英国新闻听力 法国银行限制奖金发放

At least 40 people have been killed and more than 60 injured in a huge bomb explosion in the center of southern Afghan city of Kandahar. Rescue workers have been searching through the rubble¹ for survivors². Chris Morris reports from Kabul.

The attack took place in the early evening when Afghans were breaking their fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Officials in Kandahar say that they believed a huge bomb was hidden in a petrol tanker³ or a truck. Windows across the city were shattered by the force of the blast. The offices of a Japanese-owned construction company were destroyed. And a number of nearby buildings including a wedding hall were badly damaged. Local officials have blamed Taliban for the attack in a region where the insurgency⁵ is strong.

Hours earlier, preliminary results from last week’s presidential election in Afghanistan showed President Karzai with a narrow lead over his nearest rival Abdullah Abdullah. With 10% of all the ballots⁶ counted, the election commission said Mr. Karzai have 41% of the votes to 39% for Mr. Abdullah.

Iraq and Syria have recalled their ambassadors from each other’s capitals in a row over last week’s suicide bombings in Baghdad which killed more than 100 people. Iraqi state television has broadcasted the alleged⁷ confession⁸ of an organizer of the bombings who said he’d received his orders from 2 Syrian-based members of Saddam Hussein’s Baathist party. Our Arab affairs analyst⁹ Midi Abudhadi reports.

Last week, the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki traveled to Damascus for talks on security cooperation and the visit ended with the host reiterating¹⁰ their commitment to help Iraq become stable and prosperous. But the decision by the two governments to recall the ambassadors underlines that behind the diplomatic niceties serious tensions between the two countries remain. Ever since the overthrow¹¹ of Saddam Hussein in 2003, both Baghdad and Washington have pointed¹² the finger at Syria for harboring Iraqis and other Arab militants¹³ banned on overthrowing¹⁴ the Iraqi government.

Special fraud police in Nigeria say they are preparing to make further arrests of prominent businessmen and other debtors¹⁵ who owe billions of dollars to the country’s troubled banks. The move comes with the imminent¹⁶ expiry of a deadline for those owing money to return it. From Lagos, Caroline Duffield reports.

The chief of Nigeria special fraud police Farida Waziri says that her officers are preparing to question Nigeria’s elite¹⁷ debtors. They include some of the wealthiest and most powerful tycoons¹⁸ in Africa. They are being blamed for bringing five major banks close to collapse¹⁹ while failing to pay their debts. Many of the individual and businesses publicly named by the Nigerian authorities are protesting. They say that they are disputing bank charges, or that they have serviced their loans or the authorities have got the numbers wrong.

Leading French bankers have agreed to curb²⁰ excessive bonuses after being summoned to a meeting with President Nicolas Sarkozy. Bank leaders said the bonuses would now only be based on long-term profits rather than short-term speculation²¹. And there would be penalties for traders who subsequently lose money.

President Obama has nominated Ben Bernanke for a second term as chairmen of the Federal Reserve, the United States central bank. The president said Mr. Bernanke had shown calmness and creativity in facing the financial crisis. Here is our economics correspondent Andrew Walker.

He has faced the biggest challenge of any Federal Reserve boss since the Great Depression in the 1930s. Indeed Mr. Bernanke’s aim over the last year has been to prevent a repeat of that episode. Under his leadership, the Fed has taken a wide range of measures, some of them innovative²², intended to contain the financial crisis and stimulate²³ a wider economic recovery. The US economy has contracted sharply in the last year and unemployment has climbed. But without the Fed’s response it would almost certainly had been worse, perhaps very much worse.

A mass burial has been held in Tanzania for 12 school girls aged⁴ between 13 and 16 who died in a fire in their dormitory on Saturday. The bodies were burned beyond recognition. They have to be placed in unnamed graves until they can be identified individually by DNA²⁴ testing. Tanzanian police say the fire was probably caused by a candle used by one of the girls to study at night.

A group of engineers from Hampshire in the south of England have broken the world's longest standing²⁵ land speed record, the fastest speed for a steam driven car. The record breaking car, nicknamed “the world’s fastest kettle” reached an average speed of 225 kilometers per hour over 2 runs at the Edward’s Air Force Base in California. The previous record was set by an American, 103 years ago.

阿富汗南部城市坎大哈发生特大炸弹爆炸案，造成至少40人死亡，60多人受伤。搜救人员正在废墟中寻找幸存者。Chris Morris在喀布尔报道。

爆炸袭击发生在傍晚时分，当时阿富汗人正在准备穆斯林斋月的开始。坎大哈官员称他们相信该威力巨大的炸弹隐藏在油罐车或卡车上。全市的窗户都被爆炸的巨大威力震碎。一家日本建筑公司的办公室被完全毁坏。附近一些建筑，包括婚礼大厅遭到严重损坏。当地官员指责塔利班实施了这次袭击。该地区的反叛分子一直十分猖獗。

几个小时之前，上周阿富汗总统选举的初步结果显示现任总统卡尔扎伊以轻微的优势领先于相差最小的竞争对手阿卜杜拉。现在已经统计了选票的10%。选举委员会称，卡尔扎伊的支持率为41%，而阿卜杜拉为39%。

上周巴格达发生致命的自杀式爆炸导致100多人死亡之后，伊拉克和叙利亚分别召回其在对方首都的大使。伊拉克国家电视台报道称，爆炸事件的组织者声称其收到位于叙利亚的两名前萨达姆党羽的命令。我们的阿拉伯事务分析家Midi Abudhadi报道。

上周，伊拉克总理马利基访问大马士革，针对双方安全合作问题进行会谈。最终叙利亚强调，他们承诺帮助伊拉克更加稳定繁荣。但是双方政府召回其大使的决定表明，在表面友好的外交关系背后，紧张形势依然存在。自2003年萨达姆·侯赛因被推翻之后，巴格达和华盛顿一直指责叙利亚包庇伊拉克和其他阿拉伯好战分子，他们企图推翻伊拉克政府。

尼日利亚特别诈骗案警察称，他们正准备进一步逮捕接触的商业人士和其他人士，这些人欠尼日利亚濒临破产的银行高达数十亿美元的贷款。警方的宣布发生在归还贷款的期限即将来临之际。

尼日利亚特别诈骗案警方负责人称，他们准备审讯尼日利亚的精英欠债人。包括一些非洲最富有和最有权势的人。他们被指责因拖欠贷款而导致尼日利亚五家主要银行濒临破产。许多被尼日利亚当局公布名字的个人和企业提起抗议。他们说，他们对银行的指控存在争议，或者他们已经偿还了贷款，或者说贷款金额是错误的。

法国主要银行家与法国总统萨科齐会晤之后同意限制奖金的过度发放。他们表示，奖金的发放将基于长期收益而非短期表现。而对那些持续亏损的人将会实行处罚。

美国总统奥巴马提名本·伯南克担任美国中央银行美联储主席第二次任期。奥巴马表示，在面对金融危机的时候，伯南克表现出了冷静和创意。我们的经济新闻记者Andrew Walker报道。

他遭遇了自30年代大萧条以来美联储历任主席所面临的最大挑战。Andrew Walker去年一整年的目标就是防止这种情况重演。在他的领导下，美联储采取了一系列的广泛措施，其中一些是非常有创新精神的，目的就是为了控制金融危机，刺激更广泛的经济复苏。去年，美国经济急剧缩减，失业率大幅上升。但是，如果没有美联储的快速反应，情况可能更糟糕，而且可能糟糕很多。

周六，坦桑尼亚一所学校宿舍发生火灾，12名13至16岁的女生在火灾中死亡，目前举行了集体埋葬。他们将被埋葬在没有名字的坟墓中，直到进行了DNA测验身份得到确认。坦桑尼亚警方称，火灾起因可能是其中一名女生在晚上点蜡烛学习。

来自英国南部汉普郡的工程师制造的蒸汽机汽车打破了保持最久的陆地速度记录。打破纪录的汽车昵称为“世界最快的水壶”在加利福尼亚爱德华空军基地达到了平均每小时225千米的速度。此前的世界记录在103年前由美国人打破。

1 rubble   

n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾

参考例句：

• After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
• After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。

2 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

3 tanker   

n.油轮

参考例句：

• The tanker took on 200,000 barrels of crude oil.油轮装载了二十万桶原油。
• Heavy seas had pounded the tanker into three parts.汹涌的巨浪把油轮撞成三载。

4 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

5 insurgency   

n.起义；暴动；叛变

参考例句：

• And as in China, unrest and even insurgency are widespread. 而在中国，动乱甚至暴乱都普遍存在。 来自互联网
• Dr Zyphur is part an insurgency against this idea. 塞弗博士是这一观点逆流的一部分。 来自互联网

6 ballots   

n.投票表决( ballot的名词复数 )；选举；选票；投票总数v.（使）投票表决( ballot的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• They're counting the ballots. 他们正在计算选票。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The news of rigged ballots has rubbed off much of the shine of their election victory. 他们操纵选票的消息使他们在选举中获得的胜利大为减色。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 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

8 confession   

n.自白，供认，承认

参考例句：

• Her confession was simply tantamount to a casual explanation.她的自白简直等于一篇即席说明。
• The police used torture to extort a confession from him.警察对他用刑逼供。

9 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

10 reiterating   

反复地说，重申( reiterate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He keeps reiterating his innocence. 他一再申明他无罪。
• The Chinese government also sent a note to the British government, reiterating its position. 中国政府同时将此立场照会英国政府。

11 overthrow   

v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆

参考例句：

• After the overthrow of the government,the country was in chaos.政府被推翻后，这个国家处于混乱中。
• The overthrow of his plans left him much discouraged.他的计划的失败使得他很气馁。

12 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。

13 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。

14 overthrowing   

v.打倒，推翻( overthrow的现在分词 )；使终止

参考例句：

• They succeeded in overthrowing the fascist dictatorship. 他们成功推翻了法西斯独裁统治。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I always delight in overthrowing those kinds of schemes. 我一向喜欢戳穿人家的诡计。 来自辞典例句

15 debtors   

n.债务人，借方( debtor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Creditors could obtain a writ for the arrest of their debtors. 债权人可以获得逮捕债务人的令状。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Never in a debtors' prison? 从没有因债务坐过牢么？ 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

16 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。

17 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

18 tycoons   

大君( tycoon的名词复数 )； 将军； 企业巨头； 大亨

参考例句：

• The great tycoons were fierce competitors, single-minded in their pursuit of financial success and power. 企业巨头都是激烈的竞争者，他们一心追求钱财和权势。
• Tycoons and their conglomerates are even raising money again on international markets. 企业大亨们以及他们的企业甚至正再次从国际市场上筹集资金。

19 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。

20 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

21 speculation   

n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机

参考例句：

• Her mind is occupied with speculation.她的头脑忙于思考。
• There is widespread speculation that he is going to resign.人们普遍推测他要辞职。

22 innovative   

adj.革新的，新颖的，富有革新精神的

参考例句：

• Discover an innovative way of marketing.发现一个创新的营销方式。
• He was one of the most creative and innovative engineers of his generation.他是他那代人当中最富创造性与革新精神的工程师之一。

23 stimulate   

vt.刺激，使兴奋；激励，使…振奋

参考例句：

• Your encouragement will stimulate me to further efforts.你的鼓励会激发我进一步努力。
• Success will stimulate the people for fresh efforts.成功能鼓舞人们去作新的努力。

24 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

25 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。