to recuperate.再住院几天，好好地恢复。
• He went to the country to recuperate.他去乡下养病去了。