澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2010-09-06

Residents in northeast and western Victoria are bracing¹ for the worst today as floodwaters continue to rise. Sixty residents in the town of Wangaratta in the state’s northeast have been told to evacuate². In Victoria’s west, residents at Skipton near Ballarat have also been asked to leave their homes. More than 250 houses have already been flooded.

Work resumed this morning to clear fallen trees and damaged roofs in parts of New South Wales that were hit by a severe storm. One hundred thousand houses in the Illawarra and Shoalhaven regions lost power at the peak of the storm as winds of 100km/h brought down power lines.

The three federal independent MPs hope to decide either today or tomorrow just which party they’ll support to form government. Labor’s agreed to the set of parliamentary reform proposals put forward by Rob Oakeshott. But the Coalition³ says it’s important that any changes do not disadvantage the Opposition⁴.

First it was the quake; now strong winds are threatening to do more damage to the New Zealand city of Christchurch. Strong aftershocks have continued to shake the shattered city after Saturday’s 7.1-magnitude quake. Police said the 130 km/h winds could bring down unstable⁵ bricks and masonry⁶.

And American soldiers have been called in to help Iraqi forces battle insurgents⁷ just days after the US formally ended combat operations in the country. The insurgents attacked an army base in Baghdad, killing⁸ at least 12 people. An Iraqi officer says US forces exchanged gunfire with the attackers before Iraqi security forces stormed the building.

1 bracing   

adj.令人振奋的

参考例句：

• The country is bracing itself for the threatened enemy invasion. 这个国家正准备奋起抵抗敌人的入侵威胁。
• The atmosphere in the new government was bracing. 新政府的气氛是令人振奋的。

2 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。

3 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

4 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。

5 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。

6 masonry   

n.砖土建筑；砖石

参考例句：

• Masonry is a careful skill.砖石工艺是一种精心的技艺。
• The masonry of the old building began to crumble.旧楼房的砖石结构开始崩落。

7 insurgents   

n.起义，暴动，造反( insurgent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The regular troops of Baden joined the insurgents. 巴登的正规军参加到起义军方面来了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Against the Taliban and Iraqi insurgents, these problems are manageable. 要对付塔利班与伊拉克叛乱分子，这些问题还是可以把握住的。 来自互联网

8 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。