英国新闻听力 欧洲议会与希腊寻求共同点

State television in Egypt says that at least 20 people have been killed and more than 30 wounded in a series of simultaneous attacks in the northern Sinai where the security forces are battling against Islamic extremists. Our Arab affairs editor Sebastian Usher¹ reports.

The brunt of the attacks was against the military and police targets in provincial² capital el-Arish,but other towns were hit as well. A car bomb was set off outside a military base in el-Arish, while mortar³ rounds were fired at other targets,including a police car and several check points. Northern Sinai has long been a violent and unstable⁴ region. The army has launched major operations to try to stop the violence but so far failed. A jihadist group calling itself Ansar Bayt Al-Maqdis has become a biggest threat there, staging many attacks on security targets, especially since the ousting⁵ of the Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in 2013.

In Mexico City rescuers are sifting⁶ through the rubble⁷ of a maternity⁸ hospital that partially⁹ collapsed¹⁰ when a truck carrying liquid gas exploded. The federal district mayor Miguel Angel Mancera Espinoza now says a woman and a baby have died. Officials had reported seven deaths.The city’s civil defense¹¹ director said more people are probably still in the rubble. C is BBC’s correspondent in Mexico City.

50 percent of the building was destroyed by this blast. It happened at 7:00 am in the morning here,when the lorry was giving some gas, liquid gas to the hospital. It was given to the kitchen. But the kitchen was very close to the area where the children were in their cribs. I have to say that the driver and plumber¹² helpers have been arrested.And they are now being interrogated¹³ by the police about what happened there.

At an extraordinary meeting in Brussels, the European Union foreign ministers have agreed to extend the existing economic sanctions against Russia until September.It did not agree on imposing¹⁴ new economic sanctions. The EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini outlined their decisions.

We decided¹⁵ today, so before they expire in 15th,March, the extension of the existing restricted measures. And let me also underline 3 different things. Extension in the time of the existing sanctions. When it comes to the list, preparation for decision in 10 days next week,proposal and decision in next ten days of new names to add to the list, which is additional. And third, to start the preparation of any further measure.

The president of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko who is a long standing¹⁶ ally of Moscow, has said that Russia is partly to blame for the conflict in Ukraine. He made the comments on the eve of hosting Ukrainian peace talks in Belarus. Mr. Lukashenko also warned that Belarus was not part of what Moscow calls the Russian world and was able to protect itself militarily.

World news from the BBC.

The president of the European parliament Martin Schulz has said the new Greek government will seek common ground with its European partners as he attempts to renegotiate the terms of its financial bailout. He was speaking after talks with the Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras ,whose anti-austerity party was elected on Sunday.

The spokesman for the UN secretary general says Ban Ki-moon is deeply concerned about the deteriorating¹⁷ situation in Darfur.The UN says at least 36,000 civilians¹⁸ have been displaced by recent clashes between Sudanese government troops and rebels. The Sudanese government is struggling to quell¹⁹ rebellions in the Darfur, south Kordofan, and Blue Nile regions.

American and Afghan military official say 3 US defense department contractors²⁰ have been killed in a shooting at Kabul airport. An Afghan soldier was reported to had carried out the attack. Earlier Afghan authority said 16 people were killed in the attacks by militants²¹ in the eastern province of Laghman.

The government in Portugal has approved rules allowing the descendants of Jews who were expelled from the country centuries ago to claim Portuguese²² citizenship²³. Applicants²⁴ will have to prove a strong link to Portugal as Alison Roberts explains.

This might, the government said, be a combination of surname, language used in the family or proof of direct descent. Many of the thousands of Jews expelled in 1497, 5 years after Spain’s own order of expulsion or who fled later to avoid forced converting to Christianity continue to use the former Portuguese in their new communities in Amsterdam, Istanbul, New York, and across Brazil. As the government notes, Jews settled in this part of Iberia long before the kingdom of Portugal was founded in the 12 century. At present, only a few thousand live here but according to officials, numerous safaried Jews from around the global are now showing an interest in applying for nationality.

In neighboring Spain, a similar law is still being debated.

埃及国家电视台报道称，西奈半岛北部一系列同时发生的袭击造成至少20人死亡，30多人受伤。安全力量正在该地区打击伊斯兰极端分子。我们的阿拉伯事务编辑Sebastian Usher报道。

首当其冲遭遇袭击的是该省省府阿里什的军事和警察目标，但是其他城镇也遭遇了袭击。一枚汽车炸弹在阿里什一座军事基地外爆炸，其他目标则遭遇了几轮迫击炮袭击，包括一辆警车和几个检查点。西奈半岛北部长期以来一直是一个暴力而动荡的地区。军方发起了重大行动，试图阻止暴力活动，但是目前为止一直未取得成功。一个自称“耶路撒冷支持者”的圣战组织已经成为该地区最大的威胁，对安全目标发动了多次袭击，尤其是自从2013年伊斯兰总统穆尔西被推翻以来。

在墨西哥城，救援人员正在一座妇产医院的废墟中寻找幸存者。一辆装有液化燃气的卡车爆炸时，这座医院部分坍塌。联邦市长曼塞拉(Miguel Angel Mancera)表示，医院一名妇女和一名婴儿遇难。官员们此前曾报告称有7名遇难者。该市民防系统主任表示，可能还有很多人被埋在废墟下。BBC驻墨西哥城通讯员报道。

这座建筑的50%在爆炸中被毁。事故发生在当地时间早上7:00，这辆卡车正在为医院输送液化天然气。当时正在为厨房配送。但是厨房距离儿童病房非常近。我不得不说，司机和管道工已经被捕。他们现在正被警察审讯事发当时的情况。

在布鲁塞尔召开的特别会议上，欧盟外交部长一致同意将目前对俄罗斯实施的制裁延期至9月份。他们没有就实施新的经济制裁达成一致。欧盟外交政策代表莫盖里尼(Federica Mogherini)概述了他们的决定。

我们今天决定，在3月15日到期之前，将现在的限制性措施延期。让我强调三个问题。延长现有制裁措施的期限。关于名单方面，十天之内将为该决定做准备，未来十天将提议并决定添加到名单中的新名字。这是第二点。第三点，为进一步的措施做准备。

莫斯科长期而坚定的盟友，白俄罗斯总统亚历山大·卢卡申科(Alexander Lukashenko)表示，俄罗斯应该为乌克兰冲突承担部分责任。在白俄罗斯举办乌克兰和平会谈前夕，他发表了该评论。卢卡申科还警告称，白俄罗斯并不是莫斯科所说的“俄罗斯世界”的一部分，有能力用军事保护自己。

BBC世界新闻。

欧洲议会议长马丁·舒尔茨(Martin Schulz)表示，希腊新政府将与欧洲合作伙伴寻找共同基础。希腊试图就经济援助条款进行重新谈判。他与希腊总理阿莱克斯·齐普拉斯(Alexis Tsipras)举行会谈后发表了讲话。齐普拉斯领导的反紧缩党派在周日当选。

联合国秘书长发言人表示，潘基文对达尔富尔地区不断恶化的形势表示深切担忧。联合国表示，至少36000名平民因苏丹政府军和叛军之间最近的冲突而流离失所。苏丹政府正努力平息达尔富尔，南科尔多凡州和蓝尼罗河地区的叛乱。

美国和阿富汗军事官员表示，3名美国国防部承包商在喀布尔机场被枪杀。据报道，实施袭击的是一名阿富汗士兵。早些时候阿富汗当局表示，16人在东部省份拉格曼省激进分子的袭击中被杀害。

葡萄牙政府通过了一系列规定，允许几个世纪前被驱逐出去的犹太人后裔申请葡萄牙公民身份。申请人必须证明与葡萄牙之间有强烈的联系。Alison Roberts报道。

政府表示，这些联系可能是姓氏，家庭使用的语言或者说明他们是葡萄牙后裔的直接证明。1497年，西班牙下令驱逐，或者不愿被迫皈依基督教的数十万犹太人被驱逐离开葡萄牙。许多人在阿姆斯特丹，伊斯坦布尔，纽约和巴西新的社区仍然使用以前的葡萄牙语。政府指出，在葡萄牙王国12世纪建立以前很长时间，犹太人已经在伊比利亚地区定居。目前，只有几千人居住在这里。但是据官员们所说，全球各地诸多犹太人对申请葡萄牙国际表现出了兴趣。

在邻国西班牙，类似的法律仍然备受争议。

1 usher   

n.带位员，招待员；vt.引导，护送；vi.做招待，担任引座员

参考例句：

• The usher seated us in the front row.引座员让我们在前排就座。
• They were quickly ushered away.他们被迅速领开。

2 provincial   

adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人

参考例句：

• City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes.城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。
• Two leading cadres came down from the provincial capital yesterday.昨天从省里下来了两位领导干部。

3 mortar   

n.灰浆，灰泥；迫击炮；v.把…用灰浆涂接合

参考例句：

• The mason flushed the joint with mortar.泥工用灰浆把接缝处嵌平。
• The sound of mortar fire seemed to be closing in.迫击炮的吼声似乎正在逼近。

4 unstable   

adj.不稳定的，易变的

参考例句：

• This bookcase is too unstable to hold so many books.这书橱很不结实，装不了这么多书。
• The patient's condition was unstable.那患者的病情不稳定。

5 ousting   

驱逐( oust的现在分词 )； 革职； 罢黜； 剥夺

参考例句：

• The resulting financial chaos led to the ousting of Bristol-Myers' s boss. 随后引发的财政混乱导致了百时美施贵宝的总裁下台。
• The ousting of the president has drawn widespread criticism across Latin America and the wider world. 洪都拉斯总统被驱逐时间引起拉丁美洲甚至全世界的广泛批评。

6 sifting   

n.筛，过滤v.筛( sift的现在分词 )；筛滤；细查；详审

参考例句：

• He lay on the beach, sifting the sand through his fingers. 他躺在沙滩上用手筛砂子玩。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I was sifting the cinders when she came in. 她进来时，我正在筛煤渣。 来自辞典例句

7 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。

8 maternity   

n.母性，母道，妇产科病房；adj.孕妇的，母性的

参考例句：

• Women workers are entitled to maternity leave with full pay.女工产假期间工资照发。
• Trainee nurses have to work for some weeks in maternity.受训的护士必须在产科病房工作数周。

9 partially   

adv.部分地，从某些方面讲

参考例句：

• The door was partially concealed by the drapes.门有一部分被门帘遮住了。
• The police managed to restore calm and the curfew was partially lifted.警方设法恢复了平静，宵禁部分解除。

10 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。

11 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

12 plumber   

n.(装修水管的)管子工

参考例句：

• Have you asked the plumber to come and look at the leaking pipe?你叫管道工来检查漏水的管子了吗？
• The plumber screwed up the tap by means of a spanner.管子工用板手把龙头旋紧。

13 interrogated   

v.询问( interrogate的过去式和过去分词 )；审问；（在计算机或其他机器上）查询

参考例句：

• He was interrogated by the police for over 12 hours. 他被警察审问了12个多小时。
• Two suspects are now being interrogated in connection with the killing. 与杀人案有关的两名嫌疑犯正在接受审讯。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 imposing   

adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的

参考例句：

• The fortress is an imposing building.这座城堡是一座宏伟的建筑。
• He has lost his imposing appearance.他已失去堂堂仪表。

15 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

16 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。

17 deteriorating   

恶化，变坏( deteriorate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The weather conditions are deteriorating. 天气变得越来越糟。
• I was well aware of the bad morale and the deteriorating factories. 我很清楚，大家情绪低落，各个工厂越搞越坏。

18 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。

19 quell   

v.压制，平息，减轻

参考例句：

• Soldiers were sent in to quell the riots.士兵们被派去平息骚乱。
• The armed force had to be called out to quell violence.不得不出动军队来镇压暴力行动。

20 contractors   

n.（建筑、监造中的）承包人( contractor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Contractors winning construction jobs had to kick back 2 per cent of the contract price to the mafia. 赢得建筑工作的承包商得抽出合同价格的百分之二的回扣给黑手党。 来自《简明英汉词典》

21 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。

22 Portuguese   

n.葡萄牙人；葡萄牙语

参考例句：

• They styled their house in the Portuguese manner.他们仿照葡萄牙的风格设计自己的房子。
• Her family is Portuguese in origin.她的家族是葡萄牙血统。

23 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

24 applicants   

申请人，求职人( applicant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were over 500 applicants for the job. 有500多人申请这份工作。
• He was impressed by the high calibre of applicants for the job. 求职人员出色的能力给他留下了深刻印象。