英语听力精选进阶版 10346（在线收听）

An international effort is continuing throughout the night to try to locate an airliner that disappeared on a flight from Malaysia to China. A Vietnamese plane has reportedly seen at least one object in the South China Sea off the country's coastline. But there is no confirmation that it is wreckage from the missing flight. Johnathan head reports from Kuala Lumpur.

国际各国一整夜都在努力寻找从马来西亚飞往中国后失踪的飞机，据悉一架越南飞机在该国海岸线附近的南中国海上发现至少一个物体，但尚未证实是失踪飞机的残骸。乔纳森·海德在吉隆坡报道。

Two days after flight MH370 vanished from radar screens, the Malaysian authorities still have very little information about its fate. The Boeing 777 was flying at cruising altitude in good weather, and was no radio communication from the pilot to suggest anything had gone wrong. The possibility that the plane may have turned back before it disappeared has prompted them to extend the search area. But no wreckage has yet been found. The focus of the investigation has turned instead to the discovery that two of the passengers were travelling on stolen passports, according to Malaysia's transport minister Hishamudin Hussein.

在MH370飞机从雷达上消失两天后，马来西亚当局对飞机的命运仍所知甚少。这架波音777飞机当时处于巡航高度，天气良好，没有收到来自飞行员的雷达信号表明哪里出了问题。由于这架飞机可能在消失前折回，因此搜救方扩大了搜寻范围。但还是没有发现任何残骸，据马来西亚交通部长希山慕丁说，调查的重点于是转向两名用偷来的护照登记的乘客。

The International Police Organization Interpol said it was too early to speculate about a possible link between the stolen passports and the plane's disappearance.

国际刑警组织称现在揣测被盗护照和飞机消失之间有什么可能的关联还为时过早。

The German Chancellor Angela Merkel has told the Russian President Vladimir Putin that she considers the forthcoming referendum in Crimea illegal. The vote scheduled for the 16th of March will be on whether Crimea should join Russia. She made the comments to Mr.Putin in a telephone conversation involving the two leaders and the British Prime Minister David Cameron.

德国总理安吉拉·默克尔告诉俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京，她认为克里米亚即将举行的公投是非法的。定于3月16日举行的投票将决定克里米亚是否加入俄罗斯，她是在同普京电话谈话中表达这一点的，当时还有两位领导人和英国首相戴维·卡梅隆也参与其中。

The former jailed Russian oil tycoon in critic of President Putin Mikhail Khodorkovsky has addressed a rally in the Ukrainian capital Kiev. He told the tens of thousands of people gathered in Independence Square that the Kremlin was lying to its own people by portraying the protesters in Kiev as near fascists. There were rallies in several cities across Ukraine throughout the day, most parts are peacefully. But in Sevastopol in Crimea, ethnic Russians beat up some pro-Ukrainian demonstrators. Ben Brown was there.

因批评总统普京而入狱的俄罗斯前石油大亨米哈伊尔·霍多尔科夫斯基在乌克兰首都基辅向集会群众发表讲话，他告诉聚集在独立广场的成千上万群众，克里姆林宫将基辅的抗议者描述为几乎是法西斯的形象，这是在对本国人民撒谎。当天基辅各地有几个城市都举行了集会，大多数是和平进行的。但在克里米亚的塞瓦斯托波尔，俄罗斯民族人士殴打一些亲乌克兰的抗议者。本·布朗报道。

First, they attacked the driver of a white van, smashing his windscreen. He tried to drive through the mob to get away but crashed and was attacked again. Another Ukrainian was dragged into some bushes, kicked, beaten and lashed with a Cossack's whip, we were threatened too by the Russians but managed to run away before they attacked us as well. It was a terrifying moment, and a glimpse of the abyss that Crimea now teeters over.

他们先是袭击了一辆白色货车的司机，将货车的防风玻璃打碎。司机试图开车摆脱暴徒，但再次遭到袭击。另一名乌克兰人被拖到灌木丛中，被拳打脚踢，被人拿着哥萨克皮鞭抽打，我们也遭到俄罗斯人的威胁，但却设法在遭到袭击前逃脱出来。当时情景很可怕，这也反映了克里米亚现在正处于深渊边缘。

The Pakistani army has set an urgent relief team to the drought-stricken dessert region of Thar in the country's southern province of Sindh. Doctors of the district's main hospital say almost 30 children have did from malnutrition just this month. Thousands of families have left the area in search for food and water. The Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has assured the provincial authorities the Federal Government's full support.

巴基斯坦军队派出紧急救援小组到该国南部信德省干旱的沙漠地区塔尔，该地区主要医院的医生称本月有近30名儿童死于营养不良。数千户人家已经离开该地区去寻找食物和水，巴基斯坦总理纳瓦兹·谢里夫向省政府保证联盟政府会全力支持。

The Maldives Supreme Court has sentenced all the members of the country's election commission to six months in prison for disobeying orders. The sentences come at a time when the commission is supported to be organizing parliamentary elections. From Colombo here's Charles Haviland.

马尔代夫最高法院判定该国选举委员会全体成员因不服从命令而被判处6个月徒刑，目前委员会原本要组织议会选举，查尔斯·哈维兰德在科伦坡报道。

The four members of the Maldives elections commission were given six months' jail sentences suspended for three years for disobeying orders. The commission's president Fuwad Thowfeek and his deputy have been stripped of their membership of the body. Mr. Thowfeek had criticized the supreme court last October after it annulled a presidential election deemed free and fair by hundreds of observers. The commissioners were brought to trial a few days ago under new rules that allow the supreme court to initiate proceedings, prosecute and pass judgement.

马尔代夫选举委员的4名成员因不服从命令而被判6个月徒刑，缓期三年执行。委员会主席Fuwad Thowfeek及其副手被剥夺成员资格，去年10月最高法院宣布总统选举结果无效，而数百名观察员认为选举公平公正，Thowfeek对此批评了最高法院。根据新规定这些委员们几天前接受了审判，新规定允许最高法院提出控诉、检举和通过判决。

Pope Francis has taken more than 18 members of the Vatican's bureaucracy to a modest countryside retreat for a week of pray for Lent. Before setting off, the Pope said Lent was a time to resist worldly temptations like economic comfort and concentrate on life essentials. From Rome here's David Willey.

圣方济教皇带领梵蒂冈至少18名神职人员到一处乡村修养处为大斋节做一周的祈祷，在出发前，教皇称大斋节是抵御世俗诱惑的时候，如经济上的舒适和注重生活必需品。戴维·威利在罗马报道。

It's Lent, a time of prayer and fast in preparation for Easter. And each year, the Pope and his top advisers normally cancelled all their public engagements and spent a week in.. inside the Vatican. But this year, Pope Francis decided to move the whole Roman leadership of the Catholic Church out of the open hills near Rome for their week of what they called spiritual exercises. They traveled on an ordinary pilgrim coach and another mini bus.

大斋节是进行祈祷和为斋戒并未复活节做准备的时候，每年教皇及其高级顾问都会取消全部公共安排，在梵蒂冈内呆上一周。但今年，圣方济教皇决定带领罗马天主教会的全部领导层到罗马附近的山上，进行一周所谓的精神锻炼。他们乘坐了一辆普通的朝拜汽车和一辆小公共汽车。

There are reports that a group of Syrian nuns kidnapped last year have been released. The nuns were taken by unidentified gunmen from their convent in an ancient town of Maaloula last December after it was taken over by Islamist rebels. It's not clear where the nuns are at the moment, but it's reported that a convoy is taking them to Damascus.

有报道称去年遭绑架的一批叙利亚尼姑现已获释，去年12月在古城马努拉被伊斯兰叛军占领后，这些尼姑被身份不明武装分子从修道院带走。尚不清楚这些尼姑现在身在何处，但据悉一支护送团将她们带到大马士革。