英语听力精选进阶版 7451（在线收听）

Police in Syria have used tear gas and batons to break up crowds of anti-government protesters marching towards the centre of Damascus in a rare protest there. There have been other demonstrations in cities across Syria. Owen Bennett-Jones reports.

叙利亚首都大马士革发生了罕见的抗议活动，警方使用催泪弹和警棍驱散了向市中心行进的反政府抗议者。叙利亚各地的城市还发生了其他的抗议活动。Owen Bennett-Jones报道。

The protests were large and took place in towns and cities all over the country including Damascus. Many thousands of people marched towards the capital until they came face to face with a large deployment of security personnel determined to prevent them from reaching the centre of the city. Witnesses say the police beat the protesters with batons and used tear gas to disperse the crowds. There are also reports of live ammunition having been used in one Damascus suburb. Elsewhere including in the city where the protests began, Deraa, the authorities are reported to have allowed the protests to occur without trying to break them up.

抗议的规模非常大，遍布叙利亚各地的城镇，包括大马士革在内。数十万人向首都行进，直到他们跟试图防止抗议者进入市中心的大量安全力量短兵相接。还有报道称大马士革的安全力量使用了实弹。在其他地方，包括最初开始抗议的德拉，报道称，当局允许抗议活动进行，没有试图驱散。

Human rights groups say rape and sexual abuse have risen to alarming levels in Ivory Coast during the last few weeks, as forces loyal to the President Alassane Ouattara battled for control. The aid charity, the International Rescue Committee, spoke to women who had fled the conflict into neighbouring Liberia, where more than 100,000 refugees are seeking shelter. From Ivory Coast's commercial capital Abidjan, John James reports.

人权组织称，过去几个月，科特迪瓦的强奸和性虐待上升到骇人听闻的水平，忠于总统瓦塔拉的力量正在争夺控制权。救助慈善机构，国际救援委员会采访了一名躲过这场冲突，逃到邻国利比里亚的女子。现在有100,000多名难民在这里寻求庇护。John James在科特迪瓦商业首都阿比让报道。

Women who've fled the fighting in Ivory Coast have told aid workers stories of mass rape and abuse. In some cases, women have been imprisoned for up to a week as sexual slaves, brutally raped by numerous fighters before being released. Many others were killed. One woman was forced to watch the mass rape of her sister who then died from her injuries. The youngest reported victim was seven years old.

逃离了科特迪瓦冲突的女子为救助工作者讲述了大规模的强奸和虐待事件。在某些情况下，一些女子作为性奴隶被监禁长达一周的时间，被大量战士残暴地强奸之后才获释，还有许多女子被杀害。

Final preparations are taking place in Nigeria for Saturday's presidential election, the biggest such poll in Africa. The head of the African Union's observer mission said it had found some shortcomings but was confident that the electoral commission would resolve them. The current President Goodluck Jonathan is regarded as the clear front-runner, even though his People's Democratic Party lost seats in parliamentary elections last week.

尼日利亚周六总统选举最后的准备工作正在进行，这是非洲规模最大的选举活动。非洲联盟观察团任务负责人发现了一些缺陷，但是他有信心选举委员会一定能解决这些问题。现任总统乔纳森被认为当之无愧的领先者，尽管他领导的人民民主党在上周的议会选举中输掉了一些席位。

President Obama has said that failure to agree with Congress to allow the US to continue borrowing could plunge the world economy back into recession. He made the remark in an interview with the news agency Associated Press. Our economics correspondent Andrew Walker reports.

奥巴马总统表示，不能与国会达成协议允许美国继续借款将使世界经济重新陷入衰退。他在接受美联社的采访时发表了这种观点。我们的经济记者Andrew Walker报道。

The United States government currently pays for a quarter of its spending with borrowed money, so the accumulated debt continues to rise, and in May it'll reach the maximum allowed by Congress, over $14tn. If Congress refuses to increase the limit, it would severely disrupt government business, and if that continued long enough, it could have a negative impact on the economy in the US and unsettle global financial markets. However, neither the Republicans in Congress nor President Obama would want to be blamed for that, so they have a compelling incentive to reach an agreement.

美国政府目前四分之一的支出依靠借款来支付，所以累积的债务将不断增加，五月份将达到国会允许的最高限额，超过14兆美元。如果国会不赞同增加限额，将严重扰乱政府的运作，如果持续时间太长，将会对美国的经济产生消极影响，导致全球金融市场的动荡。然而，国会共和党和奥巴马总统都不想因此而受到谴责，所以，这强迫他们一定要达成协议。

World News from the BBC

A meeting of Nato foreign ministers in Berlin has ended without a commitment from members of the alliance to send more strike planes to Libya. The Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the threat to Libyan civilians would not disappear while Colonel Gaddafi was still in power, but he reiterated that Nato was strictly conforming to the UN mandate to protect civilians.

北约外交部长在柏林召开的会议结束，未能获得成员国向利比亚增派攻击机的承诺，北约秘书长拉斯穆森表示，只要卡扎菲上校继续执政，利比亚平民面临的威胁就不会消失。但是他强调说，北约将严格遵守联合国保护平民的命令。

The Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor has described as "unacceptable" the war crimes convictions of two former generals regarded as war heroes in Croatia. Ante Gotovina, one of the most senior Croats to be brought to justice, was jailed for 24 years for atrocities against Serbs in 1995 during the breakup of Yugoslavia. His co-accused Mladen Markac received an 18-year sentence. The Croatian prime minister said her government would appeal against the judgments.

克罗地亚总理亚德兰卡·科索尔(Jadranka Kosor)称在克罗地亚被奉为战争英雄的两名前将军被判战争罪是“难以接受的”。被审判的职位最高的克罗地亚人Ante Gotovina在1995年南斯拉夫解体后对塞尔维亚人实施了种族大屠杀，被判处24年的监禁。Mladen Markac被判处18年的监禁。克罗地亚总理表示，她的政府将针对该判决提起上诉。

A court in Chile has ordered the exhumation of the remains of the former President Salvador Allende as part of an investigation into the cause of his death in 1973. The exhumation must be carried out in the next 30 days. James Read reports.

智利一家法庭下令发掘出前总统萨尔瓦多·阿连德(Salvador Allende)的遗骨，对他1973年死亡的原因进行调查。发掘行动必须在未来30天之内进行。James Read报道。

Salvador Allende's body was found in Chile's presidential palace after it was attacked by troops and planes during the coup that brought General Augusto Pinochet to power. Witnesses at the time said he killed himself rather than surrender using a rifle given to him by his friend, the Cuban leader Fidel Castro, but some supporters of the left-wing leader think he may have been killed by soldiers. A new investigation into his death was launched in January. It's one of hundreds of unresolved human rights cases dating back to military rule when thousands of Chileans were tortured and killed.

在当初让奥古斯托·皮诺切特(Augusto Pinochet)上台的那次军事政变中，智利总统宫殿被军队和飞机袭击，随后，在这里发现了萨尔瓦多·阿连德(Salvador Allende)的尸体。当时的目击者表示，他是使用他的朋友，古巴领袖卡斯特罗送给他的一把手枪自杀，而不是投降。但是左翼领袖的一些支持者认为他可能是被士兵所杀。一月份智利展开了关于前总统死因的新的调查。这是追溯到数千名智利人被虐待并杀害的军事统治时期数百件悬而未决的人权案件之一。

Severe storms in the United States have killed at least nine people. Strong winds caused extensive damage with electricity pylons being torn down in the state of Arkansas. At least 25 people were injured when a tornado flattened buildings and toppled trees in the small town of Tushka, Oklahoma.

美国遭遇严重暴雨袭击，造成至少9人死亡。大风造成阿肯色州高压线铁塔受损。在俄克拉荷马州的小镇Tushka，龙卷风将建筑夷为平地，将树木连根拔起，造成至少25人受伤。