英国新闻听力 16

BBC News with John Jason.

President Bush has suggested that Americans are now beginning to feel more positive about their economic prospects¹. During a meeting with business leaders in Louisiana, Mr. Bush said people's attitudes had changed from near panic to a more relaxed approach. He said this was due to the effects of the huge bailout agreed with Congress to sustain the financial system. Earlier the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, warned of a protracted² slowdown in the American economy, saying the economy was likely to be weak for several quarters. He suggested a second economic stimulus³ package might be necessary.

"I think that it is appropriate for Congress to be thinking about a fiscal⁴ program at this time. The size and the composition of that are obviously items for the Congress to determine in negotiation⁵ and discussion. I would reiterate⁶ the point that there is an awful lot of uncertainty⁷ right now arising in part from the fact we don't know how quickly the credit markets will return to normal and how quickly credit extension will return to normal, and, so in that respect also, I think, we need to be flexible and to continue to watch the situations as we go forward."

With two weeks left before the US presidential election, the Democratic candidate Barack Obama has promised to halt the eviction⁸ of homeowners defaulting on their mortgages. His Republican rival, Senator John McCain, told a rally in the Midwestern state Missouri that unlike Mr. Obama, he would cut taxes to help create jobs.

If I’m elected president, I won't spend nearly a trillion dollars more of your money as Senator Obama will, and he can't do that without raising your taxes and digging us further into debt. I’m going to make government live on a budget just like you do."

The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has sharply criticized Iran for what he says is a sudden upsurge in executions in the country. The Iranian authorities argued that the executions are part of their effort to fight drug trafficking. Mr. Ban welcomed a call from the head of Iran's judiciary to suspend the execution of children, but he pointed⁹ out a large number of children were still executed. Iran's deputy prosecutor¹⁰ general said juveniles¹¹ who were convicted of drug trafficking would have their death sentences commuted¹².

The government of Botswana which has been involved in mediation¹³ efforts in Zimbabwe says holding a re-run of the presidential election is the only way to break the political deadlock¹⁴ in Zimbabwe. In an interview with the BBC, Botswana's Foreign Minister, Phandu Skelemani, said President Mugabe was not honoring the power-sharing arrangement.

"The Zimbabwean leadership since has failed to honor the agreement they have signed on 15th of September. An agreement which as you said it before was an agreement which hadn't excluded the ordinary voters, the ordinary Zimbabweans, and we have thought that that agreement would lead sooner to an election date being set so that the people of Zimbabwe could determine their leadership." (thanks to a certain opinion utterer for this version)

World News from the BBC.

Five men accused of plotting an attack on an American military base have gone on trial in New Jersey¹⁵. The Deputy US Attorney, William Fitzpatrick, said the five foreign-born Muslims planned to kill as many soldiers as possible in an attack on Fort Dix Army base. He said the men, who were arrested in May last year were inspired by the idea of Islamic Holy War against the United States. The jury heard that they turned paintball games into terrorist training sessions and stockpiled large numbers of guns and grenades.

The United Nations has deplored¹⁶ a sharp increase in the number of aid workers being killed particularly in Somalia and Afghanistan. The UN Humanitarian¹⁷ Coordinator¹⁸ John Holmes told the BBC that between 25 and 30 aid workers had been killed in each of those countries this year, and that they’ve been targeted deliberately¹⁹. He said aid workers have been attacked for ideological²⁰ reasons, and aid agencies might need to talk more to gunmen to persuade them that they were there to help people.

An official inquiry²¹ in the Netherlands has blamed a Russian cluster bomb for the death of a Dutch cameraman in Georgia during the conflict there in August. A team sent to the site by the Dutch Foreign Ministry²² found that 39-year-old Stan Storimans had been killed by a type of cluster bomb that's used only by Russia. The Dutch foreign minister said there were no troops in the area at the time of the attack and cluster bombs should not be used against civilians²³. Geraldine Coughlin reports.

The Dutch government investigation²⁴ has found that a Russian cluster bomb killed television cameraman Stan Storimans in Georgia in August. Russia denies using cluster bombs, but human rights groups say both sides used the weapons. The Netherlands will call for a commitment not to use cluster bombs by member states of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe on Thursday.

And that's the latest BBC News.

1 prospects   

n.希望，前途(恒为复数)

参考例句：

• There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
• They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。

2 protracted   

adj.拖延的；延长的v.拖延“protract”的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The war was protracted for four years. 战争拖延了四年。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We won victory through protracted struggle. 经过长期的斗争，我们取得了胜利。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 stimulus   

n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物

参考例句：

• Regard each failure as a stimulus to further efforts.把每次失利看成对进一步努力的激励。
• Light is a stimulus to growth in plants.光是促进植物生长的一个因素。

4 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

5 negotiation   

n.谈判，协商

参考例句：

• They closed the deal in sugar after a week of negotiation.经过一星期的谈判，他们的食糖生意成交了。
• The negotiation dragged on until July.谈判一直拖到7月份。

6 reiterate   

v.重申，反复地说

参考例句：

• Let me reiterate that we have absolutely no plans to increase taxation.让我再一次重申我们绝对没有增税的计划。
• I must reiterate that our position on this issue is very clear.我必须重申我们对这一项议题的立场很清楚。

7 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

8 eviction   

n.租地等的收回

参考例句：

• The family have won a temporary reprieve from eviction.这个家庭暂时免于被逐出。
• He claimed damages for unlawful eviction.他要求对非法驱逐作出赔偿。

9 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

10 prosecutor   

n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人

参考例句：

• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。
• The prosecutor would tear your testimony to pieces.检查官会把你的证言驳得体无完肤。

11 juveniles   

n.青少年( juvenile的名词复数 )；扮演少年角色的演员；未成年人

参考例句：

• Do you think that punishment for violent crimes should be the same for juveniles and adults? 你对暴力犯罪的惩罚对于青少年和成人应一样吗？ 来自生活英语口语25天快训
• Juveniles Should we not exactly in need of such strength and conviction? 少年的我们难道不正是需要这种力量和信念吗？ 来自互联网

12 commuted   

通勤( commute的过去式和过去分词 )； 减（刑）； 代偿

参考例句：

• His sentence was commuted from death to life imprisonment. 他的判决由死刑减为无期徒刑。
• The death sentence may be commuted to life imprisonment. 死刑可能減为无期徒刑。

13 mediation   

n.调解

参考例句：

• The dispute was settled by mediation of the third country. 这场争端通过第三国的斡旋而得以解决。
• The dispute was settled by mediation. 经调解使争端得以解决。

14 deadlock   

n.僵局，僵持

参考例句：

• The negotiations reached a deadlock after two hours.两小时后，谈判陷入了僵局。
• The employers and strikers are at a deadlock over the wage.雇主和罢工者在工资问题上相持不下。

15 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

16 deplored   

v.悲叹，痛惜，强烈反对( deplore的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They deplored the price of motor car, textiles, wheat, and oil. 他们悲叹汽车、纺织品、小麦和石油的价格。 来自辞典例句
• Hawthorne feels that all excess is to be deplored. 霍桑觉得一切过分的举动都是可悲的。 来自辞典例句

17 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

18 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

19 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

20 ideological   

a.意识形态的

参考例句：

• He always tries to link his study with his ideological problems. 他总是把学习和自己的思想问题联系起来。
• He helped me enormously with advice on how to do ideological work. 他告诉我怎样做思想工作，对我有很大帮助。

21 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。

22 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

23 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

24 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。