澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2010-04-09

Tasmania's new Labor¹ minority Government’s already facing the threat of a no-confidence motion less than a day after being returned to office. The state's governor yesterday reappointed David Bartlett Premier² 19 days after the election delivered a hung parliament. Mr. Bartlett has left the way open for a power-sharing deal with the Greens. The Liberal leader, Will Hodgman says he will move a no-confidence motion immediately.

 

Investigators³ are trying to establish whether a fatal house fire in the central west of New South Wales was caused by faulty insulation⁴. A man in his 50s and his three-year-old grandson died in the blaze at Peak Hill. The home had been serviced under the government's bungled⁵ home insulation scheme which has been linked to a number of other fires.

 

The US President Barack Obama and Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev have met in Prague to sign an arms reduction treaty. The deal should see their nuclear arsenal⁶ cut by almost a third over seven years and open the way for further cuts in the future.

 

And Malcolm McLaren, the former manager and self-proclaimed mastermind behind the iconic British punk band the Sex Pistols, has died. He was 64. McLaren, the ex-partner of designer Vivienne Westwood had been suffering from cancer for some time.

 

We’ll have more news later.

1 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。

2 premier   

adj.首要的；n.总理，首相

参考例句：

• The Irish Premier is paying an official visit to Britain.爱尔兰总理正在对英国进行正式访问。
• He requested that the premier grant him an internview.他要求那位总理接见他一次。

3 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 insulation   

n.隔离；绝缘；隔热

参考例句：

• Please examine the insulation of the electric wires in my house.请检查一下我屋子里电线的绝缘情况。
• It is always difficult to assure good insulation between the electric leads.要保证两个电触头之间有良好的绝缘总是很困难的。

5 bungled   

v.搞糟，完不成( bungle的过去式和过去分词 )；笨手笨脚地做；失败；完不成

参考例句：

• They bungled the job. 他们把活儿搞糟了。
• John bungled the job. 约翰把事情搞糟了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

6 arsenal   

n.兵工厂，军械库

参考例句：

• Even the workers at the arsenal have got a secret organization.兵工厂工人暗中也有组织。
• We must be the great arsenal of democracy.我们必须成为民主的大军火库。