英国新闻听力

The acting¹ President of Nigeria Goodluck Jonathan has dissolved the government. The announcement comes a month after he assumed the executive powers because of the long illness of President Umaru Yar'Adua. Peter Greste reports from Abuja.

There's been a talk of cabinet reshuffle for weeks now, ever since the national assembly moved Goodluck Jonathan from vice-president to acting President two months ago. But few people expected the wholesale² dissolution that came on Wednesday. He made no public statement but the outgoing Information Minister Dora Akunyili said permanent secretaries would take charge of the ministries³ until a new cabinet is appointed. No Ministers will lose their jobs, some will be reappointed, but this kind of sweeping⁴ change makes it clear the acting President is trying to assert his control over the cabinet made up largely of the President Yar'Adua's appointees.

Germany is pressing the 16 Euro countries to consider harsher measures to safeguard the stability of the European single currency. In a speech to Parliament, the German Chancellor⁵ Angela Merkel described the current financial crisis in Greece as the greatest challenge yet for the Euro. From Brussels Gavin Hewitt has more.

This may be remembered as the day the single currency changed. The German Chancellor Angela Merkel said it should be possible to expel a country from the Euro-zone if it consistently ran up big deficits⁶. The Euro's founders⁷ were inspired by the belief that the Europe's destiny lay in closer union. A single currency was a fundamental pillar of that[1]. The presumption⁸ was always that the Euro Zone would expand. Angela Merkel raised the possibility today that it could even contract.

The Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou says he would prefer a European solution to his country's debt problem that Greece would seek help elsewhere if necessary. Mr. Papandreou was speaking at a news conference alongside the President of the European Commission after talks in Brussels. Asked by reports that Greece[2] could turn to the IMF for support. Mr. Papandreou said all options remained open.

The head of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland Cardinal⁹ Sean Brady has apologized for any failures on his part in connection with the church investigation¹⁰ into abuses by a pedophile priest. The Cardinal said he was ashamed that he had not always held the values he believed in. Mark Simpson has this from Belfast.

Father Brendan Smyth[3] was one of Ireland's most notorious pedophile priests. He was jailed in 1994. Cardinal Brady knew by complaints against him in 1975, but he didn't tell the police. He wasn't a senior figure in the church at the time and he wasn't the only one who knew of the complaints. But today at the St.Patrick's Day * he admitted he hadn't acted properly. There has been a series of child abuse scandals and cover-ups in Ireland. The Pope is writing a pastoral letter[4] to Irish Catholics. It's expected at the end of this week.

That's Mark Simpson reporting from Belfast. This is Zoe Diamond with the latest world news from the BBC here in London.

A United Nation's report says nearly a quarter of a billion people around the world escaped from slum living conditions in the last decade. However the UN Human Settlements Program UN-HABITAT said the housing effort was outstripped¹¹ by population growth. The head of UN-HABITAT organization Anna Tibaijuka told the BBC that the improvements in the numbers of slum dwellers¹² are not always apparent.

Over the last years, we have seen about 24 million people lived out of the slums.Every 14 more people though are joining in the slum dwellers, so that you find improvements are not as dramatically as visible as they are[5], but improvement is taking place particularly in North Africa, in countries like in Egypt,Morocco and Tunisia.

The Paris club of rich credit countries have agreed to cancel all the debt owe to them by Afghanistan. In the statement, the group said the write-off would be worth more than a billion dollars. The Afghan government agreed to spend the additional resources on reducing poverty.

Police in Cuba have arrested the wives and mothers of dissidents after they staged a protest march in the capital Havana. The women, known as the women in white were demanding a release of some 50 government critics who were still being held after the mass arrest 7 years ago. Witnesses said about 30 of protesters were put into buses by uniformed police and driven off. They had earlier been followed and heckled by crowds of government's supporters.

President Alan Garcia of Peru has dismissed his Justice Minister for granting a pardon to a disgraced media executive. The former owner of a TV station was filmed receiving once of cash in bribes¹³ from a former senior administration official.He was pardoned because of ill health after being sentenced to 8 years in prison,but he was later seen at fashionable beaches and also at restaurants. That's the latest world news from the BBC here in London.

 

1 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

2 wholesale   

n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售

参考例句：

• The retail dealer buys at wholesale and sells at retail.零售商批发购进货物，以零售价卖出。
• Such shoes usually wholesale for much less.这种鞋批发出售通常要便宜得多。

3 ministries   

（政府的）部( ministry的名词复数 )； 神职； 牧师职位； 神职任期

参考例句：

• Local authorities must refer everything to the central ministries. 地方管理机构应请示中央主管部门。
• The number of Ministries has been pared down by a third. 部委的数量已经减少了1/3。

4 sweeping   

adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的

参考例句：

• The citizens voted for sweeping reforms.公民投票支持全面的改革。
• Can you hear the wind sweeping through the branches?你能听到风掠过树枝的声音吗？

5 chancellor   

n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长

参考例句：

• They submitted their reports to the Chancellor yesterday.他们昨天向财政大臣递交了报告。
• He was regarded as the most successful Chancellor of modern times.他被认为是现代最成功的财政大臣。

6 deficits   

n.不足额( deficit的名词复数 )；赤字；亏空；亏损

参考例句：

• The Ministry of Finance consistently overestimated its budget deficits. 财政部一贯高估预算赤字。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Many of the world's farmers are also incurring economic deficits. 世界上许多农民还在遭受经济上的亏损。 来自辞典例句

7 founders   

n.创始人( founder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was one of the founders of the university's medical faculty. 他是该大学医学院的创建人之一。 来自辞典例句
• The founders of our religion made this a cornerstone of morality. 我们宗教的创始人把这看作是道德的基石。 来自辞典例句

8 presumption   

n.推测，可能性，冒昧，放肆，[法律]推定

参考例句：

• Please pardon my presumption in writing to you.请原谅我很冒昧地写信给你。
• I don't think that's a false presumption.我认为那并不是错误的推测。

9 cardinal   

n.(天主教的)红衣主教；adj.首要的，基本的

参考例句：

• This is a matter of cardinal significance.这是非常重要的事。
• The Cardinal coloured with vexation. 红衣主教感到恼火，脸涨得通红。

10 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。

11 outstripped   

v.做得比…更好，（在赛跑等中）超过( outstrip的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• That manufacturer outstripped all his competitors in sales last year. 那个制造商家去年的销售量超过了所有竞争对手。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The imagination of her mother and herself had outstripped the truth. 母亲和她自己的想象力远远超过了事实。 来自辞典例句

12 dwellers   

n.居民，居住者( dweller的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes. 城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They have transformed themselves into permanent city dwellers. 他们已成为永久的城市居民。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 bribes   

n.贿赂( bribe的名词复数 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂v.贿赂( bribe的第三人称单数 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂

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。
• corrupt officials accepting bribes 接受贿赂的贪官污吏