英语听力精选进阶版 9986（在线收听）

European Union ministers meeting in Brussels have agreed a series of steps to deal with the growing scandal surrounding horsemeat being passed off as beef. Christian Fraser reports from Brussels.

与会布鲁塞尔的欧盟部长们同意采取系列措施，来处理日益严重的马肉当牛肉卖的丑闻。克里斯蒂安·弗雷泽在布鲁塞尔报道。

This was an opportunity to share intelligence. The ministers of Britain, France, Ireland, Poland and Romania have identified the criminal conspiracy, surely it say to a soon by now that more than one company, one than one country is involved, it is a network, it is linked. "It's too early to speculates," said the Irish Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney. “But we are talking” he said, “of a systemic failure which we must put right.” From the 1st of March, there’ll be tests on two levels: first on processed beef products to acquire DNA, and second on horsemeat legitimately in the food chain for the banned chemical FennelBootizou, or Boot.

这是一个共享信息的机会，英国、法国、爱尔兰、波兰和罗马尼亚的部长们一致认为这是一起犯罪阴谋。现在可以说涉入其中的不止一家公司，不止一个国家。这是个相互关联的犯罪网络，爱尔兰农业部长西蒙·考文尼说，“现在做这些揣测还为时过早。”但是，“我们提到了一个系统性的失误，这是我们必须予以纠正的。”从3月1日起将进行两个层次的测试，先是从制成牛肉制品中获取DNA，第二步是测试食品连锁店中合法马肉中的违禁化学品。

Pope Benedict has celebrated his first public mass before leaving office at the end of the month. He was given an ovation by a packed congregation in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome in a service to mark the start of Lent. During his homily, the pope said the faith of the church was marred by divisions and rivalry among the clergy—an implicit criticism of recent infighting within the Vatican. Earlier he was applauded by thousands of Roman Catholic pilgrims in his first appearance since the announcement of his resignation.

本尼迪克教皇举行了月底离职之前的首次公开集会，在罗马圣彼特大教堂举行的纪念大斋戒开始仪式上，蜂拥的集会者对他表示热烈欢迎。教皇在布道中说，教堂的信仰遭到牧师内部分裂和敌对行为所破坏，这也是对最近梵蒂冈内部争斗的含蓄批评。早些时候，教皇得到数千名罗马天主教朝圣者的喝彩，这是他宣布辞职后的首次公开露面。

A passenger plane taking football fans to a Champions League game in Ukraine has crash-landed on an internal flight. Forty-five people were on board. At least four died when the aircraft overshot the runway in Donetsk and broke up. There was a minute’s silence before tonight’s match between Shakhtar Donetsk and Borussia Dortmund in honour of those who died.

一架承载足球粉丝参加乌克兰冠军联赛的客机紧急迫降，机上当时有45人，飞机撞到顿涅茨克的跑道上，机身撞碎，至少4人死亡。今晚顿涅茨克矿工和多特蒙德队比赛前举行了一分钟的静默哀悼遇难者。

The United States and the European Union say they plan to start talks by the end of June on agreeing the world’s largest-ever bilateral trade deal. The aim is to cut tariffs and regulations in a way that could set a standard for global trade. Here’s our economics correspondent Andrew Walker.

美国和欧盟称将在6月之前开始就有史以来最大规模的双边贸易协议进行谈判。其目的是削减关税、减少规定，从而为全球贸易设定标准。经济记者安德鲁·沃克报道。

It is the world’s biggest economic relationship. Bilateral trade between the EU and the US is worth over $2bn a day. Now they plan to reduce or even remove many of the remaining barriers. None of these is likely to be easy. Europe, for example, has a more cautious approach to approving new products, such as genetically modified foods, and that has caused trade friction in the past. And as always with trade liberalisation, objections are likely from industries and farmers who would be exposed to more competition.

这是世界上最大的经济关系，欧盟和美国的双边贸易每天高达20亿美元。如今，双方计划削减甚至废除许多仍存在的壁垒，但这都不会很容易。比如，欧洲在批准诸如转基因食品等新产品方面就比较谨慎，该问题在过去曾产生过贸易摩擦。而且一如既往，只要推行贸易自由化，那些要面临更多竞争的行业和农场主就要表示反对。

Fighting is taking place around the Syrian capital Damascus as government forces try to take control of areas held by rebel fighters. Government planes bombarded several suburbs of the capital in an attempt to dislodge opponents of President Assad. Elsewhere, there are reports of clashes on two main highways in the city of Homs. And in the north of the country, the Syrian opposition says it’s almost taken control of a military base near Aleppo airport.

叙利亚首都大马士革发生战斗，政府军试图夺回被起义军占领的地区。政府飞机轰炸了首都几个地区，目的是将总统阿萨德的反对者赶出去。在其他地区，有报道称胡姆斯市的两条主要公路上发生了冲突。在该国北部，叙利亚的反对派称其几乎占领了阿勒颇机场附近的一处军事基地。

You are listening to the World News from the BBC.

Australia’s Foreign Minister Bob Carr has ordered a review of how the government handled the case of an Australian man believed to have killed himself in an Israeli prison in 2010. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation identified the man previously known only as Prisoner X as Ben Zygier, who allegedly had ties to Israel’s spy agency Mossad. Chloe Hadjimatheou has more.

据悉一名澳大利亚人2010年在以色列一所监狱自杀，对此，澳大利亚外长鲍勃·卡尔下令审查政府对此案的处理情况。澳大利亚广播公司称这名“囚犯X”名为本·齐吉尔，据说此人与以色列的间谍机构摩萨德有关联。Chloe Hadjimatheou报道。

Israeli media reports in December 2010 revealed that Prisoner X had somehow succeeded in killing himself. When the story of his death broke, the state went to extraordinary lengths to hide the details of the case. But the international dimension to the case has made it hard to keep secret, and yesterday members of the Israeli parliament exercised their immunity to ask the justice minister difficult questions. Similar questions have been asked of Australian politicians and the country’s Foreign Minister Bob Carr has promised to investigate how his department handled the case.

2010年12月，以色列媒体报道称“囚犯X”成功自杀。本·齐吉尔自杀的消息曝光后，政府想方设法掩盖这起案件的细节。但这件案子的国际性使得以色列很难保守秘密，昨天，以色列议员运用豁免权，向司法部长询问了疑点。澳大利亚政客也被问及类似的问题，该国外长鲍勃·卡尔承诺调查外交部处理此案的经过。

Thousands of Bahraini Shia Muslims have been protesting across the country calling for democracy. The demonstrations were called by the opposition al-Wefaq party which is currently in talks with the kingdom’s Sunni Muslim rulers. The opposition has already voiced serious doubts about a positive outcome to negotiations.

数千名巴林什叶派穆斯林在全国举行抗议要求民主，游行是由反对派伊斯兰民族和谐协会发起的，该组织目前正与这个王国的逊尼派穆斯林统治者谈判。反对派早已质疑协商是否能促成积极的结果。

Regulators in Brazil have ruled that the technology company Apple doesn’t have exclusive rights to use the iPhone trademark in the country. The regulators say a Brazilian company Gradiente Eletronica registered the name seven years before Apple. A spokesman for the patent office said Gradiente could sue Apple for exclusivity.

巴西监管机构判定，科技公司苹果不拥有在本国使用iPhone商标的绝对权利。该机构称，巴西公司Gradiente Eletronica早在7年前就早于苹果注册了这个名字，该专利办公室的发言人称Gradiente可以以独家经营权起诉苹果。

An unemployed Frenchman has died after setting himself alight outside an employment centre in the city of Nantes. The 43-year-old man had reportedly warned journalists that he’d self-immolate this week after being denied unemployment benefits. The number of jobless people in France now stands at more than three million.

在法国南斯，一名失业者在就业中心外点火自焚后自杀。据悉这名43岁的男子申请就业补助被拒绝，随后就警告记者要自焚。法国的失业者目前已达到至少300万。