英语听力精选进阶版 10181（在线收听）

President Obama has said that he has not yet made a final decision on the response to last week’s suspected chemical attack in Syria, but he said it will be a limited action. He said the attack was a challenge to the world that threatens US national security interests and its allies like Israel and Jordan.

总统奥巴马称尚未对叙利亚上周疑似化学袭击的回应做出最终决定，但他说行动将会是有限的。他说袭击是对全世界的挑战，威胁到美国及其盟友以色列和约旦等国的国家安全利益。

“We are not considering any open-ended commitment. We are not considering any boots-on-the-ground approach. What we will do is consider options that meet the narrow concern around chemical weapons, understanding that there is not going to be a solely military solution to the underlying conflict and tragedy that’s taking place in Syria.”

“我们没有考虑任何开放式的承诺，我们没有考虑实打实的策略。我们现在将要做的是考虑围绕化学武器的选择，因为考虑到解决潜在的冲突和叙利亚目前的惨剧没有唯一的军事途径。”

Mr Obama was speaking shortly after his Secretary of State John Kerry made the strongest case so far for limited military action against the Syrian government.

就在不久前，国务卿约翰·克里就对叙利亚采取有限的军事行动提供了最强有力的佐证。

“We know where the rockets were launched from and at what time. We know where they landed and when. We know rockets came only from regime-controlled areas and went only to opposition-controlled or contested neighbourhoods. And we know, as does the world, that just 90 minutes later all hell broke loose in the social media.”

“我们知道火箭是从哪里发射的，我们知道发射的地点和时间，我们知道火箭只来自被当局控制的地区，只发射到被反对派控制或有争议的地区。我们知道，全世界也都知道，90分钟后整个社交媒体乱成一团糟。”

Mr Kerry said at least 1,429 Syrians were killed in the attack, including 426 children. He called it a crime against humanity and explained why it mattered to the United States to take action.

克里说至少1429名叙利亚人在袭击中身亡，其中包括426名儿童。他称这是反人道罪，并解释了它对美国采取行动的重要性。

“It matters because if we choose to live in a world where a thug and murderer like Bashar al-Assad can gas thousands of his own people with impunity even after the United States and our allies said no, and then the world does nothing about it, there will be no end to the test of our resolve and the dangers that will flow from those others who believe that they can do as they will.”

“美国之所以要采取行动，是因为如果我们选择生活在这样的世界，像巴沙尔·阿萨德这样的恶棍和谋杀者可以向自己的民众释放毒气而不受惩罚，即使美国和盟国说‘不’也一意孤行，全世界对此无所作为，这样我们的决心就要受无尽的暴行的考验，那些认为可以任意妄为的其他人就可以不断地制造危险。”

The poet and Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney has died. He was 74 and he’d suffered from ill health recently. Seamus Heaney was born in Northern Ireland but later lived in the Republic of Ireland, who was a teacher and then had a distinguished career in poetry, winning the Nobel Prize for literature in 1995. A BBC correspondent says that it was the political troubles in Northern Ireland that helped make Heaney famous.

诗人兼诺奖得主谢默斯·希尼去世，享年74岁，他最近身患疾病。谢默斯·希尼出生在北爱尔兰，但后来居住在爱尔兰共和国，他曾是一名教师，后来在诗歌上有所建树，1995年获得诺贝尔文学奖。BBC记者说谢默斯·希尼之所以成名是因为北爱的政治问题。

Supporters of Egypt’s ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi have protested across the country in their biggest demonstration for two weeks. Six people have been killed and dozens injured in clashes. In Cairo, the demonstrators opted for several scattered protests avoiding the capital’s bigger squares. On Thursday, another leader of Mr Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood, Mohammed Beltagi, was arrested by the military-backed government.

埃及被废穆斯林总统穆罕默德·穆尔西的支持者在全国各地举行抗议，他们的大游行已经进行了两周。6人在冲突中死亡，数十人受伤。在开罗，游行者进行几个零散的抗议，没有在首都的大广场举行。周四，穆尔西穆斯林兄弟会的另一位领袖Mohammed Beltagi被军方支持的政府逮捕。

At least 12 people are reported to have been killed and ten injured in a bomb attack in northern Iraq. Reports from the town of Tuz Khurmato, north of the capital Baghdad, say that the bomb exploded in a largely Kurdish part of the ethnically mixed town. The police chief in the town said the explosion was preceded by a loud bang, which he believed was designed to attract a crowd.

伊拉克北部发生炸弹袭击，据悉至少12人丧生，10人受伤。来自首都北部图兹胡尔马图镇的报道称爆炸发生在这个多民族混居城镇主要为库尔德族居住的区域。该镇警察局长称爆炸之前发生了一声巨响，他认为这是为了吸引人群。

A senior British intelligence advisor has said in a court statement that 58,000 secret documents seized under anti-terrorism laws from a Brazilian man at a London airport earlier this month would harm British national security if disclosed. The Brazilian, David Miranda, is the partner of the journalist who helped fugitive contractor Edward Snowden leak American and British intelligence documents. Jane Peel was in court.

英国一名高级情报在法庭陈词上说，本月早些时候根据反恐法在伦敦机场从一名巴西人手中查货的5.8万份秘密文档如果泄露出去，将会对英国国家安全造成损害。巴西人戴维·米兰达是一名记者的合作伙伴，这名记者曾帮助逃亡的承包商爱德华·斯诺登泄露美国和英国情报文件。Jane Peel在法庭报道。

A witness statement said Mr Miranda’s computer hard-drive contained 58,000 highly classified UK intelligence documents. The statement said the material included personal information that could identify intelligence officers overseas and it was possible it was already in the hands of foreign states. David Miranda’s solicitor described the government’s assessment as sweeping and vague and claimed the assertions were unfounded.

证人陈述书称米兰达的电脑硬盘上装有5.8万份高度机密的英国情报文件，陈述书称材料包括能识别出海外情报官员个人信息的材料，而且很可能已经在外国政府手中了。戴维·米兰达的律师称政府的评估以偏概全且模糊，称其断言是没有根据的。

Demonstrations organised by national unions in Brazil have left millions of people without public transport in several cities across the country. The workers are demanding changes in labour legislation and improvements in public services. In Sao Paulo, school teachers, steel workers and students have been demanding better working conditions.

巴西总工会组织的游行导致全国几个城市数百万人无法得到公共交通服务。工人们要求修改劳工法，并改善公共服务。在圣保罗，教师、钢铁工人和学生要求改善工作条件。

And the Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has ordered troops to patrol the capital Bogota after overnight protests in the city turned violent. On Thursday, tens of thousands of people took part in protests in Bogota in support of farmers who say the government’s agricultural policies are driving them to bankruptcy.

哥伦比亚总统胡安·曼努埃尔·桑托斯下令军队在首都波哥大巡逻，因为此前该市的夜间抗议转为暴力。周四，成千上万人在波哥大举行抗议支持农民，这些农民称政府的农业政策迫使他们破产。