澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 澳大利亚维州酒店检疫计划失败致768人死亡

Final submissions¹ to an inquiry² have blamed Victoria's second wave of coronavirus on the state's bungled³ hotel quarantine program. Counsel assisting said that flaws in the scheme led to 768 deaths and more than 18,000 infections. Victoria yesterday recorded five new cases of coronavirus, but while case numbers are at low again, authorities of all the eastern states have raised concerns about the dramatic drop in testing rates.

Cardinal⁴ George Pell is set to return to the Vatican for the first time since 2017. A spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Sydney confirmed the 79-year-old cardinal will leave Sydney today. In April, the high court quashed his convictions for sexually assaulting two choirboys in the 1990s. Cardinal Pell is Vatican’s former treasure, his return to Rome comes as the Holy See grapples with a financial scandal.

The federal government is boosting its inventment in facial recognition techonology, is part of a digital business package of this year's budget. $250 million will be spent on an online face verification program. Already, more than 1.5 million Australians are using this digital identity scheme.

And an industrial dispute at Sydney's port Botany has escalated⁵ with the federal government accusing the Maritime⁶ Union of Australia of holding the country to ransom⁷. The union has been taking industrial action in its bid to secure a 6% wage increase over four years. Ten ships are currently waiting off the coast of Sydney, while others have been diverted to Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.

一项调查最后提交的意见书指出，澳大利亚维多利亚州第二波冠状病毒疫情要归咎于该州拙劣的酒店检疫计划。协助调查的律师表示，该计划的缺陷导致768人死亡，超过1.8万人感染。昨天，维州报告了5例冠状病毒新增病例，虽然病例数再次处于低位，但东部各州的有关部门都对检测率的大幅下降表示担忧。

枢机主教乔治·佩尔将返回梵蒂冈，这是2017年来首次。悉尼大主教区的一位女发言人证实，79岁的佩尔将于今天离开悉尼。今年4月，高等法院推翻了他在上世纪90年代性侵两名唱诗班男孩的定罪。枢机主教佩尔是梵蒂冈的前经济处处长，他返回之际，正值罗马教廷在应对金融丑闻。

澳大利亚联邦政府正在加大对面部识别技术的投资，这是今年预算案中数字业务计划的一部分。2.5亿美元将用于在线人脸验证项目。目前已有超过150万名澳大利亚人使用这一数字身份服务。

悉尼博塔尼港的劳资纠纷不断升级，联邦政府指责澳大利亚海事联盟胁迫国家。该协会一直在采取劳工行动，争取在四年内使工资增加6%。目前有10艘船只在悉尼海岸附近等待，其他船只已改道前往墨尔本、布里斯班、阿德莱德和珀斯。

1 submissions   

n.提交( submission的名词复数 )；屈从；归顺；向法官或陪审团提出的意见或论据

参考例句：

• The deadline for submissions to the competition will be Easter 1994. 递交参赛申请的截止时间为1994年的复活节。 来自辞典例句
• Section 556(d) allows the agency to substitute written submissions for oral direct testimony in rulemaking. 第五百五十六条第（四）款准允行政机关在规则制定中用书面提交材料替代口头的直接证言。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法

2 inquiry   

n.打听，询问，调查，查问

参考例句：

• Many parents have been pressing for an inquiry into the problem.许多家长迫切要求调查这个问题。
• The field of inquiry has narrowed down to five persons.调查的范围已经缩小到只剩5个人了。

3 bungled   

v.搞糟，完不成( bungle的过去式和过去分词 )；笨手笨脚地做；失败；完不成

参考例句：

• They bungled the job. 他们把活儿搞糟了。
• John bungled the job. 约翰把事情搞糟了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

4 cardinal   

n.(天主教的)红衣主教；adj.首要的，基本的

参考例句：

• This is a matter of cardinal significance.这是非常重要的事。
• The Cardinal coloured with vexation. 红衣主教感到恼火，脸涨得通红。

5 escalated   

v.（使）逐步升级( escalate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）逐步扩大；（使）更高；（使）更大

参考例句：

• The fighting escalated into a full-scale war. 这场交战逐步扩大为全面战争。
• The demonstration escalated into a pitched battle with the police. 示威逐步升级，演变成了一场同警察的混战。

6 maritime   

adj.海的，海事的，航海的，近海的，沿海的

参考例句：

• Many maritime people are fishermen.许多居于海滨的人是渔夫。
• The temperature change in winter is less in maritime areas.冬季沿海的温差较小。

7 ransom   

n.赎金，赎身；v.赎回，解救

参考例句：

• We'd better arrange the ransom right away.我们最好马上把索取赎金的事安排好。
• The kidnappers exacted a ransom of 10000 from the family.绑架者向这家人家勒索10000英镑的赎金。