英语听力精选进阶版 7558（在线收听）

The United States, Britain, France and Germany have demanded that President Bashar al-Assad of Syria leave office following the violent suppression of street protests against his leadership. It's the first explicit call from the US and its allies for Mr Assad to step down, although Washington had previously said Syria would be better off without him. From the American capital, here's Jonny Dymond.

Once Bashar al-Assad was cited by the US as a reformer and a possible peacemaker, but after five months of bloodshed, the relationship between Washington and Syria's president has ended. President Obama on Thursday signed an order freezing Syrian assets and cutting commercial links, and after months of hardening rhetoric, the president called on Bashar al-Assad to stand down. British, French and German leaders swiftly followed suit. But the US made it clear that it will not intervene militarily to try and topple President Assad. "It is," said Barack Obama, "up to the Syrian people to choose their own leader."

The Israeli government says it will respond with full force to attacks by gunmen in southern Israel that killed at least seven people. Israel's Defence Minister Ehud Barak said there had already been one air strike on the Gaza Strip. At least six Palestinians were killed. The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described the attacks in southern Israel as an assault on his country's sovereignty, and in a televised statement, said Israel had targeted those responsible.

以色列南部遭遇持枪分子袭击，造成至少7人死亡。以色列政府表示，他们将会全力回击。以色列国防部长Ehud Barak表示，加沙地带已经遭遇了一次空袭，至少6名巴勒斯坦人遇难。以色列总理内塔尼亚胡称南部遭遇的袭击是对国家主权的侵犯。他在电视讲话中表示，以色列将会报复那些应该担负责任的人。

"If there is someone who thinks the state of Israel will resign itself to this, he is wrong. I set a principle: when they hurt the citizens of Israel, we react immediately and mightily. The people who gave the order to murder our people and hid in Gaza are no longer amongst the living."

“如果有人认为以色列会任由这种状况的发生，那么他完全错了。我设立的原则是：当他们伤害到以色列公民的时候，我们会立即做出反应。下令杀害我们的人民并藏匿在加沙地带的人不可能再活下去。”

Prosecutors in Ivory Coast have brought the first charges against the former President Laurent Gbagbo, who was removed from power in April. Mr Gbagbo, who's under house arrest in the north of the country, is accused of theft, looting and embezzlement of public funds. His wife, Simone, faced similar charges on Tuesday and was taken into custody. About 3,000 people were killed in Ivory Coast during the months of violence that followed Mr Gbagbo's refusal to accept defeat in elections last November.

科特迪瓦检控官对四月份被推翻的前总统巴博提出了首次控告。被软禁在北方的巴博被指控盗窃，洗劫和挪用公款。他的妻子Simone于周二面临同样的控告，已经被拘留。巴博总统拒绝承认在去年11月的选举中落败之后几个月发生了暴力事件，大约有3,000人遇难。

Libyan rebels have taken control of an oil refinery outside the town of Zawiya. A BBC correspondent at the scene says there's no sign of any government forces at the refinery. Earlier, there were reports of Colonel Gaddafi's forces being driven out of the area in a five-hour battle on Wednesday. In Zawiya itself, the rebels appeared to be consolidating their control despite shelling and sniper fire from Colonel Gaddafi's troops.

利比亚叛军控制了扎维耶城外的一座炼油厂。现场一位BBC记者表示，炼油厂没有任何政府力量活动的迹象。此前，有报道称卡扎菲上校的力量在周三持续五小时的战斗中被赶出这座城市。在扎维耶，叛军似乎已经巩固了他们对这座城市的控制，尽管卡扎菲上校的部队仍在继续轰炸。

The English Premier League football champions, Manchester United, are to sell off a significant stake in their club on the Singapore stock exchange to help pay off debts. A source says the club hopes to raise as much as $1bn.

英超俱乐部曼联将在新加坡股票交易所出售大量股份以偿还债务。有消息来源称，该俱乐部希望筹集10亿美元的资金。

World News from the BBC

Share prices in Europe and the United States have again fallen sharply. When European trading closed, shares were down by 4.4% in London and 5.8% in Frankfurt. European banks fared particularly badly. The main index in the US was also down by 5% at one stage, affected by the publication of poor economic data.

欧洲和美国股价再次大幅下跌。欧洲股市关闭的时候，伦敦股价下跌了4.4%，法兰克福股价下跌了5.8%。欧洲银行的情况最为糟糕。受最新公布的低迷的经济数据的影响，美国主要股指曾下跌5%。

About 20,000 mourners have attended a memorial service for three men killed last week during the outbreak of rioting and looting in England last week. The men were hit by a car as they tried to protect shops and homes from looters in Birmingham. Sam, a family friend of one of the three men, described the feeling amongst those attending.

三名男子在上周英格兰爆发的暴动和洗劫中遇难，大约20,000名悼念者参加了他们的葬礼。这三名男子试图保护他们位于伯明翰的商店和住房免受洗劫时被车撞。这三名遇难者的朋友Sam表达了参加葬礼的人群的感受。

"A young man and his life just taken like that, it's so tragic. It's about paying respect for the family, and I think we all need to be very mindful of that. They need some peace now. It's not a divide about race, and it shouldn't be, but I do feel it has brought us closer together. People are looking out for each other."

“作为一名年轻人，他的生命才刚刚开始，却以悲剧的形式结束了。我们应该向他的家人表达敬意，我认为，我们都必须记住这一点，我们现在需要和平。这是不分种族的。我感到在这件事情中，我们更加紧密的团结在一起，人们都在互相关照。”

The Mexican navy says it's holding five people in connection with the disappearance earlier this month of four naval personnel. Investigators said they had found items belonging to the three marines and a naval cadet in a cellar in the port city of Veracruz. Forensic experts are examining what they say could be four graves at the same property. The Mexican navy has played a growing role in President Felipe Calderon's campaign against drugs cartels.

墨西哥海军表示，本月初，有四名海军人员失踪，他们已经拘留了五名嫌疑人。调查人员表示，他们发现了在港口城市韦拉克鲁斯一个地下室发现了属于三名海军陆战队队员和一名军官学校学生的物品。法医专家正在检查同一栋建筑内的四个墓穴。墨西哥海军在卡尔德龙总统打击毒品组织的战争中发挥着越来越大的作用。

An agency that funds scientific research in the United States says black scientists are significantly less likely to be awarded funding than their white counterparts. The National Institutes of Health said that out of every 100 funding applications it considered, 30 were granted to white applicants, compared with 20 to black applicants. The gap couldn't be explained by education or experience. It suggested small differences in access to resources and mentoring early in a scientist's career could leave black researchers at a disadvantage.

美国为科学研究提供资金的一个机构表示，黑人科学家比白人科学家获得资金的可能性小的多。国立卫生研究所表示，在他们考虑的100个申请中，30个被赋予白人申请者，只有20%授予黑人申请者。该差距是不能通过教育经历来解释的。该研究所表示，一位科学家职业生涯早期在资源和辅导方面的差距会导致黑人研究人员的劣势。