英语听力精选进阶版 9939

The White House has denounced as an exercising futility¹ the Republican’s proposal for avoiding the looming² with fiscal³ cliff. A set of budgetary constraints⁴ due to kick in by the end of the year, which unless averted⁵ could tip the US economy back into recession. The Republicans want to limit any tax rises to those Americans earning more than $1m a year. President Obama is seeking a much lower threshold. Correspondents say the Republican proposal, which has been put to a vote in the House of Representatives, is almost guaranteed to die in the Senate and will be vetoed by Mr Obama if it didn’t. The Republican speaker in the US House of Representatives, John Boehner, urged the Senate to act.

白宫称共和党意在避免财政悬崖的提案为徒劳。美国的预算紧缩措施将于年度开始，如果无法避免之，美国经济将再度陷入衰退。共和党希望限制对年收入100万以上的美国人的增税，而总统奥巴马希望降低税收门槛。记者称共和党向众议院提交的提案即将在参议院夭折，如果幸免，也会得到奥巴马的否决。共和党在美国众议院的发言人约翰·博纳敦促参议院采取行动。

“I am not convinced at all that when the bill passes the House today that it will die in the Senate. At some point, the Senate has to act. We have a bill sitting at the desk in the Senate that projects all Americans from an increase of taxes. They could take up that bill sitting at the desk, they could pass it, they could amend⁶ it and they could help move the process. But to date they’ve done nothing.”

“有人认为今天众议院通过的提案会在参议院夭折，我不这么认为。到了一定时候，参议院必须采取行动。我们向参议院桌上提交了法案，希望使所有美国人免于增税。他们本应该拿起桌子上的这份法案，通过它，修订它，从而促进这个进程。但到目前为止他们无所作为。”

The company that owns the New York Stock Exchange has been sold to a rival—the American firm Intercontinental Exchange for more than $8bn dollars. Our business reporter is Mark Gregory.

纽约证券交易所的母公司已被对手洲际交易所集团以80多亿美元收购，商业记者Mark Gregory报道。

One of the symbols of American capitalism⁷, the two-centuries-old New York Stock Exchange, is giving up its independence to a rival that’s only been in business 12 years. However, the new owner intends to make few changes in how the New York market operates. This is intended to smooth the path to approval for the deal by financial regulators. Exchanges are keen to merge⁸ as a way of cutting costs.

拥有200多年历史的纽约证券交易所是美国资本主义的象征，该公司目前已被12年前才成立的对手收购。然而，新主人无意在纽约市场运作上做多少调整。这是为了方便金融监管机构批准交易，而各交易所希望通过兼并来削减成本。

The United Nations Security Council has unanimously approved the deployment⁹ of an African-led military force to northern Mali now under the control of Islamist militants¹⁰ and separatist rebels. The resolution authorizes¹¹ the force to use all necessary measures to help Mali’s government recover the north from the rebels. But it first requires progress to be made on political reconciliation¹².

联合国安理会一致批准向马里北部派出一支由非洲为主导的军队，马里北部目前在伊斯兰武装分子和分裂主义叛军控制之下。决议批准军队采取一切措施帮助马里政府从叛军手中夺回北部。但决议首先要求在政治和解上取得进展。

The United Nations says 55 Somalis and Ethiopians are feared dead after their boat capsized off the coast of Somalia. Tens of thousands of people from the Horn of Africa cross the gulf¹³ every year fleeing violence and economic hardship. Mary Harper has the details.

联合国称55名索马里人和埃塞俄比亚人在索马里翻船后可能已死亡。为逃避暴力和经济困境，每年非洲之角有数万人越过海湾。Mary Harper报道。

The United Nations says the over-crowded boat ran into trouble almost as soon as it left the port of Bossaso in north-eastern Somalia. It’s common for boats to capsize and migrants to drown in the stretch of sea between Somalia and Yemen. But it’s the scale of this accident that’s striking. The UN says this is the biggest loss of life in the Gulf of Aden since February last year when 57 Somali migrants drowned.

联合国称这艘超载的船在刚离开索马里东北部的萨索港就遇到了麻烦。索马里和也门之间海域翻船和移民淹死都是常事，但这次事故规模大令人吃惊。联合国称这是自去年2月份57名索马里溺水后亚丁海湾发生的最大事故。

In Somalia itself, there have been fierce clashes in the port town of Kismayo, which in September was seized from the Islamist group al-Shabab by Kenyan and Somali forces. A number of people are said to have been killed.

在索马里国内，港口城镇基斯马尤冲突激烈，9月份该市被肯尼亚和索马里军队从伊斯兰阿尔沙巴布手中夺回。据悉大批人被杀。

World News from the BBC

President Putin has expressed support for retaliatory¹⁴ legislation against a US move to blacklist Russian officials suspected of human rights abuses. The controversial bill bans adoptions¹⁵ of Russian children by Americans, about 1,000 of which take place every year. Mr Putin described the bill as emotional but appropriate, although he did not commit to signing it until he’d seen the final version.

由于美国将嫌疑违反人权的俄罗斯官员列入黑名单，总统普京表示支持对美国采取报复法规。这项有争议的法案禁止美国人收养俄罗斯儿童，每年约有1000名儿童被美国人收养。普京称这项法案很情绪化，但很合适，尽管他要在看到最终版本后再签署。

The Wikileaks founder¹⁶ Julian Assange has said his organization will release a million more secret documents. He was speaking from a balcony at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he claimed asylum¹⁷ six months ago to avoid extradition¹⁸ to Sweden to face allegations of sexual assault.

维基解密的创始者朱利安·阿桑奇称他的组织将公开100万份机密文档。他在伦敦厄瓜多尔使馆的阳台上发表讲话，6个月前他在这里寻求避难，以免于被遣送瑞典并接受性侵指控。

“Next year we will be equally busy. Wikileaks has already over a million documents being prepared to be released, documents that affect every country in the world, every country in this world.”

“明年我们会很忙，维基解密将公开100多万份文档，这些文档将影响到全世界的各个国家。”

Mr Assange said an investigation¹⁹ by the US authorities over the publication of secret documents posed a continued threat to his life and work.

阿桑奇称美国当局对秘密文档的出版进行调查，这对他的生活和工作都造成了威胁。

A woman in the Canadian province of Ontario has gone to court to regain²⁰ custody²¹ of her monkey after the animal was found on its own at an IKEA furniture store. Lee Carter has more.

加拿大安大略省一名妇女的猴子被发现出现在宜家商店，这名妇女已经从法院再次得到对猴子的监护权。Lee Carter报道。

Millions of people have viewed the video of Darwin, the young Japanese macaque running loose shortly after he apparently²² escaped from a locked vehicle in an IKEA car park. After being seized by city of Toronto animal control officials, he was moved to a primate²³ sanctuary²⁴ where he is reported to be settling in. It is illegal to have this kind of exotic pet in Toronto. But in court today the former owner Yasmin Nakhuda argued that the seizure²⁵ was not legal because she claimed she was made to hand over ownership of the monkey under threats of criminal prosecution²⁶.

无数人都看到一段视频，显示这只从宜家停车场锁着的车辆跑出来的日本小猕猴达尔文肆意横行。猕猴后来被安大略省动物管理办公室捉住，然后被送到据说是他居住地的灵长动物庇护所。在安大略省，收养这种珍奇动物是非法的，但今天在法庭上，猴子的原主人纳赫达称没收猴子是非法的，因为她说她是在刑事指控的威胁下被要求接管这只猴子的。

 

1 futility   

n.无用

参考例句：

• She could see the utter futility of trying to protest. 她明白抗议是完全无用的。
• The sheer futility of it all exasperates her. 它毫无用处，这让她很生气。

2 looming   

n.上现蜃景（光通过低层大气发生异常折射形成的一种海市蜃楼）v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的现在分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近

参考例句：

• The foothills were looming ahead through the haze. 丘陵地带透过薄雾朦胧地出现在眼前。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Then they looked up. Looming above them was Mount Proteome. 接着他们往上看，在其上隐约看到的是蛋白质组山。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 回顾与展望

3 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

4 constraints   

强制( constraint的名词复数 )； 限制； 约束

参考例句：

• Data and constraints can easily be changed to test theories. 信息库中的数据和限制条件可以轻易地改变以检验假设。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史
• What are the constraints that each of these imply for any design? 这每种产品的要求和约束对于设计意味着什么？ 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

5 averted   

防止，避免( avert的过去式和过去分词 )； 转移

参考例句：

• A disaster was narrowly averted. 及时防止了一场灾难。
• Thanks to her skilful handling of the affair, the problem was averted. 多亏她对事情处理得巧妙，才避免了麻烦。

6 amend   

vt.修改，修订，改进；n.[pl.]赔罪，赔偿

参考例句：

• The teacher advised him to amend his way of living.老师劝他改变生活方式。
• You must amend your pronunciation.你必须改正你的发音。

7 capitalism   

n.资本主义

参考例句：

• The essence of his argument is that capitalism cannot succeed.他的论点的核心是资本主义不能成功。
• Capitalism began to develop in Russia in the 19th century.十九世纪资本主义在俄国开始发展。

8 merge   

v.(使)结合，(使)合并，(使)合为一体

参考例句：

• I can merge my two small businesses into a large one.我可以将我的两家小商店合并为一家大商行。
• The directors have decided to merge the two small firms together.董事们已决定把这两家小商号归并起来。

9 deployment   

n. 部署,展开

参考例句：

• He has inquired out the deployment of the enemy troops. 他已查出敌军的兵力部署情况。
• Quality function deployment (QFD) is a widely used customer-driven quality, design and manufacturing management tool. 质量功能展开(quality function deployment,QFD)是一个广泛应用的顾客需求驱动的设计、制造和质量管理工具。

10 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

11 authorizes   

授权，批准，委托( authorize的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The dictionary authorizes the two spellings 'traveler' and 'traveller'. 字典裁定traveler和traveller两种拼法都对。
• The dictionary authorizes the two spellings "honor" and "honour.". 字典裁定 honor 及 honour 两种拼法均可。

12 reconciliation   

n.和解，和谐，一致

参考例句：

• He was taken up with the reconciliation of husband and wife.他忙于做夫妻间的调解工作。
• Their handshake appeared to be a gesture of reconciliation.他们的握手似乎是和解的表示。

13 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

14 retaliatory   

adj.报复的

参考例句：

• The process can take years before the WTO approves retaliatory action. 在WTO通过此行动之前，这个程序恐怕要等上一阵子了。 来自互联网
• Retaliatory tariffs on China are tantamount to taxing ourselves as a punishment. 将惩罚性关税强加于中国相当于对我们自己实施课税惩罚。 来自互联网

15 adoptions   

n.采用，收养( adoption的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Adoption agencies are always so open to alternative family adoptions. 领养中介机构永远都对领养家庭敞开。 来自电影对白
• The number of adoptions has grown in the past year. 去年，收养子女的数字增加了。 来自互联网

16 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。

17 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

18 extradition   

n.引渡（逃犯）

参考例句：

• The smuggler is in prison tonight,awaiting extradition to Britain.这名走私犯今晚在监狱，等待引渡到英国。
• He began to trouble concerning the extradition laws.他开始费尽心思地去想关于引渡法的问题。

19 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

20 regain   

vt.重新获得，收复，恢复

参考例句：

• He is making a bid to regain his World No.1 ranking.他正为重登世界排名第一位而努力。
• The government is desperate to regain credibility with the public.政府急于重新获取公众的信任。

21 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。

22 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

23 primate   

n.灵长类（目）动物，首席主教；adj.首要的

参考例句：

• 14 percent of primate species are highly endangered.14%的灵长类物种处于高度濒危状态。
• The woolly spider monkey is the largest primate in the Americas.绒毛蛛猴是美洲最大的灵长类动物。

24 sanctuary   

n.圣所，圣堂，寺庙；禁猎区，保护区

参考例句：

• There was a sanctuary of political refugees behind the hospital.医院后面有一个政治难民的避难所。
• Most countries refuse to give sanctuary to people who hijack aeroplanes.大多数国家拒绝对劫机者提供庇护。

25 seizure   

n.没收；占有；抵押

参考例句：

• The seizure of contraband is made by customs.那些走私品是被海关没收的。
• The courts ordered the seizure of all her property.法院下令查封她所有的财产。

26 prosecution   

n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营

参考例句：

• The Smiths brought a prosecution against the organizers.史密斯家对组织者们提出起诉。
• He attempts to rebut the assertion made by the prosecution witness.他试图反驳原告方证人所作的断言。