英语听力精选进阶版 7524（在线收听）

News International, the media group at the centre of a major phone hacking scandal, says this Sunday's edition of its News of the World newspaper will be the last. The company's chairman James Murdoch said the paper had been in the business of holding others to account but had failed when it came to itself. Here's Rob Watson.

位于重大电话窃听风波丑闻风口浪尖的新闻国际集团表示，本周末的世界新闻报将是本报最后一版。该公司主席詹姆斯·默多克(James Murdoch)表示，这份报纸曾经要求其他报纸提供真实的报道，但是自己却没有做到。Rob Watson报道。

The statement says if the allegations against the paper are true, they are "inhuman" and the newspaper "has no place" in the News International company. Mr Murdoch says the paper has a proud history of fighting crime and exposing wrongdoing, but that the good things it does have been sullied by behaviour that was wrong. This truly dramatic move seems designed to take some of the sting out of the crisis and to show that the Murdoch empire is punishing itself.

该声明称，如果对该报纸的指控是真实的，那么他们是非常“不人道的”，这份报纸在新闻国际公司将“没有立足之地”。默多克表示，该报纸拥有打击犯罪，披露错误的光辉历史，但是它曾经的善行被错误的行为玷污了。这次引人注目的举动似乎是为了让自己摆脱危机，展示默多克王国在对自己进行惩罚。

Some analysts have suggested that the company might launch a new Sunday paper with a different name.

一些分析家表示，该公司可能会用新的名字发行一份新的周日报纸。

The Metropolitan Police in London say detectives investigating the phone hacking scandal at the News of the World have identified 4,000 potential victims. They say hundreds more people have contacted them, suspecting that their phone messages have been accessed.

伦敦警务处表示，对世界新闻报电话窃听丑闻进行调查的探员鉴别出4,000名潜在的受害者。他们说，另外几百人曾经联系他们，怀疑他们的手机信息被人窃听过。

The European Court of Human Rights has ordered Britain to pay tens of thousands of dollars to the relatives of Iraqis killed by British troops during the occupation of Iraq. Britain had maintained that human rights laws did not apply to its troops based outside Europe. Campaigners say the ruling paves the way for other Iraqis to seek redress in British courts.

欧洲人权法庭下令英国向在伊拉克战争期间牺牲的英国军人的亲属赔偿数万美元。英国坚持称，人权法并不适用欧洲以外的军队。活动积极分子表示，该裁决为其他伊拉克人在英国法庭寻求赔偿铺平了道路。

Just over a month since the rocket attack that nearly killed him, the Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has appeared on state television, thanking the Saudi authorities, who've overseen his medical treatment. President Saleh, who is still receiving treatment in the Saudi capital, said he'd had several operations.

经历了几乎导致他丧命的火箭弹袭击一个月之后，也门总统萨利赫在国家电视台露面，对为他提供治疗的沙特当局表示感谢。现在仍在沙特首都接受治疗的萨利赫表示他经历了几次手术。

"I've undergone more than eight successful operations. I had burns because of the incident. A number of other officials, such as the speaker of parliament, the prime minister, his deputy and the governor of Sanaa, have also received treatment. More than 87 people were injured in this incident."

“我总共经历了超过八次成功的手术。我在该事故中被烧伤。几名其他官员，例如议会议长，总理，副总理和萨那地方长官，都接受了手术。这次事故中共有超过87人受伤。”

President Obama says Democrats and Republicans are still far apart in talks over America's growing debt. He said both parties now had to accept painful choices. From Washington, Jane O'Brien.

奥巴马总统表示，民主党和共和党在美国不断增长的债务方面的对话仍然大相径庭。他说，两党现在都必须接受痛苦的选择。华盛顿，Jane O'Brien报道。

Negotiations over the US budget are becoming urgent because Republicans say they won't raise the national debt ceiling until spending cuts are agreed. That gives the government just a few more weeks to reach a deal or face defaulting on its loans. The biggest sticking points are possible cuts to welfare payments to poor and elderly Americans; another is higher taxes. There's speculation that the White House is hoping to draw support from Democrats and Republicans by agreeing to a bigger budget reduction - $4tn over the next 10 years.

关于美国预算的谈判已经非常迫切，因为共和党宣称他们不会提高全国债务限额，除非同意削减支出。这使政府只有几周的时间来达成协议或者拖欠贷款。问题最大的症结是可能削减对穷人和老年人的福利支出，另外一个是提高税收。有人猜测，白宫希望通过更大幅度的预算削减——未来十年内削减4兆美元来获取民主党和共和党的支持。

World News from the BBC

There have been new calls for the release of the BBC journalist Urunboy Usmonov, who was detained in Tajikistan last month on charges that he is a member of a banned Islamic group. Amnesty International and Europe's human rights body, the OSCE, said he must be freed immediately. Amnesty said that Usmonov appeared to have been tortured while being held by the Tajik authorities. The BBC says the allegations against Mr Usmonov are unfounded.

相关组织再次呼吁释放BBC记者Urunboy Usmonov。此人被指控为被禁止的伊斯兰组织成员，被拘留在塔吉克斯坦。国际特赦组织和欧洲人权组织欧洲安全和合作组织(OSCE)表示，他必须立即获释。国际特赦组织表示，Urunboy Usmonov被塔吉克斯坦当局拘留期间似乎遭遇了酷刑。BBC表示，对Urunboy Usmonov的指控是没有任何根据的。

The Egyptian authorities have charged 25 people in connection with an attack on protesters in Tahrir Square at the height of the Egyptian revolution earlier this year. Supporters of the then President Hosni Mubarak mounted on camels and horseback forced their way through the crowds, injuring many of the demonstrators and sparking violent clashes. Those indicted include Fathi Sorour, the former speaker of parliament, and Safwat el-Sherif, who headed the former ruling party.

埃及当局控告25人与今年年初埃及革命巅峰时期对解放广场抗议者实施袭击。当时的总统穆巴拉克的支持者乘坐骆驼和马强行穿越人群，造成多名示威者死亡，引发暴力冲突。被告包括议会前议长Fathi Sorour和前执政党负责人Safwat el-Sherif。

Research by an international team of scientists has found that all polar bears descend from a single female brown bear. It lived between 20,000 and 50,000 years ago in what is modern-day Ireland. Tim de Valmont has the details.

由国际科学家组成的一支研究小组发现，所有北极熊都是一种雌性棕熊的后代。这种棕熊居住在现在的爱尔兰，大约生存在20,000至50,000年前。Tim de Valmont报道详细内容。

Polar bears and brown bears became distinct species around 150,000 years ago, but have occasionally interbred ever since. The research used DNA samples from bears from across their entire range in Russia, Canada, Greenland, Norway and Alaska. This mother of all bears may show that interbreeding, which had been thought to have threatened the species, may have actually played a key role in helping the polar bear to evolve. There are currently around 20,000 polar bears left living in the wild.

大约150,000年前，北极熊和棕熊进化为不同的物种，但是自那时起开始出现偶然的杂交。该研究使用来来自俄罗斯，加拿大，格陵兰，挪威和阿拉斯加各地北极熊的DNA样本。所有北极熊的祖先显示，曾被认为威胁物种的异种杂交实际上可能在帮助北极熊进化方面发挥了重大作用。目前，全世界野生北极熊大约有20,000头。

Celebrations have begun in Peru to mark 100 years since the official rediscovery of the ancient mountaintop city of Machu Picchu. A traditional ancient Inca ceremony was held at the site, with dancers dressed in brightly-coloured robes and musicians playing drums and panpipes.

秘鲁举行庆祝活动，纪念重新寻回失落的山顶古城马丘比丘100周年。该遗址上举行了传统的印加庆祝仪式，舞蹈者身穿色彩鲜艳的长袍，歌手们打鼓并演奏了长笛。