英语听力精选进阶版 9642

Hi there, I'm Ore from BBC World News for Schools. It's Thursday the 16th of June. 

Coming up: 

?The world watches a lunar eclipse, 

?Scientists excited at Roman poo find 

?And the light bulb that's been on for a hundred and ten years! 

But first to America. A group of computer hackers¹ say they've brought down a website of the CIA - the US Central Intelligence Agency. It's one a number of recent computer attacks by a group called Lulz Security. It's thought that the group targets companies it feels act against the interests of their users. But it's uncertain whether THIS website crash was because of a Lulz Security attack. Recent hacking² by the group included computer systems of Sony and Nintendo and a website of the US Senate. 

Next archaeologists have been discovering how Romans lived 2,000 years ago, by studying their poo. In a tunnel under the town of Herculaneum in Italy they unearthed³ a huge amount of human poo - seven hundred and fifty sacks of it to be exact! Scientists are excited and are examining it closely as it gives them lots of clues to what the Romans used to eat. But the professor leading the project says finding lots of human waste wasn't always thought to be this exciting: 

CLIP:"The same deposit was discovered in the 1940's and they didn't even report that they had found it. It seemed to be of no interest whatsoever⁴. As far as we can tell they took it off in wheelbarrows and used it to fertilise their fields." 

Last night people around the world witnessed one of the most dramatic sights in the sky - a lunar eclipse. They happen when the earth casts a shadow on the moon but a little bit of light does get through, turning it red. It was the longest full lunar eclipse in nearly eleven years: 

CLIP:"You can see the moon it's turned red, it's very rare. Everyday when you go out from the house, you look at the sky and the moon is white but today the moon is red. Yeah it's pretty awesome⁵." 

Next to space: 

CLIP:"We have lift-off of the Soyuz 27 rocket and spacecraft." 

You might remember we told you about the Japanese astronaut who is to grow cucumbers in space. Well Satoshi Furukawa has been posting web messages from the International Space Station saying he's been suffering from travel sickness! Thankfully he's feeling a bit better which is a good thing as he's supposed to live on the space station for another six months! 

And finally to a light bulb that's been glowing for... a hundred and ten years! This amazing bulb lives in a fire station in the state of California in America where it's been burning all day and all night. It's too fragile to touch or to turn off and it's intrigued⁶ everyone: 

CLIP:"Nobody knows why it keeps burning. We've had scientist from all over the country look at this light bulb - of course nobody has been able to touch this light bulb." 

For today's question we want to check out your history knowledge. The town of Herculaneum was lost, along with Pompeii in the eruption⁷ of which volcano? 

Yesterday we asked you what's the highest peak in the Alps mountain range in Europe. 

And the answer is... 

Mont Blanc 

OK, that's all from the World News for Schools team. We're back tomorrow.

1 hackers   

n.计算机迷( hacker的名词复数 )；私自存取或篡改电脑资料者，电脑“黑客”

参考例句：

• They think of viruses that infect an organization from the outside.They envision hackers breaking into their information vaults. 他们考虑来自外部的感染公司的病毒，他们设想黑客侵入到信息宝库中。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Arranging a meeting with the hackers took weeks againoff-again email exchanges. 通过几星期电子邮件往来安排见面，他们最终同意了。 来自互联网

2 hacking   

n.非法访问计算机系统和数据库的活动

参考例句：

• The patient with emphysema is hacking all day. 这个肺气肿病人整天不断地干咳。
• We undertook the task of hacking our way through the jungle. 我们负责在丛林中开路。

3 unearthed   

出土的（考古）

参考例句：

• Many unearthed cultural relics are set forth in the exhibition hall. 展览馆里陈列着许多出土文物。
• Some utensils were in a state of decay when they were unearthed. 有些器皿在出土时已经残破。

4 whatsoever   

adv.（用于否定句中以加强语气）任何；pron.无论什么

参考例句：

• There's no reason whatsoever to turn down this suggestion.没有任何理由拒绝这个建议。
• All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you,do ye even so to them.你想别人对你怎样，你就怎样对人。

5 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.

6 intrigued   

adj.好奇的，被迷住了的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的过去式)；激起…的兴趣或好奇心；“intrigue”的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• You've really intrigued me—tell me more! 你说的真有意思—再给我讲一些吧！
• He was intrigued by her story. 他被她的故事迷住了。

7 eruption   

n.火山爆发；（战争等）爆发；（疾病等）发作

参考例句：

• The temple was destroyed in the violent eruption of 1470 BC.庙宇在公元前1470年猛烈的火山爆发中摧毁了。
• The eruption of a volcano is spontaneous.火山的爆发是自发的。