英国新闻听力

Officials in Germany say the total financial aid package for Greece could be more than double the 60 billion dollars that was previously¹ expected. The head of the International Monetary² Fund Dominique Strauss-Kahn is in Berlin trying to persuade Germany to agree to the financial rescue plan. He said the deal needed to be implemented³ quickly as the situation was getting worse every day and could affect other European countries. But the German Chancellor⁴ Angela Merkel said Berlin needed to be certain that Greece was serious about spending cuts.

"This is about the stability of the euro area as a whole and we will not withdraw from this responsibility. The precondition, however, is that Greece will accept an ambitious austerity program so that the trust of the financial markets can be restored."

Street protests and strikes have broken out in Greece over the government's handling of the financial crisis. The country's labor⁵ minister said he had rejected the proposal by the IMF and the EU for further cuts in public spending.

The United States Federal Reserve is to keep its main interest rate at near zero even though it says the economy is strengthening. The Reserve, the US central bank, said it expected the rate would stay very low for an extended period.

The British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said sorry to a woman he had been caught on microphone describing as "bigoted⁶" during campaigning for the general election. Mr Brown spent 45 minutes at her home and told reporters she had accepted his apology. The woman, Gillian Duffy, had challenged him on immigration and crime. Here is our political editor Nick Robinson.

That was a disaster. Never has Gordon Brown spoken truer words. It was, though, not the public encounter with Mrs Duffy of Rochdale, but those private comments which caused all the problems. They highlight a vast gulf⁷ between the prime minister's behavior and attitude in public and in private - warm, attentive⁸ and concerned on camera; angry, dismissive and disdainful when off it. They could ignite a publicly explosive issue of immigration and they involve the leader of the Labour Party insulting this sort of traditional Labour voter which the party so badly needs to hold on to.

An inquest in London has recorded a verdict of suicide in the death of the fashion designer, Alexander McQueen, who was found dead in his flat in February. The coroner's court concluded that Mr McQueen hanged himself after taking a mixture of cocaine⁹, tranquilizers and sleeping pills. It heard that the designer had a history of depression.

The first offshore¹⁰ wind farm in the United States has won government approval after years of opposition¹¹ from environmentalist and indigenous¹² tribes. The billion-dollar project - 130 turbines each are 120 metres high will be built off the Massachusetts coast.

The acting¹³ President of Nigeria Goodluck Jonathan has ordered the country's election chief to step down. The chairman of the Independent National Election Commission Maurice Iwu is to leave with immediate¹⁴ effect. Here is Richard Hamilton.

This move is a further sign of Goodluck Jonathan asserting his authority. In March, he sacked his national security adviser¹⁵ and dissolved the cabinet, replacing several ministers who were close to the ailing¹⁶ President Umaru Yar'Adua. In a BBC interview earlier this month, he promised that from now on elections would be free and fair, saying the composition of the election commission would be reviewed. "If we find people wanting, we will make changes," he warned.

Scientists say they are closer to learning how life started on earth with the discovery of water and organic compounds on an asteroid¹⁷. Two groups of scientists using a NASA telescope detected a thin film of ice and organic material in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Pallab Ghosh has this report.

Unlike their more illustrious celestial¹⁸ cousins, comets, which hurtle toward the sun and generate a furry¹⁹ tail, asteroids²⁰ have a less glamorous²¹ image in popular culture, but that may begin to change with the discovery of an asteroid which has frozen water all over its surface as well as carbon-based compounds. These are two of the building blocks of life. And if this is typical, the discovery suggests that asteroids as well as comets may have played a large part in bringing the elements of life to earth.

China's women's gymnastic team has been stripped off a bronze medal it won at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney because one of its gymnasts was underage. The International Olympic Committee acted after an investigation²² found that the gymnast Dong Fangxiao was only 14 at the time. Competitors must be at least 16 in the Olympic year to be eligible²³.

1 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

2 monetary   

adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的

参考例句：

• The monetary system of some countries used to be based on gold.过去有些国家的货币制度是金本位制的。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

3 implemented   

v.实现( implement的过去式和过去分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• This agreement, if not implemented, is a mere scrap of paper. 这个协定如不执行只不过是一纸空文。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The economy is in danger of collapse unless far-reaching reforms are implemented. 如果不实施影响深远的改革，经济就面临崩溃的危险。 来自辞典例句

4 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。

5 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

6 bigoted   

adj.固执己见的，心胸狭窄的

参考例句：

• He is so bigoted that it is impossible to argue with him.他固执得不可理喻。
• I'll concede you are not as bigoted as some.我承认你不象有些人那么顽固。

7 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

8 attentive   

adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的

参考例句：

• She was very attentive to her guests.她对客人招待得十分周到。
• The speaker likes to have an attentive audience.演讲者喜欢注意力集中的听众。

9 cocaine   

n.可卡因，古柯碱（用作局部麻醉剂）

参考例句：

• That young man is a cocaine addict.那个年轻人吸食可卡因成瘾。
• Don't have cocaine abusively.不可滥服古柯碱。

10 offshore   

adj.海面的，吹向海面的；adv.向海面

参考例句：

• A big program of oil exploration has begun offshore.一个大规模的石油勘探计划正在近海展开。
• A gentle current carried them slowly offshore.和缓的潮流慢慢地把他们带离了海岸。

11 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

12 indigenous   

adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的

参考例句：

• Each country has its own indigenous cultural tradition.每个国家都有自己本土的文化传统。
• Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America.印第安人是美洲的土著居民。

13 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。

14 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

15 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。

16 ailing   

v.生病

参考例句：

• They discussed the problems ailing the steel industry. 他们讨论了困扰钢铁工业的问题。
• She looked after her ailing father. 她照顾有病的父亲。

17 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。

18 celestial   

adj.天体的；天上的

参考例句：

• The rosy light yet beamed like a celestial dawn.玫瑰色的红光依然象天上的朝霞一样绚丽。
• Gravity governs the motions of celestial bodies.万有引力控制着天体的运动。

19 furry   

adj.毛皮的；似毛皮的；毛皮制的

参考例句：

• This furry material will make a warm coat for the winter.这件毛皮料在冬天会是一件保暖的大衣。
• Mugsy is a big furry brown dog,who wiggles when she is happy.马格斯是一只棕色大长毛狗，当她高兴得时候她会摇尾巴。

20 asteroids   

n.小行星( asteroid的名词复数 )；海盘车，海星

参考例句：

• Asteroids,also known as "minor planets",are numerous in the outer space. 小行星，亦称为“小型行星”，在外太空中不计其数。
• Most stars probably have their quota of planets, meteorids, comets, and asteroids. 多数恒星也许还拥有若干行星、流星、彗星和小行星。

21 glamorous   

adj.富有魅力的；美丽动人的；令人向往的

参考例句：

• The south coast is less glamorous but full of clean and attractive hotels.南海岸魅力稍逊，但却有很多干净漂亮的宾馆。
• It is hard work and not a glamorous job as portrayed by the media.这是份苦差，并非像媒体描绘的那般令人向往。

22 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。

23 eligible   

adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的

参考例句：

• He is an eligible young man.他是一个合格的年轻人。
• Helen married an eligible bachelor.海伦嫁给了一个中意的单身汉。