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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
A British Cabinet minister has announced his resignation and called for the prime minister to resign for the good of the governing Labour Party. The Work and Pension Secretary James Purnell said Gordon Brown’s continued leadership made a future election victory by the opposition1 Conservative Party more, not less likely. Mr. Purnell’s departure follows resignation announcements by four other ministers in the past three days, but he’s the first openly to ask Mr. Brown to step aside. Naomi Grimley reports.
The news broke as soon as polls closed for the local and European elections. James Purnell made his announcement in a letter to the Times newspaper. He calls on Gordon Brown to stand aside, so that the Labour Party has a credible2 chance of winning at the next election. Mr. Purnell’s surprising move increases the risks for Gordon Brown although another Minister Caroline Flint has come out and backed the Prime Minister despite rumors3 suggesting she too might resign.
An exit poll after the European elections in the Netherlands suggests that a far-right party has won almost 15 percent of the vote, coming second after the governing Dutch coalition4 party, the Christian5 Democrats6. The Freedom Party, or PVV, is led by Geert Wilders, a creator of a controversial film highly critical of the Koran. He was banned from entering Britain earlier this year. Around 375 million people across the 27-nation European Union are voting over several days.
There’s been a generally positive reaction to President Obama’s announcement of his vision for the future of the United States’ relations with the Muslim world and for the progress towards peace in the Middle East. In his speech in Cairo, Mr. Obama spoke7 about the unbreakable bond between America and Israel, but also forcefully pointed8 out that Palestinians too had legitimate9 aspirations10 for dignity, opportunity and a state of their own.
For more than 60 years, they've endured the pain of dislocation. Many wait in refugee camps in the West Bank, Gaza, and neighboring lands for a life of peace and security that they have never been able to lead. They endured the daily humiliations, large and small, that come with occupation.
The Israeli government issued a brief statement stressing that its own national security remained its top priority. Many Palestinians openly welcome Mr. Obama’s words, but Hamas in the Gaza Strip while praising the change in tone, criticized Mr. Obama for specifically rejecting only Palestinian and not Israeli violence. Many Americans, too, welcomed the President’s word, but the BBC North America editor says his overtures11 to the Muslim world are seen as potentially risky12, raising expectations for change and a potential undermining of American power and influence.
World News from the BBC
In Ireland, Roman Catholic religious orders in Ireland found to have abused children have agreed to pay more compensation to the victims. Shawn Fanning reports.
A controversial deal in 2002 cut the amount of compensation the Roman Catholic orders were required to pay to victims in the Irish Republic are just under 118 million dollars. The taxpayer13 has funded the bulk of the damages to more than 12,000 victims. Now after a meeting with the Prime Minister Brian Cowan, the orders have agreed to make additional contributions and allow an independent audit14 of their assets, but further meeting is to take place in 2 weeks to determine the amounts the orders will provide.
Police in Thailand say the American actor David Carradine has been found dead in a Bangkok hotel. Jonathon Heads reports from Bangkok.
According to the police, the body of the 72-year-old actor was found this morning by the maid inside the wardrobe of his five-star hotel room. They would not give the cause of death, but they say there was a cord around his neck and other parts of his body, and that he’d been dead for several hours. His profile in Hollywood had risen recently following his starring role in Quaintant Tarentino's two-part film Kill Bill.
A Brazilian helicopter crew has retrieved15 the first pieces of the wreckage16 from the Air France plane that disappeared last Saturday off the coast of Brazil with 228 people on board. The wreckage includes a cargo17 pallet and two flotation buoys18. Air France has told the relatives of those who were traveling on the flight that everyone on board is presumed to have perished.
Three Iranian men living in England have been jailed for buying military equipment on the Internet auction19 site, Ebay and smuggling20 it to Teheran. A court in London heard that the items included spare parts for F14 fighter jets. The men were caught when customs officers at Heathrow airport intercepted21 a consignment22 of oxygen cylinders23, supposedly for medical use.
英国一名内阁部长宣布辞职,并呼吁首相为了工党管理着想而辞职。就业与养老金大臣詹姆斯-波内尔(James Purnell)称,戈登·布朗继续领导工党将导致未来的选举中对手保守党更有可能胜利。在过去的三天之内,还有其他四名内阁部长辞职。但是,波内尔是第一个公开要求布朗下台的人。Naomi Grimley报道。
当地和欧洲选举民意测验结束之后这个消息迅速传播开来。詹姆斯-波内尔在写给纽约时报的信件中宣部辞职。他要求布朗辞职,这样工党还有机会赢得下届选举。詹姆斯-波内尔令人惊讶的举动增加了戈登·布朗的风险,尽管另外一名部长站出来支持布朗首相,虽然舆论要求她也辞职。
在荷兰举行的欧洲选举之后的出口民意测验显示,极端保守主义党派赢得了接近15%的选票,仅次于掌权的荷兰联盟党——基督民主党。自由党由Geert Wilders领导,他创作了一部备受韩国人批评的有争议的电影。今年年初,他被禁止进入英国境内。在过去的几天里,来自欧盟27个国家的3.75亿人进行了投票。
对于奥巴马宣布的美国和穆斯林世界未来的看法以及中东和平进程问题,普遍反映非常积极。在开罗的演讲中,奥巴马总统谈到了美国和以色列不可分割的关系,但是也强有力地指出,巴勒斯坦人也有合法权利追求尊严,机会和属于自己的国家。
六十多年来,他们遭受着动乱的痛苦,许多人在西岸加沙地带和邻国的难民营中等待着他们向往的和平安全的生活。他们每天都忍受着由于占领带来的或大或小的耻辱。
以色列政府发表简短的声明强调说,自身国家安全仍然是首要任务。许国巴勒斯坦人公开表示欢迎奥巴马的精华,但是加沙地带的哈马斯证券在称赞奥巴马讲话基调改变的同时,批评奥巴马仅仅抗拒巴勒斯坦人的暴力,而不是以色列的暴力活动。许多美国人也欢迎奥巴马的讲话,但是BBC驻北美记者称,他对穆斯林世界的提议将被视为潜在的危险,将提高人们对变革的期望,将有可能削弱美国的实力和影响力。
BBC世界新闻。
在爱尔兰,被发现虐待儿童的罗马天主教堂同意给受害者更多赔偿。Shawn Fanning报道。
在2002年的交易中,罗马天主教堂被要求支付给爱尔兰共和国受害人的赔偿金在1.18亿美元以下。纳税人为12,000多名受害者成立基金会。在与爱尔兰总理布赖恩·考恩会晤之后,天主教堂统一给予更多补偿,并允许对其资产成立独立的审计机构,但是两周之后还要再次召开会议来决定最终赔偿金额。
泰国警方称,在曼谷一家酒店内发现美国演员David Carradine死亡。Jonathon Heads 在曼谷报道。
据警方称,今晨,用人在五星级酒店的衣柜内发现了这名72岁男演员的尸体。目前,警方没有透漏死因,但是他们说,在尸体颈部和身体其他部分发现了绳索,已经死亡几个小时。由于在昆廷·特拉蒂诺的影片《杀死比尔》中担任主角,他在好莱坞的位置得到提升。
一架巴西直升飞机取回首批来自周一失踪的载有228名乘客的法航飞机碎片。这些碎片包括一个托盘,两个浮标。法航告知机上乘客亲属,所有乘客可能全部遇难。
居住在英国的三名意大利男子由于在拍卖网Ebay上购买军事装备然后走私到德黑兰而被拘捕。伦敦法庭透露,这些转被包括F14战斗机的配件。希思罗机场海关人员拦截一批怀疑为医用氧气瓶时将三名男子拘捕。
1 opposition | |
n.反对,敌对 | |
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2 credible | |
adj.可信任的,可靠的 | |
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3 rumors | |
n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 );[古]名誉;咕哝;[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 );[古]名誉;咕哝;[古]喧嚷 | |
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4 coalition | |
n.结合体,同盟,结合,联合 | |
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5 Christian | |
adj.基督教徒的;n.基督教徒 | |
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6 democrats | |
n.民主主义者,民主人士( democrat的名词复数 ) | |
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7 spoke | |
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说 | |
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8 pointed | |
adj.尖的,直截了当的 | |
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9 legitimate | |
adj.合法的,合理的,合乎逻辑的;v.使合法 | |
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10 aspirations | |
强烈的愿望( aspiration的名词复数 ); 志向; 发送气音; 发 h 音 | |
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11 overtures | |
n.主动的表示,提议;(向某人做出的)友好表示、姿态或提议( overture的名词复数 );(歌剧、芭蕾舞、音乐剧等的)序曲,前奏曲 | |
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12 risky | |
adj.有风险的,冒险的 | |
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13 taxpayer | |
n.纳税人 | |
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14 audit | |
v.审计;查帐;核对;旁听 | |
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15 retrieved | |
v.取回( retrieve的过去式和过去分词 );恢复;寻回;检索(储存的信息) | |
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16 wreckage | |
n.(失事飞机等的)残骸,破坏,毁坏 | |
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17 cargo | |
n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
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18 buoys | |
n.浮标( buoy的名词复数 );航标;救生圈;救生衣v.使浮起( buoy的第三人称单数 );支持;为…设浮标;振奋…的精神 | |
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19 auction | |
n.拍卖;拍卖会;vt.拍卖 | |
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20 smuggling | |
n.走私 | |
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21 intercepted | |
拦截( intercept的过去式和过去分词 ); 截住; 截击; 拦阻 | |
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22 consignment | |
n.寄售;发货;委托;交运货物 | |
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23 cylinders | |
n.圆筒( cylinder的名词复数 );圆柱;汽缸;(尤指用作容器的)圆筒状物 | |
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