英语听力精选进阶版 7687（在线收听）

The United Nations Security Council has begun to debate a resolution on Syria which is being promoted by the Arab League. The discussion was opened by the Qatari prime minister, who urged council members to take action against what he called President Bashar al-Assad's "killing machine". Barbara Plett reports from New York.

The session is a chance for top Arab League officials to address the Security Council. The head of the league and Qatar's prime minister are appealing for the council to fully back their plan for a political transition in Syria. They have strong support from American and European members, which have demonstrated that by sending their foreign ministers. But the Syrian government has rejected the plan because it calls for the President Bashar al-Assad to devolve power to his deputy. Its ally on the council Russia has denounced the resolution as opening the path to civil war. The combined Western and Arab offensive here is aimed at softening Russia's opposition and convincing it not to veto.

The United refugee agency says more than 1,500 people drowned or went missing trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea in 2011 - the highest death toll ever recorded. A UN official said most deaths happened in the first half of the year while there was unrest in Tunisia and Libya. The official also said a record number of people arrived in Europe from North Africa.

联合国难民署公布2011因企图横渡地中海，淹死或失踪的人数达1500人—史上记载的最高死亡人数。联合国一名官员说死亡大都发生在2011上半年，那时土耳其和利比亚局势动荡。这名官员还说2011从北非到欧洲的人数也创历史记录。

The former head of the Royal Bank of Scotland, Fred Goodwin, has been stripped of his knighthood. He was given the honour in 2004 as he aggressively expanded the Edinburgh-based RBS into one of the largest banks in the world. Here's our political correspondent Rob Watson.

苏格兰皇家银行的前总裁，弗莱德?古德温已被削去爵位。因为他大张旗鼓地将总部位于爱丁堡的RBS银行发展壮大为全世界最大的银行之一，他于2004被授与爵位。政治记者Rob Watson报道。

Sir Fred Goodwin, the former head of the RBS bank, is now just plain Fred. Revoking an honour is highly unusual in Britain, but the committee said the scale and severity of the impact of his actions made this an exceptional case. Sir Fred had become the symbol and focus for widespread public anger at the banking industry when RBS was rescued in 2009 by taxpayers after sustaining huge losses under his leadership.

弗莱德?古德温先生，RBS银行的前任总裁，现在只是一介平民。在英国撤消已授予的荣誉非常罕见，委员会说这一特例是因克德温管理不善对英国经济造成了大规模的严峻影响。当2009年用纳税人的钱挽救了古德温管理下RBS银行的巨大债务后，他就成为银行业众怒之的之象征。

The United States National Archives has released previously lost recordings of top US officials made in the confusing and anxious hours immediately following the assassination of President John F Kennedy in November 1963. They include dramatic conversations aboard Air Force One, in which the newly sworn-in President Lyndon Johnson is returning to Washington from Dallas with President Kennedy's body. He's heard paying his condolences by telephone to the slain president's mother, Rose Kennedy.

美国国家档案馆发布了先前丢失的美国首脑录音带，该录音于1963年11月肯尼迪总统遇刺后混乱又紧张的几个小时内录制。其中包括在“空军一号”上的谈话，刚刚宣誓就职的总统约翰逊与肯尼迪的尸体都在从达拉斯返回华盛顿的此架飞机上。录音带上还录下了总统约翰逊电话吊唁遇害总统的母亲Rose Kennedy。

Republicans in Florida are voting in the latest of the state primaries to choose their party's candidate for the US presidential election later this year. Opinion polls show the Republican front-runner Mitt Romney has a comfortable lead over his main rival, the more conservative Newt Gingrich, although Mr Gingrich won the most recent primary in South Carolina.

为年底的总统竞选挑选自己的候选人，弗罗里达州共和党正进行本州最后一次初选。民意测验显示选举领跑者Mitt Romney轻松领先于他主要的对手，更加保守派的Newt Gingrich，尽管后者赢得了南卡罗莱纳最近举行的初选。

World News from the BBC

Iran says inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency have ended three days of talks in Iran about its nuclear programme. Here's our Tehran correspondent James Reynolds, who's based in London.

伊朗称国际原子能机构的观察员们已经结束为期三天关于伊朗核项目的会谈。伦敦记者从德黑兰报道。

IAEA inspectors spent three days in Iran. The nuclear agency has declined to comment on the details of their mission. It's not yet clear where the inspectors went nor whom they saw. Iran's semi-official Fars news agency says that the talks were held in a positive and constructive atmosphere. The news agency reports that the two sides have agreed to continue talks. This has yet to be confirmed by the IAEA. Before they began their trip, the inspectors told reporters that they wanted to ask Iran questions about the possible military dimensions of the country's nuclear programme.

IAEA观察员们在伊朗呆了三天。该机构拒绝评论会谈情况。现在还不清楚他们去了哪些地方，又见过哪些人物。根据伊朗的半官方新闻社，会谈是在积极的，建设性的气氛中进行的。据该新闻社报道，双方同意继续谈话，但这有待于IAEA的证实。IAEA启程之前曾经告诉记者，他们打算就所谓的核项目质问伊朗。

Officials in France and India say the French firm Dassault is now certain to win a multi-billion dollar contract to provide the Indian air force with more than 120 new Rafale jets. It's one of the world's biggest recent defence deals. Andrew North reports from Delhi.

法国和印度的官员称，现已确定高达数十亿美元的印度空军120多架新“疾风”战机采购项目由法国公司中标。这是目前世界金额最大的国防交易之一。Andrew North从Delhi报道。

It's a major victory for the French because there were doubts over the aircraft's commercial future. Equally it's a big loss for the Eurofighter consortium, which includes British Aerospace and three other European companies. UK officials here said they were disappointed at the decision. There will be suspicions it has something to do with Britain's colonial past here, but officials said they'd been assured it was all about cost and no reflection of relations with India.

此次交易关乎世界飞机产业的商业前景，故可以说法国赢得了重大胜利。同时，这又是欧洲战机联合体的巨大损失，该财团包括英国航天公司和其他三家欧洲公司。英国官员表达了对印度此项决定的失望。有人怀疑这和英国在印度的殖民历史有关，但英国官员们表示他们已确定采购只取决于成本，不映射印度和他国的关系。

Andrew North reporting

The president of the Turkish Football Federation, Mehmet Ali Aydinlar, and two of his deputies have resigned following a crisis caused by a match-fixing scandal. Mr Aydinlar said he'd lost the trust of the European footballing body Uefa. Scores of people have been arrested during a police inquiry into match-fixing, which allegedly involves several top clubs including the champions Fenerbahce.

土耳其足球联盟的主席，Mehmet Ali Aydinlar 及两名副手因比赛操控丑闻已辞职。Aydinlar说他已失去了欧洲足球协会联盟的信任。警方调查比赛操控一事时，几十人被逮捕，据说包括费内巴切冠军赛在内的几家高级俱乐部都与此事有关。