英语听力精选进阶版 9620

Hi there, I'm Ricky from the BBC World News for Schools. It's Friday the 13th of May. 

Coming up: 

Wild animals are found in one man's suitcase. 

CLIP: "They guy had a virtual zoo in his suitcases, checked in." 

A snail¹'s pace marathon attempt. 

And Pirates of the Caribbean' stars come to London! 

But first to Pakistan where at least eighty people have been killed after two bombs exploded in the north west of the country. The Pakistani Taliban said they carried out the bombing in revenge for the killing³ of Osama bin² Laden⁴ in a US raid earlier this month. Most of the people who died were training to be policemen. Police are often the targets of militant⁵ attacks because they - along with foreign forces and the Pakistani army - are meant to be trying to stamp out extremist groups like the Taliban. 

Next, two leopards⁶, two panthers, a bear and two monkeys - that is what officials at a Thailand airport found hidden in one passenger's luggage! The baby animals, which were all under two months old, had been drugged and put in cages in the man's suitcases. The suspect was trying to board a flight from Bangkok to Dubai when police, who had been following him in an undercover operation, arrested him. Steven Galster, from the animal charity Freeland, was there.... 

CLIP: "This was a very sophisticated undercover operation by the Thai police, to have followed him to the airport, caught him. He didn't see what was happening, he didn't see it coming." 

Next to Japan, where concern over future earthquakes has led the authorities to shut down one of its older nuclear plants. The Hamaoka plant is pretty close to Japan's capital city Tokyo, but it's also close to a tectonic fault line - where earthquakes can occur. After the massive disaster at Fukishima, the government don't want to take any chances. 

Ok check this out - a man dressed in a nine foot snail costume has just completed the London marathon, and it took him an extremely sluggish⁷ 26 days! Lloyd Scott averaged one mile a day, but to be fair he was crawling along on his stomach. Sounds pretty uncomfortable, but it was all for a good cause... 

CLIP: "Yeah it was very difficult. I had consistent nose bleeds...I kept being sick in the snail, I even slept in the snail as well. All really for such a fantastic charity. I mean it's the children who are here today that have been foremost on my mind and have been driving me forward." 

And finally, London hosted the UK premiere of the latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie last night. All the celebs were in town, including THE star of the show Johnny Depp AKA Captain Jack⁸ Sparrow. And all you Pirates fans will be happy to know that latest film doesn't look like the end of the line... 

CLIP: "I don't know what the situation of five would be just yet, but I do know that we are talking about it. Yeah, I think there's till plenty of room to manoeuvre⁹." 

Finally, we have the answer to yesterday's question. We asked you what mountain range Mount Everest belongs to, and the answer is....the Himalayas! 

OK, that's all from the World News for Schools team. We're back on Monday. Just before we go we want to say a massive shout out to all the 8th Graders at the American International School in Dhaka - thanks for e-mailing in guys! And if you want to get in touch the address is [email protected].

1 snail   

n.蜗牛

参考例句：

• Snail is a small plant-eating creature with a soft body.蜗牛是一种软体草食动物。
• Time moved at a snail's pace before the holidays.放假前的时间过得很慢。

2 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

3 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

4 laden   

adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的

参考例句：

• He is laden with heavy responsibility.他肩负重任。
• Dragging the fully laden boat across the sand dunes was no mean feat.将满载货物的船拖过沙丘是一件了不起的事。

5 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

6 leopards   

n.豹( leopard的名词复数 )；本性难移

参考例句：

• Lions, tigers and leopards are all cats. 狮、虎和豹都是猫科动物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• For example, airlines never ship leopards and canaries on the same flight. 例如，飞机上从来不会同时运送豹和金丝雀。 来自英语晨读30分（初三）

7 sluggish   

adj.懒惰的，迟钝的，无精打采的

参考例句：

• This humid heat makes you feel rather sluggish.这种湿热的天气使人感到懒洋洋的。
• Circulation is much more sluggish in the feet than in the hands.脚部的循环比手部的循环缓慢得多。

8 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

9 manoeuvre   

n.策略，调动；v.用策略，调动

参考例句：

• Her withdrawal from the contest was a tactical manoeuvre.她退出比赛是一个战术策略。
• The clutter of ships had little room to manoeuvre.船只橫七竖八地挤在一起，几乎没有多少移动的空间。