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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
Demonstrators have gathered in Spain to protest against government’s spending cuts. The two main trade unions say they hope tens of thousands will rally in several cities including Madrid, from where Sarah Rainsford reports.
Usually sympathetic to the ruling Socialist1 Party, they are now bitterly opposed to its plan to raise the retirement2 age by two years to 67. So despite driving rain here, a stream of demonstrators has been making its way into central Madrid, where huge red banners declare the unions the protectors of Spanish pensions. The government argues the current system is unsustainable. In 40 years’ time, it's predicted there will be almost as many pensioners3 here as workers, but the unions insist later retirement should be an option only, not an obligation.
The chairman of the US congressional panel investigating safety problems of the car giant Toyota has accused the company of misleading the American people. Representative Bart Stupak told a hearing in Washington that Toyota had a lot of explaining to do after it recalled eight million vehicles worldwide because of problems with accelerators. Here is Mark Mardell in Washington.
In a written statement, the president of Toyota's US operations, James Lentz, has said the company has not lived up to the high standards the public expects, and has taken too long to come to grips with a series of safety issues. The first to give evidence was a woman from Tennessee, Rhonda Smith. She told them in October 2006, she was driving her new Lexus, and it suddenly began to accelerate. It reached 100 miles an hour. She hit the brakes, changed into every gear, but nothing worked. She concluded that even when she had stopped the engine kept trying to turn itself on and accused Toyota of ignoring a deadly problem. Toyota executives have publicly apologized over the affair.
The Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has signed a peace deal with one of the main rebel factions4 in Darfur. The signing happened in the Qatari capital, Doha, where negotiations5 on Darfur have been taking place. The United Nations says 300,000 people have been killed in the Darfur civil war, but President Bashir disputes this. From the Sudanese capital Khartoum, James Copnall reports.
The Justice and Equality Movement is perhaps the strongest military force among the Darfur rebel groups. Two years ago, it attacked Omdurman, the city just over the Nile River from the capital Khartoum. Now it has agreed to a ceasefire and signed a framework agreement for future talks. According to an early version of the deal seen by the BBC, the Sudanese authorities have agreed that JEM should participate in government at every level. Both sides have agreed to sign a final agreement by March 15th.
Iran says it's captured a top Sunni militant6 Abdolmalek Rigi, whose group Jundullah is blamed for a string of deadly attacks. He’s said to have been on a flight from Dubai to Central Asia when his plane was ordered to land in Iran. Television pictures showed him being escorted off an aircraft by masked security men.
The Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said Israel's stated intention to include sites in the occupied West Bank in an Israeli national heritage plan is a dangerous provocation7. Addressing the Belgian parliament in Brussels, he said the move could lead to a religious war between Jews and Muslims. On Sunday the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he intended to add several sites in the Palestinian territory to an Israeli development plan for what he called “the glory of the Jewish people”.
Latin American and Caribbean leaders have agreed to set up a new regional grouping that excludes the United States and Canada. The accord was announced at a summit in Mexico by the host President Felipe Calderon. He said the new alliance would represent an alternative to the Organization of American States, which for the past half century has been the main international forum8 for the Americas. An Argentine MP Agustin Rossi expressed satisfaction with the backing the new group gave his country in its latest row with Britain over the Falkland Islands, which Argentina calls the Malvinas.
"It was a really good day's work for us yesterday, not only for the unanimity9 of the support, but also for the forcefulness of the declaration, which is a more forceful declaration than we could have obtained at the Organization of American States."
The most senior officer in the United States Army, General George Casey, says he has serious concerns over efforts to lift a ban on homosexuals serving openly in the military. President Obama is in favor of ending the ban and a review has been ordered. But General Casey said that while he supported the review, he was concerned about the effect overturning the ban would have on troops currently engaged in two wars.
Ethiopian Airlines say all the bodies have been recovered of 90 people killed when one of its airliners10 crashed into the sea off Beirut last month. The company said all victims had been identified.
示威者在西班牙举行集会，抗议政府削减支出。两大主要工会表示，他们希望将有数十万人在几个城市举行集会，包括马德里在内。Sarah Rainsford在马德里报道。
通常民众都支持执政党社会党，现在，他们强烈反对政府将退休年龄推迟两年至67岁。所以尽管大雨滂沱，大批示威者已经陆续前往马德里中部。现场巨大的红色条幅宣布工会是西班牙养老金的保护者。政府辩称现行的体系是难以为继的。政府预测，在四十年之内，西班牙领取养老金的人数将和工人的数量一样多。但是工会坚称延迟退休年龄仅仅可以作为一项选择，而不是一项义务。
调查汽车巨头丰田公司的美国国会调查小组负责人指控丰田公司误导美国人民。众议院代表Bart Stupak在华盛顿听证会上表示，由于加速器的问题，日本在全世界范围召回800多万辆汽车，丰田必须做出诸多解释。Mark Mardell在华盛顿报道。
丰田北美总裁James Lentz表示，丰田公司未能达到公众期望的高标准，经过非常长的时间才发现一系列安全问题。首先作证的是田纳西州一名女性Rhonda Smith。她告诉听证小组，2006年10月份，她驾驶一辆新的雷克萨斯车，车辆突然开始加速，达到每小时100英里的速度。她紧急踩刹车，试了每一个转换档，但是毫不见效。她得出结论，即使她停下来，引擎还是会自动启动。她指控丰田公司忽略了一个非常致命的问题。丰田管理人员已经就此事公开道歉。
苏丹总统巴希尔与达尔富尔地区一个主要叛军派系签署和平协议。签署工作在卡塔尔首都多哈进行，多哈正在举行针对达尔富尔地区的协商工作。联合国表示，在达尔富尔内战中，共有300,000人遇难。但是Bashir总统对该数字存在争议。James Copnall在苏丹首都喀土穆报道。
正义与公平运动(Justice and Equality Movement，简称JEM)或许是达尔富尔反叛组织中军事力量最强大的组织。两年前，该组织袭击了与首都喀土穆隔尼罗河相望的乌姆杜尔曼。现在，JEM同意停火，签署将来对话的框架协议。据BBC记者见到的该协议的早期版本，苏丹当局同意JEM在任何水平参加政府统治。双方均同意在3月15日之前签署最终协议。
伊朗表示，他们逮捕了逊尼派好战分子高级成员Abdolmalek Rigi，他所属的Jundullah被控实施了一系列致命袭击。据称，他正在从迪拜飞往中亚的航班上，随后他的飞机被下令在伊朗降落。电视画面显示他被蒙面的安保人员押下飞机。
巴勒斯坦总统哈默德·阿巴斯表示，以色列试图将西岸一些地点列入以色列国家遗产计划的意图是非常危险的挑衅行为。在布鲁塞尔向比利时议会发表讲话时，他表示，此举会导致犹太人和穆斯林之间的宗教战争。周日，以色列总理内塔尼亚胡表示，为了他所说的“犹太人的荣誉”，希望将巴勒斯坦领土内的几个地点加入以色列发展计划。
拉丁美洲和加勒比国家领袖同意成立新的区域性组织，将美国和加拿大排除在外。在墨西哥举行的峰会上，东道国总统卡尔德龙宣布了该协议。他表示，该新的联盟将是美洲国际组织意外的另一个选择。过去的半个世纪，美洲国际组织一直是美洲国家主要的国际论坛。阿根廷议员Agustin Rossi对此表示满意，因为在与英国关于福克兰群岛的争议中，新的组织将会给予他们充分的支持。阿根廷称这个岛屿为马尔维纳斯群岛。
“昨天的工作对我们来说真的非常好，不仅仅因为支持的一致性，还因为这个宣布的坚强有力，这是比我们在美洲国际组织可能得到的更加有力的宣布。”
美国军队最高官员将军表示George Casey对军队中取消同性恋者公开服役的禁令表示严重的担忧。奥巴马支持终止该禁令，已经下令对此进行审查。但是Casey将军表示，尽管他支持进行审查，但是他担心，取消该禁令对于正在进行两场战争的军队产生的影响。
埃塞俄比亚航空表示，上月在贝鲁特海域坠毁的航班上所有90名乘客的遗体已经全部找到。该航空公司表示，所有受害者的身份已经确认。
收听单词发音 |
1
socialist
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| n.社会主义者；adj.社会主义的 | |
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retirement
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| n.退休，退职 | |
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pensioners
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| n.领取退休、养老金或抚恤金的人( pensioner的名词复数 ) | |
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4
factions
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| 组织中的小派别，派系( faction的名词复数 ) | |
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5
negotiations
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| 协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过 | |
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militant
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| adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士 | |
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7
provocation
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| n.激怒，刺激，挑拨，挑衅的事物，激怒的原因 | |
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8
forum
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| n.论坛，讨论会 | |
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unanimity
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| n.全体一致，一致同意 | |
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10
airliners
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| n.客机，班机( airliner的名词复数 ) | |
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