澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2010-07-03

The new mining tax deal’s prompted the global miner Xstrata to reinstate about 600 million dollars in copper¹ and mining exploration projects. Xstrata says it'll now go ahead with the extension of its Ernest Henry mine in north Queensland, which is suspended due to the original super profits tax. But not everyone's happy with the deal. Queensland mining magnate Clive Palmer says the new tax rate of 30 percent will still threaten the viability² of the resources industry.

And the big miners have slipped from earlier gains made on the back of the new tax announcement. Fortescue rose by 2.0 percent. But BHP Billiton finished in the red. Local shares finished slightly lower, the ASX 200 and the All Ords both lost around a third of a percent. In markets elsewhere, Asian stocks had a mixed session. The Hang Seng lost almost 1.5 percent. But the Nikkei made slight gains. And the Australian dollar has dropped against the greenback. It's buying 84 US cents.

Lawyers representing clients of the failed Storm Financial have launched a class action against the Commonwealth³ Bank. The former investors⁴ took out loans with the Commonwealth to invest in Storm in 2007. The class action alleges⁵ both the bank and Storm breached⁶ the Corporations Act by failing to register an investment scheme. Many investors lost their life savings⁷ when Storm collapsed⁸.

That's ABC Business News.

1 copper   

n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的

参考例句：

• The students are asked to prove the purity of copper.要求学生们检验铜的纯度。
• Copper is a good medium for the conduction of heat and electricity.铜是热和电的良导体。

2 viability   

n.存活(能力)

参考例句：

• What is required to achieve or maintain such viability? 要达到或维持这种生存能力需要什么？
• Scientists are experimenting to find ways to ensure the viability of seeds for even longer periods of time. 正如我们所说，科学家正在试验努力寻找让种子的生命力更加延长的方法。

3 commonwealth   

n.共和国，联邦，共同体

参考例句：

• He is the chairman of the commonwealth of artists.他是艺术家协会的主席。
• Most of the members of the Commonwealth are nonwhite.英联邦的许多成员国不是白人国家。

4 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

5 alleges   

断言，宣称，辩解( allege的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The newspaper article alleges that the mayor is corrupt. 报纸上断言该市长腐败。
• Steven was tardy this morning and alleges that his bus was late. 史提芬今天早上迟到的说词是公车误点了。

6 breached   

攻破( breach的现在分词 )； 破坏，违反

参考例句：

• These commitments have already been breached. 这些承诺已遭背弃。
• Our tanks have breached the enemy defences. 我方坦克车突破了敌人的防线。

7 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

8 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。