英语听力精选进阶版 10198

Thirteen people including a suspected gunman have been killed during a shooting rampage inside a US navy complex in central Washington. Police said the suspect was a 34-year-old Texan, and another gunman might still be at large. Staff who were arriving for work when the first shots were fired have described a chaotic¹ scramble² to flee the building. At a news conference within the past hour, Washington’s mayor, Vincent Gray, said the city had experienced nothing like it before.

华盛顿中部美国海军总部大楼发生枪击案，包括嫌疑持枪歹徒在内的13人死亡。警方称嫌犯是一名34岁的德克萨斯人，另一名歹徒仍然逍遥法外。当第一阵枪声响起时，有的工作人员刚来上班，他们称现场一片慌乱，人们从大楼跑出。在刚才举行的新闻发布会上，华盛顿市长文森特·格雷称该市从未经历过这类事件。

“This is a horrific tragedy, certainly one of the worst in recent memory and certainly I don’t know we can ever remember anything quite like this here in the city. We know these kinds of things have happened in other places, in other cities in America, but nothing like this here in the District of Columbia.”

“这是可怕的惨剧，当然是近来最严重的事件，想不起来华盛顿曾发生过这样的案件。我们知道美国其他城市发生过这种事，但哥伦比亚区却从未发生过。”

The police said there was no reason to believe it was a terrorist attack. From Washington, here’s Katy Watson.

警方称没有理由认为这是恐怖主义袭击，凯蒂·沃森在华盛顿报道。

In President Obama’s words, America is mourning yet another mass shooting. It started nine hours ago at the Washington Navy Yard—one of the country’s most important naval-command centres. According to the FBI, one gunman was killed. He’s been identified as 34-year-old Aaron Alexis. The shooting led to tightened³ security on Capitol Hill. The Senate was closed down while police continued the hunt. Officers say there’s no motive⁴ for the attacks, but questions have already been raised about how in a building with heavy security something like this could have happened.

用总统奥巴马的话来说，美国正为另一场大规模枪击案哀悼。案件发生在9小时前的华盛顿海军大院，这里是美国最重要的海军控制中心。联邦调查局称一名枪手死亡，此人名叫亚伦·亚历克西斯，34岁。枪击案发生后，国会山加强了安全措施。参议院关了门，警方继续进行追捕。官方称这场袭击不存在动机，但人们质疑像这样安保重重的大楼居然能发生这样的枪击案。

United Nations inspectors⁵ have concluded that chemical weapons were used on a relatively⁶ large scale in an attack near the Syrian capital Damascus last month in the first official confirmation⁷ by independent experts of chemical weapons’ use in Syria. The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said their report provided overwhelming evidence of a chemical attack. Here’s our diplomatic correspondent James Robbins.

经过叙利亚化武使用调查独立专家的首次官方确认，联合国检查员得出结论，上月首都大马士革附近的袭击中使用了相当大规模的化学武器。联合国秘书长潘基文称这份报告提供了化武袭击的有力证据，外交记者詹姆斯·罗宾斯报道。

The inspectors say in their report “the environmental chemical and medical samples we have collected provide clear and convincing evidence that surface-to-surface rockets containing the nerve agent sarin were used on August 21st”. The conclusion of their report is that chemical weapons have been used in the on-going conflict on a relatively large scale. The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the international community had a responsibility to hold the perpetrators accountable. When he went on to add that Syria had belatedly acknowledged it possessed⁸ chemical weapons, the UN secretary general seemed to point the finger of blame pretty clearly.

检查员在报告中称，“我们收集的环境化学和医学样本清楚且有力地表明，8月21日的袭击中使用了含有神经毒素沙林的地对地火箭。”报告得出结论：在叙利亚持续的冲突中，化学武器一直被相当大规模地使用。联合国秘书长潘基文说，国际社会有责任追究犯罪者的责任，他说叙利亚承认拥有化学武器太晚了，联合国秘书长似乎已经明确指出了罪责人。

Turkey has shot down a Syrian military helicopter. The Turkish deputy prime minister said the helicopter had strayed two kilometres into Turkish airspace and was hit with a missile after repeated warnings. Syria said the helicopter had strayed only a short distance into Turkish airspace. A statement by Syria’s armed forces said Turkey’s hasty reaction showed its true intention was to escalate⁹ the situation on the border.

土耳其击落一架叙利亚武装直升机，土耳其副总理称这架直升机越境两公里飞到土耳其领空，在多次得到警告后被导弹击落。叙利亚称这架直升机只是越过土耳其领空很短的距离，叙利亚军队的声明称，土耳其的仓促应对表明其真实目的是使边界紧张局势升级。

An attempt to raise the capsized cruise ship, the Costa Concordia, is continuing into the night in Italy. Engineers have succeeded in lifting the luxury liner off the rocks 20 months after it ran aground off the island of Giglio. But the BBC’s Alan Johnston who’s watching the salvage¹⁰ effort says the operation has taken longer than expected.

意大利努力扶正倾翻邮轮歌诗达协和号的工作继续到夜晚，这艘船在吉廖岛触礁20个月后，工程师成功将这艘豪华邮轮从石块处移开。但观看打捞工作的BBC记者艾伦·约翰斯顿说，这项任务花费的时间比料想的长。

Late in the afternoon, a difficulty with a cable attached to the wreck¹¹ led to more than an hour suspension of the entire operation and the programme is well behind schedule now. There is originally talk of having the ship up on her keel by sunset, but that target was badly missed. They are talking about working all through the night and that it’ll be dawn at the earliest before this thing ends.

下午晚些时候，因为很难将绳索绑到邮轮上，整个打捞工作推迟了一个多小时，导致任务已经迟于原计划。原本希望在日落前将邮轮浮起来，但这个目标没有实现。现在工程师们正商量晚上加班加点，等任务完成最早要到黎明了。

The British government is to sell off part of the stake in one of the country’s leading banks that it required at the height of the financial crisis. It used tax payers’ money to rescue Lloyds bank in 2008 and now plans to sell 6% of its 39% shareholding¹². This is likely to raise more than $5bn, meaning the British government will get back more or less the price it paid for these shares.

因为处于金融危机最严重时期，英国政府即将出售该国最重要银行之一的部分股份。2008年该国曾用纳税人的钱来拯救劳埃德银行，如今计划出售39%控股权中的6%。这可能将筹资50亿美元，这意味着英国政府将收回为这些股份付出的成本。

A mudslide in Mexico’s eastern state of Veracruz has killed at least 12 people hours after Hurricane Ingrid made landfall on the country’s gulf¹³ coast. Another 22 people have died since Saturday on the western Pacific coast which had been battered¹⁴ by Tropical Storm Manuel. The area around the resort of Acapulco has been one of the most-affected.

就在英格丽飓风抵达墨西哥湾岸区数小时后，东部韦拉克鲁斯州发生泥石流，导致至少12人丧生。自周六以来，西太平洋海岸一直遭受热带风暴曼努埃尔的袭击，导致另外22人丧生。阿卡普尔科风景区周围的地区也是受损最严重的地区之一。

The former Malaysian communist party leader Chin Peng has died in exile in Thailand. He was 88. For decades Chin Peng led a guerrilla campaign in the jungles of Malaysia. He fought the Japanese in the Second World War, then British colonial authorities and finally the Malaysian government after independence. The communist party signed a peace treaty in 1989, but Chin Peng was never allowed to return from exile.

马来西亚前共产党领袖陈平在流亡泰国期间去世，终年88岁。陈平在马来西亚丛林带领游击队作战数十年，二战中打过日本、英国殖民当局，并在独立后与马来西亚政府作战。该共产党于1989年签署和平协议，但陈平从未被允许结束流放回国。

1 chaotic   

adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的

参考例句：

• Things have been getting chaotic in the office recently.最近办公室的情况越来越乱了。
• The traffic in the city was chaotic.这城市的交通糟透了。

2 scramble   

v.爬行，攀爬，杂乱蔓延，碎片，片段，废料

参考例句：

• He broke his leg in his scramble down the wall.他爬墙摔断了腿。
• It was a long scramble to the top of the hill.到山顶须要爬登一段长路。

3 tightened   

收紧( tighten的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）变紧； （使）绷紧； 加紧

参考例句：

• The rope holding the boat suddenly tightened and broke. 系船的绳子突然绷断了。
• His index finger tightened on the trigger but then relaxed again. 他的食指扣住扳机，然后又松开了。

4 motive   

n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的

参考例句：

• The police could not find a motive for the murder.警察不能找到谋杀的动机。
• He had some motive in telling this fable.他讲这寓言故事是有用意的。

5 inspectors   

n.检查员( inspector的名词复数 )；（英国公共汽车或火车上的）查票员；（警察）巡官；检阅官

参考例句：

• They got into the school in the guise of inspectors. 他们假装成视察员进了学校。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Inspectors checked that there was adequate ventilation. 检查员已检查过，通风良好。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

7 confirmation   

n.证实，确认，批准

参考例句：

• We are waiting for confirmation of the news.我们正在等待证实那个消息。
• We need confirmation in writing before we can send your order out.给你们发送订购的货物之前，我们需要书面确认。

8 possessed   

adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的

参考例句：

• He flew out of the room like a man possessed.他像着了魔似地猛然冲出房门。
• He behaved like someone possessed.他行为举止像是魔怔了。

9 escalate   

v.(使)逐步增长(或发展)，(使)逐步升级

参考例句：

• It would tempt Israel's neighbors to escalate their demands.它将诱使以色列的邻国不断把他们的要求升级。
• Defeat could cause one side or other to escalate the conflict.失败可能会导致其中一方将冲突升级。

10 salvage   

v.救助，营救，援救；n.救助，营救

参考例句：

• All attempts to salvage the wrecked ship failed.抢救失事船只的一切努力都失败了。
• The salvage was piled upon the pier.抢救出的财产被堆放在码头上。

11 wreck   

n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难

参考例句：

• Weather may have been a factor in the wreck.天气可能是造成这次失事的原因之一。
• No one can wreck the friendship between us.没有人能够破坏我们之间的友谊。

12 shareholding   

n.股权

参考例句：

• Shareholding commercial banks must exercise an independent system of board of directors. 股份制商业银行必须实行独立董事制度。 来自互联网
• Asset re-structuring: to conduct shareholding reform for high quality assets. 资产重组：对优质资产进行股份制改造。 来自互联网

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 battered   

adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损

参考例句：

• He drove up in a battered old car.他开着一辆又老又破的旧车。
• The world was brutally battered but it survived.这个世界遭受了惨重的创伤,但它还是生存下来了。