英国新闻听力 43

BBC News with Joe Macintosh.

The United States economy is now in recession according to an authoritative¹ body in Washington. The National Bureau of Economic Research says that the American economy has been in decline since December 2007. The committee’s judgment² is generally accepted as an official verdict on whether a recession has begun. Andrew Walker reports.

The National Bureau’s Committee of senior academic economists³ says that a recession began in the US in December last year. They looked at a number of indicators⁴ and on this occasion, one of the key factors seems to have been the decline in the number of people with jobs, that number has fallen every month this year. The Committee’s decision is essentially⁵ a judgment based on a range of different economic figures, usually, though not always, a recession declared by the committee includes two consecutive⁶ quarters of declining total production, perhaps the most widely used definition of recession outside the US.

The Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, has called an emergency meeting of the state legislature to discuss the state’s 11-billion-dollar deficit⁷. He’s already declared a state of emergency which would allow the legislator to change the existing budget. Mr. Schwarzenegger has proposed a combination of tax increases and spending cuts that would face strong opposition⁸ from some Republican members.

The outgoing United States President George Bush has said that the biggest regret from his presidency⁹ was the intelligence failure over whether Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. In a wide-ranging television interview broadcast 50 days before he leaves office, Mr. Bush said he wished the intelligence information on Iraq had been different. He also said he had not been ready for the consequences of going to war.

Well, I think I was unprepared for war. In other words, I didn’t campaign and said, ‘Please vote for me, I’ll be able to handle an attack.’ In other words, I didn’t anticipate war. Presidents, one of the things about the modern presidency is that the unexpected will happen.

India has launched a formal protest with Pakistan over the attacks on Mumbai. The Indian Foreign Ministry¹⁰ summoned the Pakistani High Commissioner¹¹ Shahid Malik to complain about Pakistan’s failure to control militant¹² groups on its territory. Pakistan is playing down suggestions of a rift¹³, insisting the meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere. Our South Asia correspondent Chris Morris reports.

As Mumbai begins to pick up the pieces and normal life resumes, the diplomatic fallout from last week’s attacks is increasing. Indian investigators¹⁴ believe the gunmen had months of training in Pakistan, and the government in Delhi is under political and popular pressure to respond. India believes the attackers are linked to the militant group Lashkar-e-Toiba, and it says it has compelling evidence. Links between the group and Pakistani intelligence have been well established in the past. The critical question now is whether those links still exist.

That report from Chris Morris. You are listening to the world news, coming to you from the BBC.

The Brazilian government has said it plans to reduce deforestation of the Amazon region, the world’s biggest rainforest by 70% over the next ten years. It’s the first time that Brazil has set a target to reduce levels of forest clearance¹⁵ caused by loggers and farmers. Deforestation is blamed for as much as three quarters of greenhouse gas emissions¹⁶ in Brazil which has one of the highest levels in the world. The announcement comes after it was revealed that this year the rate of Amazon deforestation increased after falling for the past four years.

Riot police in Zimbabwe have used teargas to break up a protest by soldiers in the center of the capital Harare. Around 40 soldiers began looting shops after they’d queued for hours outside a bank only to find their wages could not be paid. A number of civilians¹⁷ joined the protest before it was brought under control. James Rid reports.

The Zimbabwean army has always been a bedrock of support for President Robert Mugabe, but with Zimbabwe’s economy and public services close to total collapse¹⁸, it seems that loyalty¹⁹ is beginning to waver. A similar demonstration²⁰ involving more than 70 soldiers was reported last week. Unconfirmed reports say the army is no longer able to feed its rank and file, and soldiers are deserting in large numbers. The Zimbabwean army played a key role in ensuring Robert Mugabe who’s able to hang on to power after he lost the first round of presidential elections earlier this year.

The United Nations says about 9,000 Somalis are arriving in refugee camps in Eastern Kenya every month to escape fighting and insecurity. The UN’s Refugee Agency, the UNHCR, says more than 50,000 Somalis, mostly women and children, have fled across the border this year, many having walked for months.

The out-going American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice now on a brief farewell tour has played a piano recital²¹ at Buckingham Palace in London, attended by Queen Elisabeth. Dr. Rice is an accomplished²² concert pianist who began playing as a child. She was accompanied by Louise Miliband, the wife of Britain’s foreign secretary.

1 authoritative   

adj.有权威的，可相信的；命令式的；官方的

参考例句：

• David speaks in an authoritative tone.大卫以命令的口吻说话。
• Her smile was warm but authoritative.她的笑容很和蔼，同时又透着威严。

2 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。

3 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 indicators   

（仪器上显示温度、压力、耗油量等的）指针( indicator的名词复数 )； 指示物； （车辆上的）转弯指示灯； 指示信号

参考例句：

• The economic indicators are better than expected. 经济指标比预期的好。
• It is still difficult to develop indicators for many concepts used in social science. 为社会科学领域的许多概念确立一个指标仍然很难。

5 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

6 consecutive   

adj.连续的，联贯的，始终一贯的

参考例句：

• It has rained for four consecutive days.已连续下了四天雨。
• The policy of our Party is consecutive.我党的政策始终如一。

7 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

8 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

9 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

10 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。

11 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

12 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

13 rift   

n.裂口，隙缝，切口；v.裂开，割开，渗入

参考例句：

• He was anxious to mend the rift between the two men.他急于弥合这两个人之间的裂痕。
• The sun appeared through a rift in the clouds.太阳从云层间隙中冒出来。

14 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 clearance   

n.净空；许可(证)；清算；清除，清理

参考例句：

• There was a clearance of only ten centimetres between the two walls.两堵墙之间只有十厘米的空隙。
• The ship sailed as soon as it got clearance. 那艘船一办好离港手续立刻启航了。

16 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

17 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。

18 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

19 loyalty   

n.忠诚，忠心

参考例句：

• She told him the truth from a sense of loyalty.她告诉他真相是出于忠诚。
• His loyalty to his friends was never in doubt.他对朋友的一片忠心从来没受到怀疑。

20 demonstration   

n.表明，示范，论证，示威

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。

21 recital   

n.朗诵，独奏会，独唱会

参考例句：

• She is going to give a piano recital.她即将举行钢琴独奏会。
• I had their total attention during the thirty-five minutes that my recital took.在我叙述的35分钟内，他们完全被我吸引了。

22 accomplished   

adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的

参考例句：

• Thanks to your help,we accomplished the task ahead of schedule.亏得你们帮忙,我们才提前完成了任务。
• Removal of excess heat is accomplished by means of a radiator.通过散热器完成多余热量的排出。