英国新闻听力 科学家证实行星撞地球是恐龙灭绝主因

Bomb attacks in Baghdad have killed at least 14 people as some early voting took place in Iraq's parliamentary elections. Suicide bombers¹ killed seven soldiers at two polling stations while seven civilians² died in an attack at another. More than half a million members of the Iraqi armed forces were voting early to free them for security duties on the main polling day on Sunday. Gabriel Gatehouse sent this report from a polling station in Baghdad.

The police and the military have thrown everything they got to try to stop attackers from disrupting the poll. All leaves have been canceled and there will be around 200,000 personnel on duty in Baghdad alone.

"We are ready for anything." this policemen told us, "If we don't risk our lives, how will we change the country." The Americans too, are hoping that these elections will bring about change. There are still around 100,000 US troops in Iraq. The Pentagon wants that number halved³ by the summer in preparation for a full military withdrawal⁴ by 2012.

The Nigerian Senates has begun an inquiry⁵ after graphic⁶ pictures appeared on the Internet showing bodies strewn across the road after an armed robbery on the Lagos to Beining in highway. There is no indication of when the robbery took place. Caroline Duffield reports from Lagos.

These pictures appeared to show the bodies of men and women twisted and crushed in the road in broad daylight. Bloggers and local journalists circulating them and describing an attack on a bus on the Lagos-Beining express way. There are claims that the passengers were made to lie down in the road and that the bus driver was forced to run them over and that is how the large number of death occurred. Senators have now set up a committee of inquiry to try to find out what happened.

The Congressional Committee in the United States has narrowly approved the resolution describing as genocide—— the death of hundreds of thousands of Armenians at the hands of Turkish forces during the First World War. A house representative's foreign affair's committee endorsed⁸ the non-binding resolution. Earlier, the Secretary of State Hilary Clinton had urged Congress not to offend Turkey by approving it. But the Chairman of the Committee Howard Berman said Ankara had to come to terms with its history.

It is now time for Turkey to accept the reality of the Armenian genocide. This will most likely be a difficult and painful process for the Turkish people. But at the end of the day it will strengthen Turkish democracy and put the US-Turkey relationship on a better footing.

Within the passed few minutes, the Turkish Prime Minister condemned⁹ the resolution and said Turkey's lose recalling its ambassador to Washington for consultations¹⁰.

Scientists say unprecedented¹¹ amounts of the powerful greenhouse gas Methane¹² are leaking into the atmosphere from under the frozen Siberian seabed off northeast Russia. The experts cautions that it's unclear whether the leakage¹³ is a result of current globle warming or some other factor.

A report by the Nepalese government says nearly half the country's children under five are suffering from malnutrition¹⁴. The report says there has been study but slow progress in cutting poverty in the last decade, but more needs to be done to tackle poor nutrition. Health experts say extra attention should go to pregnant women and infants to stop children from suffering permanent intellectual damage.

Managers from the collapsed¹⁵ Russian oil firm Yukos have told the European Court of Human Rights, said the Kremlin government tried to destroy the company for political reasons. Yukos is seeking around 100 billion dollars in compensation. The Russian government says Yukos commited tax evasion¹⁶ on a massive scale.

Scientists say they can now definitively¹⁷ back, the long held theory that a huge asteroid¹⁸ striking the earth some 65 million years ago was responsible for wiping out the dinosaurs²⁰ and more than half of all animal species on the planet. The scientists finally discounted an alternative theory that volcanic²¹ eruptions²² caused the dinosaur¹⁹'s demise²³. Our science correspondent Pallab Ghosh reports.

The popular conception is that dinosaur's reign⁷ supreme²⁴ until they were suddenly eradicated²⁵ from the face of the planet. The theory goes that a giant asteroid crashed into the earth, wiping out half of all life on earth. Some scientists though say that those evidences that dinosaur survived the asteroid impact and became extinct some 300,000 years later. But a new analysis of all the available research has backed the view that it was a giant asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs.

Pallab Ghosh reporting.

The Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has said that he is ready to serve another term in office even though he will be almost 90 by the time the next election is due. Responding to a question at a news conference, Mr.Mugabe who is now 86 said if his party ZANU PF wanted him to serve another term, then he would stand.

伊拉克议会早期选举进行之时，巴格达发生了多起爆炸事件，造成至少14人死亡。自杀式爆炸者在两个投票站杀害了7名士兵，而在另外一个投票站，7名平民在另一起袭击中遇难。超过50万伊拉克军队力量提前投票，以便在周日的主要投票日履行安全职责。Gabriel Gatehouse在巴格达一个投票站发回报道。

警察和军队不惜一切代价试图阻止袭击者扰乱投票过程。所有休假均被取消，仅在巴格达就将有200,000多人值勤。

一名警察告诉我们，“我们做好了一切准备，如果我们不以生命冒险，我们怎么改变自己的国家。”美国人民也希望这次选举能够带来变革。

现在，驻伊拉克美军仍然有大约100,000人。五角大楼希望到今年夏天，该数字能够减半，为2012年全面撤军做准备。

近日，互联网上现出一些照片显示军队在从拉各斯通往贝宁的高速公路上实施抢劫后尸体遍布道路的景象。尼日利亚参议院已经就此展开了调查。没有迹象显示抢劫事件发生的时间。Caroline Duffield在拉各斯报道。

这些照片显示，在光天化日下，扭曲，破碎的男女的尸体遍布道路。博主和当地记者描述了拉各斯通往贝宁的高速公路一辆巴士上发生的袭击事件。有人声称，乘客被强迫躺在路上，巴士司机被强迫从乘客身上碾过去，这就是大量死亡发生的原因。参议员现在已经成立调查委员会，试图查明事情真相。

美国国会委员会勉强通过一项被称为种族大屠杀的决议——第一次世界大战期间数十万亚美尼亚人死于土耳其军队手中。众议院外交事务委员会赞成该没有法律约束力的决议。此前，国务卿希拉里·克林顿曾要求国会不要通过该决议，以免冒犯土耳其。但是该委员会主席Howard Berman表示，安卡拉应该接受自己的历史。

现在土耳其应该接受亚美尼亚种族灭绝的事实。对于土耳其人民来说，这极有可能是非常困难，非常痛苦的过程。但是最终，这将增强土耳其的民主程度，并将美国和土耳其的关系推向一个新的高度。

在过去的几分钟，土耳其总理对该决议提出谴责，称将土耳其大使召往华盛顿进行咨询是土耳其的失败。

科学家称，俄罗斯东北部西伯利亚冰冻的海床下，数量前所未有的温室气体甲烷正向大气中泄漏。专家表示，目前还不清楚甲烷气体的泄漏是由于现在的全球变暖还是其他因素。

尼泊尔政府一份报告称，该国接近一半五岁以下儿童营养不良。该报告称，过去的十年针对减少贫穷状况进行的研究已经取得了缓慢的进展，但是仍然需要采取措施应对营养不良问题。健康专家表示，应该给予孕妇和婴儿更多的关注，防止儿童遭遇永久性的智力损伤。

破产的俄罗斯石油公司尤科斯管理人员告诉欧洲人权法院，克里姆林宫政府出于政治目的试图毁灭该公司。尤科斯公司寻求大约1000亿美元的赔偿。俄罗斯政府则表示，尤科斯公司大量逃税。

科学家称，现在他们可以证实6500万年前，小行星撞击地球是造成恐龙和地球上几乎一半的动物灭绝的主要原因的理论。另外一个理论则认为火山爆发是造成恐龙灭绝的原因，科学家最终否认了这个说法。我们的科学记者Pallab Ghosh报道。

最流行的观念是，恐龙从地球表面被消除之前，一直占据至高无上的统治地位。该理论认为，一个巨大的行星撞击了地球，导致地球上一半的生命消亡。然而，另外一些科学家则表示，有证据表明恐龙在那次行星撞击事件中存活下来，直到300,000年后才灭绝。但是对所有研究进行的一项新的分析支持小行星撞击是恐怖灭绝的主要原因。

Pallab Ghosh报道。

津巴布韦总统穆加贝表示，他准备担任总统新一任期，尽管下次选举时他已90岁高龄。在新闻发布会上回答记者提问时，现年86岁的穆加贝表示，如果他领导的非洲民族联盟——爱国阵线(ZANU PF)希望他再次担任新的任期，他将继续参加竞选。

1 bombers   

n.轰炸机( bomber的名词复数 )；投弹手；安非他明胶囊；大麻叶香烟

参考例句：

• Enemy bombers carried out a blitz on the city. 敌军轰炸机对这座城市进行了突袭。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Royal Airforce sill remained dangerously short of bombers. 英国皇家空军仍未脱离极为缺乏轰炸机的危境。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

3 halved   

v.把…分成两半( halve的过去式和过去分词 )；把…减半；对分；平摊

参考例句：

• The shares have halved in value . 股价已经跌了一半。
• Overall operating profits halved to $24 million. 总的营业利润减少了一半，降至2，400 万元。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。

5 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。

6 graphic   

adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的

参考例句：

• The book gave a graphic description of the war.这本书生动地描述了战争的情况。
• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons.用图标来区分重要的文本项。

7 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。

8 endorsed   

vt.& vi.endorse的过去式或过去分词形式v.赞同( endorse的过去式和过去分词 )；在（尤指支票的）背面签字；在（文件的）背面写评论；在广告上说本人使用并赞同某产品

参考例句：

• The committee endorsed an initiative by the chairman to enter discussion about a possible merger. 委员会通过了主席提出的新方案，开始就可能进行的并购进行讨论。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The government has broadly endorsed a research paper proposing new educational targets for 14-year-olds. 政府基本上支持建议对14 岁少年实行新教育目标的研究报告。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

10 consultations   

n.磋商（会议）( consultation的名词复数 )；商讨会；协商会；查找

参考例句：

• Consultations can be arranged at other times by appointment. 磋商可以通过预约安排在其他时间。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Consultations are under way. 正在进行磋商。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

11 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。

12 methane   

n.甲烷，沼气

参考例句：

• The blast was caused by pockets of methane gas that ignited.爆炸是由数袋甲烷气体着火引起的。
• Methane may have extraterrestrial significance.甲烷具有星际意义。

13 leakage   

n.漏，泄漏；泄漏物；漏出量

参考例句：

• Large areas of land have been contaminated by the leakage from the nuclear reactor.大片地区都被核反应堆的泄漏物污染了。
• The continuing leakage is the result of the long crack in the pipe.这根管子上的那一条裂缝致使渗漏不断。

14 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。

15 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

16 evasion   

n.逃避，偷漏(税)

参考例句：

• The movie star is in prison for tax evasion.那位影星因为逃税而坐牢。
• The act was passed as a safeguard against tax evasion.这项法案旨在防止逃税行为。

17 definitively   

adv.决定性地，最后地

参考例句：

• None of the three super-states could be definitively conquered even by the other two in combination. 三个超级国家中的任何一国都不可能被任何两国的联盟所绝对打败。 来自英汉文学
• Therefore, nothing can ever be definitively proved with a photograph. 因此，没有什么可以明确了一张照片。 来自互联网

18 asteroid   

n.小行星；海盘车(动物)

参考例句：

• Astronomers have yet to witness an asteroid impact with another planet.天文学家还没有目击过小行星撞击其它行星。
• It's very unlikely that an asteroid will crash into Earth but the danger exists.小行星撞地球的可能性很小，但这样的危险还是存在的。

19 dinosaur   

n.恐龙

参考例句：

• Are you trying to tell me that David was attacked by a dinosaur?你是想要告诉我大卫被一支恐龙所攻击？
• He stared at the faithful miniature of the dinosaur.他凝视著精确的恐龙缩小模型。

20 dinosaurs   

n.恐龙( dinosaur的名词复数 )；守旧落伍的人，过时落后的东西

参考例句：

• The brontosaurus was one of the largest of all dinosaurs. 雷龙是所有恐龙中最大的一种。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years. 恐龙绝种已有几百万年了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

21 volcanic   

adj.火山的；象火山的；由火山引起的

参考例句：

• There have been several volcanic eruptions this year.今年火山爆发了好几次。
• Volcanic activity has created thermal springs and boiling mud pools.火山活动产生了温泉和沸腾的泥浆池。

22 eruptions   

n.喷发，爆发( eruption的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There have been several volcanic eruptions this year. 今年火山爆发了好几次。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Over 200 people have been killed by volcanic eruptions. 火山喷发已导致200多人丧生。 来自辞典例句

23 demise   

n.死亡；v.让渡，遗赠，转让

参考例句：

• He praised the union's aims but predicted its early demise.他赞扬协会的目标，但预期这一协会很快会消亡。
• The war brought about the industry's sudden demise.战争道致这个行业就这么突然垮了。

24 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

25 eradicated   

画着根的

参考例句：

• Polio has been virtually eradicated in Brazil. 在巴西脊髓灰质炎实际上已经根除。
• The disease has been eradicated from the world. 这种疾病已在全世界得到根除。