英国新闻听力 “千年发展目标”的实现更加艰难

The President of the World Bank Robert Zoellick has warned of a human catastrophe¹ unless urgent action is taken on the global economic crisis, which he described as unprecedented². Mr. Zoellick was speaking after a meeting of the main policy-making committees of the bank and the IMF in Washington. Reporting from there, our economics correspondent Andrew Walker.

Mr. Zoellick warned that most of the internationally-agreed targets for tackling poverty-related problems, the Millennium³ Development Goals, are now unlikely to be met. He called on developed country governments to meet their existing commitments to provide increased development aid and to consider going beyond them. He said the bank is in a strong position to help countries, but he also said that the agency has been asked by the Committee of Finance and Development Ministers which sets its policy direction to assess whether there is a need for more resources to help the poorest countries.

The World Health Organization has said that the world is better prepared than ever to withstand a potential flu pandemic as many countries began precautionary measures to try to stop the spread of a swine flu outbreak that has killed more than 80 people in Mexico. The Assistant Director-General of the WHO, Doctor Keiji Fukuda, said great improvements in dealing⁴ with potential pandemics had come from years of preparing for bird flu.

"In the past five years, the world has spent a huge amount of effort; countries have worked very hard to assess the threat of avian influenza⁵. They have worked very hard on pandemic preparedness planning. And we have new tools. We also have new defenses in place. We have better surveillance. We have stockpiles of anti-virus drugs in case of a pandemic situation.”

The Pakistani military says it's launched an offensive against Islamic militants⁶ in the north of the country. A spokesman said scores of militants have been killed. The area is west of the Swat Valley where the Pakistani government recently agreed a peace deal with the militants in exchange for the enforcement of Islamic law in the region.

A row is broken out between the Iraqi government and the American forces there after a raid by US troops killed two people in Kut in the south. The Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki said the raid was a breach⁷ of the security agreement governing the American presence in Iraq. Jim Muir reports.

The incident caused uproar⁸ in Kut itself and a sharp reaction from the Iraqi government. The Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki called the action a crime that violated the security agreement. He asked for the culprits to be handed over. Two senior Iraqi army officers were also arrested for permitting an American operation to go ahead without the knowledge of the Iraqi authorities. But the US military said the raid was fully⁹ coordinated¹⁰ and approved by the Iraqi government. Iraqi officials say the six people detained by the Americans have already been freed.

The United Nations top humanitarian¹¹ official John Holmes has added his voice to the growing number of calls for humanitarian access to be allowed into the Sri Lankan conflict zone where government forces are battling Tamil Tiger rebels. Mr. Holmes said a humanitarian pause was needed to get aid and aid workers into the combat zone. The Sri Lankan government has rejected outright¹² a unilateral ceasefire declared earlier by the rebels. The Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry's Permanent Secretary Palitha Kohona said the LTTE rebels were taking advantage of the visit by Mr. Holmes.

“I think it is a cynical¹⁴ effort on the part of LTTE to exploit the visit of Under－Secretary, Sir John Holmes to Sri Lanka. LTTE is down on its knees. It has nothing to bargain in this, this and for declaring a ceasefire. It's a joke.”

Efforts to give religious teaching more prominence¹⁵ in secondary schools in Berlin have failed. The turnout in the referendum in the German capital was too low and of those who took part, the majority voted against the proposal. The current system will stay in which lessons in ethics¹⁶ are compulsory¹⁷ but those in religious studies are voluntary.

The people of Ecuador have been voting in a general election in which the left-wing President Rafael Correa is seeking re-election after just two years in office. Mr. Correa called the vote under a new constitution designed to reform Ecuador's political institutions. He’s widely expected to win a new four-year term but the parliamentary election is expected to be much closer.

Egyptian archaeologists say they have discovered dozens of ancient mummies during excavations¹⁸ 60 kilometers south of the capital Cairo. The head of the research team said 53 brightly-colored, 4, 000-year-old coffins¹⁹ from the reign¹³ of the 4th Dynasty Pharaoh, Sesostris II had been uncovered. He said the tombs had been cut directly into rock near Egypt's little known Lahun Pyramid.

1 catastrophe   

n.大灾难，大祸

参考例句：

• I owe it to you that I survived the catastrophe.亏得你我才大难不死。
• This is a catastrophe beyond human control.这是一场人类无法控制的灾难。

2 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

3 millennium   

n.一千年，千禧年；太平盛世

参考例句：

• The whole world was counting down to the new millennium.全世界都在倒计时迎接新千年的到来。
• We waited as the clock ticked away the last few seconds of the old millennium.我们静候着时钟滴答走过千年的最后几秒钟。

4 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

5 influenza   

n.流行性感冒，流感

参考例句：

• They took steps to prevent the spread of influenza.他们采取措施
• Influenza is an infectious disease.流感是一种传染病。

6 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

7 breach   

n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破

参考例句：

• We won't have any breach of discipline.我们不允许任何破坏纪律的现象。
• He was sued for breach of contract.他因不履行合同而被起诉。

8 uproar   

n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸

参考例句：

• She could hear the uproar in the room.她能听见房间里的吵闹声。
• His remarks threw the audience into an uproar.他的讲话使听众沸腾起来。

9 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

10 coordinated   

adj.协调的

参考例句：

• The sound has to be coordinated with the picture. 声音必须和画面协调一致。
• The numerous existing statutes are complicated and poorly coordinated. 目前繁多的法令既十分复杂又缺乏快调。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

11 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。

12 outright   

adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的

参考例句：

• If you have a complaint you should tell me outright.如果你有不满意的事，你应该直率地对我说。
• You should persuade her to marry you outright.你应该彻底劝服她嫁给你。

13 reign   

n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势

参考例句：

• The reign of Queen Elizabeth lapped over into the seventeenth century.伊丽莎白王朝延至17世纪。
• The reign of Zhu Yuanzhang lasted about 31 years.朱元璋统治了大约三十一年。

14 cynical   

adj.(对人性或动机)怀疑的，不信世道向善的

参考例句：

• The enormous difficulty makes him cynical about the feasibility of the idea.由于困难很大，他对这个主意是否可行持怀疑态度。
• He was cynical that any good could come of democracy.他不相信民主会带来什么好处。

15 prominence   

n.突出；显著；杰出；重要

参考例句：

• He came to prominence during the World Cup in Italy.他在意大利的世界杯赛中声名鹊起。
• This young fashion designer is rising to prominence.这位年轻的时装设计师的声望越来越高。

16 ethics   

n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准

参考例句：

• The ethics of his profession don't permit him to do that.他的职业道德不允许他那样做。
• Personal ethics and professional ethics sometimes conflict.个人道德和职业道德有时会相互抵触。

17 compulsory   

n.强制的，必修的；规定的，义务的

参考例句：

• Is English a compulsory subject?英语是必修课吗？
• Compulsory schooling ends at sixteen.义务教育至16岁为止。

18 excavations   

n.挖掘( excavation的名词复数 )；开凿；开凿的洞穴（或山路等）；（发掘出来的）古迹

参考例句：

• The excavations are open to the public. 发掘现场对公众开放。
• This year's excavations may reveal ancient artifacts. 今年的挖掘可能会发现史前古器物。 来自辞典例句

19 coffins   

n.棺材( coffin的名词复数 )；使某人早亡[死，完蛋，垮台等]之物

参考例句：

• The shop was close and hot, and the atmosphere seemed tainted with the smell of coffins. 店堂里相当闷热，空气仿佛被棺木的味儿污染了。 来自辞典例句
• Donate some coffins to the temple, equal to the number of deaths. 到寺庙里，捐赠棺材盒给这些死者吧。 来自电影对白