英语听力精选进阶版 9595

 

Hi there, I'm Ricki from the BBC World News for Schools. It's Friday the eight of April. 

Coming up 

Another earthquake in Japan.. 

?And the brain implant¹ that offers amazing new mind control. 

First up -- aid agencies in the African country of Ivory Coast say some parts of it are turning into a humanitarian² disaster zone. There's still no end in sight to the fighting that's tearing the country in two. Ordinary families have been driven out of their homes by the violence -- but it turns out religious buildings and the people that run them have been doing an important job looking after desperate civilians³. Thousands of people of all religions are living in churches -- the priest at St Paul's Cathedral in the capital says -- they've nowhere else to go: 

CLIP: There are practically eighteen hundred people here -- among them woman and children who live locally. But we've had no running water for a week now. And we have babies here, as well as people who've been shot and pregnant women. No one with weapons is allowed in, and religion doesn't count here. We welcome everyone as brothers and sisters. 

Now-- Japan has suffered yet another earth tremor⁴ -- the most powerful since last month's devastating⁵ quake and tsunami⁶. But it didn't do anything like the same amount of damage. Two people were killed by the latest tremor and a-hundred injured. The rescue teams that helped with the tsunami crisis have been talking about their specially⁷ trained life saving dogs. Andy was out in Japan in March -- he says the dogs are vital: 

CLIP: What they can do is cover large areas and they will actually tell us they will actually indicate if there is live people under these collapsed⁸ structures. We pick dogs who like to play -- the idea is they they are obsessed⁹ with the toy, just wanting the reward of that toy. 

Now -- there's been a massive breakthrough in mind control research. Scientists have discovered that a brain implant can allow people to control a cursor on a computer screen just by thinking about certain noises. We got our science geek Jason to explain: 

CLIP: Well this is an absolutely incredible piece of research. We've seen brainwaves used before -- and there's even toys out there that can pick up brain waves outside your skull¹⁰. But this is one step further. This is actually an implant in your brain. And what they've used it for is patients thinking about sounds, and that is turned into moving a cursor on a screen. Now this sounds like science fiction. But it's not mind-reading, this is just sort of translating some kinds of thoughts into another kind of signal. For the moment it's going to be of great use for disabled people -- but we can imagine a future in which we might have lots of gadgets¹¹ that read our thoughts. 

There's a new warning on the melting Arctic -- scientists say that ice there is disappearing so fast, there could be virtually none left during the summertime within the next decade. Wildlife experts fear it could mean big problems for polar bears and seals. 

And now for today's question: where do penguins¹² live -- the north pole or the south pole? Yesterday we asked you for the exact date of the Royal Wedding 30 years ago. The answer is -- Prince Charles and Lady Diana got married on the 29th of July, 1981. 

Finally -- there's been a big success in the fight against animal smuggling¹³. Police in Thailand seized nearly two thousand huge monitor lizards¹⁴ which were being exported to be eaten. The lizards are threatened with extinction¹⁵ -- but luckily the ones being smuggled¹⁶ were found alive and are now being looked after! 

That's all for now -- we're back tomorrow.

1 implant   

vt.注入，植入，灌输

参考例句：

• A good teacher should implant high ideals in children.好教师应该把高尚理想灌输给孩子们。
• The operation to implant the artificial heart took two hours.人工心脏植入手术花费了两小时。

2 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

3 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。

4 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。

5 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。

6 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。

7 specially   

adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地

参考例句：

• They are specially packaged so that they stack easily.它们经过特别包装以便于堆放。
• The machine was designed specially for demolishing old buildings.这种机器是专为拆毁旧楼房而设计的。

8 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。

9 obsessed   

adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的

参考例句：

• He's obsessed by computers. 他迷上了电脑。
• The fear of death obsessed him throughout his old life. 他晚年一直受着死亡恐惧的困扰。

10 skull   

n.头骨；颅骨

参考例句：

• The skull bones fuse between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five.头骨在15至25岁之间长合。
• He fell out of the window and cracked his skull.他从窗子摔了出去，跌裂了颅骨。

11 gadgets   

n.小机械，小器具（ gadget的名词复数 ）

参考例句：

• Certainly. The idea is not to have a house full of gadgets. 当然。设想是房屋不再充满小配件。 来自超越目标英语 第4册
• This meant more gadgets and more experiments. 这意味着要设计出更多的装置，做更多的实验。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史

12 penguins   

n.企鹅( penguin的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Why can penguins live in cold environment? 为什么企鹅能生活在寒冷的环境中？ 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Whales, seals, penguins, and turtles have flippers. 鲸、海豹，企鹅和海龟均有鳍形肢。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

13 smuggling   

n.走私

参考例句：

• Some claimed that the docker's union fronted for the smuggling ring.某些人声称码头工人工会是走私集团的掩护所。
• The evidence pointed to the existence of an international smuggling network.证据表明很可能有一个国际走私网络存在。

14 lizards   

n.蜥蜴( lizard的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Nothing lives in Pompeii except crickets and beetles and lizards. 在庞培城里除了蟋蟀、甲壳虫和蜥蜴外，没有别的生物。 来自辞典例句
• Can lizards reproduce their tails? 蜥蜴的尾巴断了以后能再生吗？ 来自辞典例句

15 extinction   

n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种

参考例句：

• The plant is now in danger of extinction.这种植物现在有绝种的危险。
• The island's way of life is doomed to extinction.这个岛上的生活方式注定要消失。

16 smuggled   

水货

参考例句：

• The customs officer confiscated the smuggled goods. 海关官员没收了走私品。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Those smuggled goods have been detained by the port office. 那些走私货物被港务局扣押了。 来自互联网