英语听力精选进阶版 13708

 A war of words

Summary

20 March 2012

At a recent conference, Salman Rushdie attacked the former Pakistan cricket captain and politician, Imran Khan, whose political fortunes seem to have been turning in recent months. Mr Khan had been invited to the conference, but declined to attend when he heard Mr Rushdie would be there too. 

Reporter

Marianne Landzettel

Report

Salman Rushdie hasn't been out of the headlines in India much in the past few months. When the organisers of the Jaipur literary festival abandoned plans for him to speak because of fears that protests by Muslim groups might lead to violence, Mr Rushdie called the move a "black farce¹" that stifled² free speech.

A few weeks earlier Imran Khan used his appearance at the literary festival in Calcutta to accuse Mr Rushdie of "inflicting³ pain on society" through his writing. 

And in a similar vein⁴ Mr Khan declined to come to this weekend's conference in Delhi. Salman Rushdie's writing, he said, "had caused immeasurable hurt to Muslims across the globe". 

Salman Rushdie said he doubted that Imran Khan had ever read The Satanic Verses. 

Warming to his subject, Salman Rushdie pointed⁵ out what he believes to be a physical likeness⁶ between Imran Khan and Muammar Gaddafi. "If you were to make a film about Gaddafi's life, and you wanted a slightly better looking version," Mr Rushdie said, "you might cast Imran Khan." 

It was this comparison several English-language papers in Pakistan picked up as a headline for their coverage⁷ of the Delhi event. 

The Express Tribune also published the result of a poll: 76% of its readers, it said, agreed with Imran Khan's decision to pull out of his Delhi speaking engagement. There has been no official reaction to Salman Rushdie's comments either in India or in Pakistan.

1 farce   

n.闹剧，笑剧，滑稽戏；胡闹

参考例句：

• They played a shameful role in this farce.他们在这场闹剧中扮演了可耻的角色。
• The audience roared at the farce.闹剧使观众哄堂大笑。

2 stifled   

（使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的过去式和过去分词 )； 镇压，遏制； 堵

参考例句：

• The gas stifled them. 煤气使他们窒息。
• The rebellion was stifled. 叛乱被镇压了。

3 inflicting   

把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He was charged with maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm. 他被控蓄意严重伤害他人身体。
• It's impossible to do research without inflicting some pain on animals. 搞研究不让动物遭点罪是不可能的。

4 vein   

n.血管，静脉；叶脉，纹理；情绪；vt.使成脉络

参考例句：

• The girl is not in the vein for singing today.那女孩今天没有心情唱歌。
• The doctor injects glucose into the patient's vein.医生把葡萄糖注射入病人的静脉。

5 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

6 likeness   

n.相像，相似（之处）

参考例句：

• I think the painter has produced a very true likeness.我认为这位画家画得非常逼真。
• She treasured the painted likeness of her son.她珍藏她儿子的画像。

7 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。