英语听力精选进阶版 13674

Rome drops Olympic bid

The Italian Prime Minister has refused to sign off Rome's bid to host the 2020 Olympic Games on economic grounds. His decision came on the eve of the formal submission¹ of bids to the International Olympic Committee.

Reporter

David Willey

Report

Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti, who is running a tight austerity campaign in order to battle the Eurozone debt crisis, made the shock announcement after a cabinet meeting. He said it would be an irresponsible use of taxpayers²' money to guarantee the funding of Rome's Olympic bid for 2020.

The cost of hosting the games had been estimated at over $12 billion. The head of Italy's Olympic Committee, Gianni Petrucci, said that a dream had vanished after two years of hard work. The Olympic Games were last held in Rome in 1960 and the committee was proposing to refurbish many of the sports facilities built at that time for the new games.

Now, Mr Monti's decision means that for another decade there will be no more talk of holding the games in Italy. But the prime minister's refusal to guarantee the funding of another Rome Olympics is likely to be welcomed on international financial markets as proof of his seriousness in tackling Italy's Euro debt crisis.

The debts incurred³ by holding the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004 have been blamed for contributing to Greece's current economic disaster. Rome's withdrawal⁴ from the 2020 Olympic bid leaves four cities in the running for hosting the games: Doha, Madrid, Istanbul and Tokyo.

1 submission   

n.服从，投降；温顺，谦虚；提出

参考例句：

• The defeated general showed his submission by giving up his sword.战败将军缴剑表示投降。
• No enemy can frighten us into submission.任何敌人的恐吓都不能使我们屈服。

2 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

3 incurred   

[医]招致的，遭受的； incur的过去式

参考例句：

• She had incurred the wrath of her father by marrying without his consent 她未经父亲同意就结婚，使父亲震怒。
• We will reimburse any expenses incurred. 我们将付还所有相关费用。

4 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。