英国新闻听力 朝鲜特赦两名美国记者

The North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has ordered the release of two American journalists who were jailed after crossing into North Korea from China in March. The announcement came during a surprise visit to Pyongyang by the former US President Bill Clinton who's now left the country.

Bill Clinton's surprise mission to North Korea appears to have been successful. He met the two American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee in what was described as a very emotional meeting. And the country's leader Kim Jong-il has now granted the two women a special pardon and ordered their release. The White House described Mr. Clinton's trip as a private mission. But media reports in Washington suggested that the Obama administration approved the mission which had been secretly planned for weeks.

The Columbian President Alvaro Uribe has left for a 7-nation tour of South America to try to reassure¹ his neighbors about plans to station more US troops in Columbia. He's currently in Peru and will also stop in Brazil and Chile which express concern about the enhanced US military presence on the continent. The Columbian military says that American forces could have a role at seven air, naval² and army bases under the agreement currently being negotiated.

The Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been criticized by his own daughter over his alleged³ encounters with a number of young women. Barbara Berlusconi says there should be no distinction between the private and public lives of political leaders. David Willey reports.

Asked about her reaction to her father's attentions to a teenage Neapolitan would-be model, Barbara Berlusconi said she was shocked. “I have never frequented elderly men”, she said. “I have no experience of such psychological ties.” Barbara Berlusconi's mother Veronica is seeking a divorce from Mr. Berlusconi after learning of her husband's relationship with an underage Neapolitan called Noemi Letizia. Mr. Berlusconi habitually⁴ dismisses all reports of his sexual dalliances as untrue or tries to laugh them off.

Georgia has dismissed a groundless provocation⁵ at an announcement that Russia has put its troops on high alert in the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia. Moscow said it acted after reports of shooting from the Georgian side of the boundary with South Ossetia. From Tbilisi, Tom Esslemont reports.

The Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister Giga Bokeria said Russia was escalating⁶ the situation by action and by rhetoric⁷. He said that Russia's latest claim was alarming because Georgia had come under fire from the South Ossetian side of the boundary on Monday night. In a move to find evidence for the reported attacks, the 225 European Union monitors are spending more time keeping watch along the boundary, but so far have been unable to find evidence for any of the claims. This, in their eyes, appears to be more of a war of words than anything else.

The Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua has ordered an investigation⁸ into last week's uprising by Islamist militants⁹, including the controversial killing¹⁰ of the leader of the sect¹¹ Mohammad Yusuf. The president ordered his security adviser¹² to conduct the inquiry¹³, after allegations that the police had summarily executed Mr. Yusuf following his capture by the army.

The American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in Kenya at the start of an 11-day tour of seven African nations. She'll discuss trade and is likely to challenge African leaders to tackle corruption¹⁴. From Nairobi, our correspondent Will Ross.

Last month, US President Barack Obama visited Ghana and laid down a challenge for the continent and its leaders. He made it clear that if Africa wanted to be treated fairly on the international stage, it had to get its own house in order. The Secretary of State is likely to repeat that call and nowhere would it have more relevance¹⁵ than in Kenya where some of the senior politicians have been accused of instigating¹⁶ election-related violence and of attempting to evade¹⁷ justice. Hillary Clinton's trip will also focus on two current conflicts: Somalia, which is too dangerous for her to visit and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Indian government has asked UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund to stop distributing millions of dollars of nutrition aid to children because it had been done without permission. An official said the agency had not informed the government about importing a high energy relief treatment for severely¹⁸ malnourished children. UNICEF says children with acute malnutrition¹⁹ face the risk of imminent²⁰ death.

The jackpot of Italy's national lottery²¹ has reached over 166 million dollars, breaking Italian records and becoming the second highest amount ever offered in Europe. Ahead of tonight's SuperEnalotto draw, people from neighboring countries cross the border to place bets on what the winning combinations of numbers might be.

朝鲜领导人金正日下令释放两名今年三月份由中国境内进入朝鲜被捕的美国记者。美国前总统克林顿突然访问朝鲜，期间金正日宣布将两人释放。现克林顿已离开朝鲜。

比尔·克林顿的突然访朝似乎是成功的。他在一场非常激动人心的会议中会见了两名被捕美国记者Laura Ling和Euna Lee。朝鲜领袖特赦两名美国女记者，下令将她们释放。白宫称克林顿朝鲜之行是私人任务。但是华盛顿媒体报道则暗示奥巴马政府批准了这次秘密计划了几周的任务。

哥伦比亚总统阿尔瓦罗·乌里韦·贝莱斯开始对南美七国进行访问，试图向其邻国保证，在哥伦比亚建立更多美军基地的计划不会威胁他国安全。目前，乌里韦正在秘鲁，之后会在巴西和智利停留。这两国也曾经表示了对美军更多的出现在南美大陆的担忧。哥伦比亚军方称，按照目前正在协商的协议，美国军队将在七个海陆空军事基地发挥作用。

意大利总理贝卢斯科尼被其女儿指控与一些年轻女子有瓜葛。芭芭拉·贝卢斯科尼称，一个政治领袖的私人生活和公众生活不应该存在差别。

被记者问道父亲与将来的模特有暧昧是什么反应时，芭芭拉说她非常震惊。“我从来不会经常到年长的男子那里去，”她说。“我没有这种心理联系的经历。”在听说丈夫与未成年的Noemi Letizia有暧昧关系之后，芭芭拉的母亲试图离婚。贝卢斯科尼习惯性地否认了新闻媒体对其桃色事件的报道，称报道失实，试图格鲁吉亚此前曾挑衅称俄罗斯在格鲁吉亚分裂的南奥塞梯地区的军队处于高度戒备状态。现格鲁吉亚取消了这种缺乏依据的宣布。莫斯科方面称，有报道称格鲁吉亚方面在南奥塞梯边境进行开火之后他们也采取行动。第比利斯，Tom Esslemont报道。

格鲁吉亚副外长波可里亚(Giga Bokeria)表示，俄罗斯通过行动和修辞使边境地区的紧张形势升级。他说，俄罗斯最新的主张非常惊人，因为周一晚上，格鲁吉亚南奥塞梯边境刚刚遭受战火。在寻找报道所称的袭击的证据时，225名欧盟监察员花费了更多的时间关注边境地区的形势，但是目前为止，还没有找到任何证据。这在他们的眼中，与其说是其他的不如说是口舌之争。

尼日利亚总统奥马鲁·亚拉杜瓦下令对上周伊斯兰好战分子的起义事件进行调查，包括有争议的叛军领袖默罕默德·尤瑟福被杀事件。有控诉称，军队抓获尤瑟福之后，警方仓促将其处决。总统下令其安全顾问亲自对该事件进行调查。

美国国务卿希拉里目前正在肯尼亚，开始为期11天的非洲七国之行。她将与各国领导人讨论贸易问题，并挑战各国领导人解决腐败问题。内罗毕，Will Ross报道。

上个月，美国总统巴拉克·奥巴马访问迦纳，为整个非洲大陆和各国领导人带来挑战。他表明，如果非洲希望在国际舞台上受到平等对待，必须先整理好国内秩序。国务卿希拉里可能会重复该主张，而肯尼亚对此更加适用。因为肯尼亚几名高级政治家被指控煽动与选举相关的暴力事件，试图规避正义。希拉里之行将集中于目前的两个冲突：索马里，对她来说，此行太过危险，不适合访问。另外一个是刚果民主共和国。

印度政府要求联合国儿童基金会停止向儿童发放价值数百万美元的营养援助，因为活动是未经过允许的。一名官员称，该机构在未通知政府的情况下向严重营养不良的儿童发放高能量救助治疗。联合国儿童基金会称，严重营养不良的儿童即将面临死亡。

意大利国家彩票头奖高达1.66亿美元，打破了意大利记录成为欧洲第二大奖金。在今晚的SuperEnalotto奖揭晓之前，邻国的人们纷纷穿越边境，为可能的数字组合投注。

1 reassure   

v.使放心，使消除疑虑

参考例句：

• This seemed to reassure him and he continued more confidently.这似乎使他放心一点，于是他更有信心地继续说了下去。
• The airline tried to reassure the customers that the planes were safe.航空公司尽力让乘客相信飞机是安全的。

2 naval   

adj.海军的，军舰的，船的

参考例句：

• He took part in a great naval battle.他参加了一次大海战。
• The harbour is an important naval base.该港是一个重要的海军基地。

3 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

4 habitually   

ad.习惯地，通常地

参考例句：

• The pain of the disease caused him habitually to furrow his brow. 病痛使他习惯性地紧皱眉头。
• Habitually obedient to John, I came up to his chair. 我已经习惯于服从约翰，我来到他的椅子跟前。

5 provocation   

n.激怒，刺激，挑拨，挑衅的事物，激怒的原因

参考例句：

• He's got a fiery temper and flares up at the slightest provocation.他是火爆性子，一点就着。
• They did not react to this provocation.他们对这一挑衅未作反应。

6 escalating   

v.（使）逐步升级( escalate的现在分词 )；（使）逐步扩大；（使）更高；（使）更大

参考例句：

• The cost of living is escalating. 生活费用在迅速上涨。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The cost of living is escalating in the country. 这个国家的生活费用在上涨。 来自辞典例句

7 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

8 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。

9 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。

10 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

11 sect   

n.派别，宗教，学派，派系

参考例句：

• When he was sixteen he joined a religious sect.他16岁的时候加入了一个宗教教派。
• Each religious sect in the town had its own church.该城每一个宗教教派都有自己的教堂。

12 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

13 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。

14 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

15 relevance   

n.中肯，适当，关联，相关性

参考例句：

• Politicians' private lives have no relevance to their public roles.政治家的私生活与他们的公众角色不相关。
• Her ideas have lost all relevance to the modern world.她的想法与现代社会完全脱节。

16 instigating   

v.使（某事物）开始或发生，鼓动( instigate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Distant but clear Longyin instigating the eardrums of every person. 遥远却清晰的龙吟鼓动着每一个人的耳膜。 来自互联网
• The leader was charged with instigating the workers to put down tools. 那位领导人被指控煽动工人罢工。 来自互联网

17 evade   

vt.逃避，回避；避开，躲避

参考例句：

• He tried to evade the embarrassing question.他企图回避这令人难堪的问题。
• You are in charge of the job.How could you evade the issue?你是负责人，你怎么能对这个问题不置可否？

18 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

19 malnutrition   

n.营养不良

参考例句：

• In Africa, there are a lot of children suffering from severe malnutrition.在非洲有大批严重营养不良的孩子。
• It is a classic case of malnutrition. 这是营养不良的典型病例。

20 imminent   

adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的

参考例句：

• The black clounds show that a storm is imminent.乌云预示暴风雨即将来临。
• The country is in imminent danger.国难当头。

21 lottery   

n.抽彩；碰运气的事，难于算计的事

参考例句：

• He won no less than ￡5000 in the lottery.他居然中了5000英镑的奖券。
• They thought themselves lucky in the lottery of life.他们认为自己是变幻莫测的人生中的幸运者。