英语听力精选进阶版 9657

Hi there, I'm Hayley from the BBC World News for Schools. It's Wednesday the 13th of July. 

Coming up: 

Millions more have been left in desperate need because of drought. 

The original football rules go up for auction¹. 

And Europe's biggest ever lottery² winner! 

But first, last week 10 million people in East Africa were in need of urgent help because of the drought there. Since then, the figure has gone up by another two million. At the same time, tens of thousands of people are still arriving in refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia. These people need food and shelter. David Orr is a spokesperson for the World Food Programme - they're in charge of getting food to those who need it. He says that even though they have enough to hand out at the moment, that could soon change if they don't receive more money soon... 

CLIP: "Our food stocks for the Somali refugees coming into Daadab are good until October or thereabouts. But we do have a significant funding shortfall for that operation - about 24 million dollars at the moment." 

Moving onto a quick sport update now and it looks like Carlos Tevez isn't going anywhere just yet. Manchester City have just turned down a bid from the Brazilian side Corinthians to buy him for ￡35million. Maybe not that surprising seeing as they spent 50 million on the Argentinean player. 

And staying with footy for a second, this week will see the original rules for the game go up for auction. The booklet was published in 1895, but the game has changed a little since then. To start with, matches lased two hours, teams were 20 a-side and players wore coloured hats instead of strips - plus there was no off side rule. Richard Tims is chairman of Sheffield FC - the world's oldest football club - they own the rules. So what are some of the other differences? 

CLIP: "In the very early stage of that rule book you are actually allowed to catch the ball, but not run with it. So, that went astray actually a little bit later as well." 

Well they reckon the rules could reach as much as a million dollars when they go up for auction later this week - we'll keep you updated! 

Now if you're squeamish you might want to cover your ears for this next story. Scientists have found that snails³ are able to survive intact after being eaten by birds. 

Researchers in Japan found that 15% of the snails eaten survived digestion⁴ and were found alive in the bird's droppings - nice! 

And finally, a mystery ticket holder⁵ has won an estimated two hundred and fifty million dollars in the Euro-millions lottery, the largest prize ever won in Europe. And for today's question we want to know what you would do if you won the lottery? You can e-mail us your answers at [email protected], and we'll try and read as many out as we can. 

Yesterday we asked you how many countries Argentina shares a border with? And the answer is ...5 - Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil, Bolivia, and Chile! 

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

1 auction   

n.拍卖；拍卖会；vt.拍卖

参考例句：

• They've put the contents of their house up for auction.他们把房子里的东西全都拿去拍卖了。
• They bought a new minibus with the proceeds from the auction.他们用拍卖得来的钱买了一辆新面包车。

2 lottery   

n.抽彩；碰运气的事，难于算计的事

参考例句：

• He won no less than ￡5000 in the lottery.他居然中了5000英镑的奖券。
• They thought themselves lucky in the lottery of life.他们认为自己是变幻莫测的人生中的幸运者。

3 snails   

n.蜗牛；迟钝的人；蜗牛( snail的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I think I'll try the snails for lunch—I'm feeling adventurous today. 我想我午餐要尝一下蜗牛——我今天很想冒险。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Most snails have shells on their backs. 大多数蜗牛背上有壳。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 digestion   

n.消化，吸收

参考例句：

• This kind of tea acts as an aid to digestion.这种茶可助消化。
• This food is easy of digestion.这食物容易消化。

5 holder   

n.持有者，占有者；(台，架等)支持物

参考例句：

• The holder of the office of chairman is reponsible for arranging meetings.担任主席职位的人负责安排会议。
• That runner is the holder of the world record for the hundred-yard dash.那位运动员是一百码赛跑世界纪录的保持者。