澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2011-02-01

 Demonstrators in Egypt have called for a million-man march as the Egyptian army has vowed¹ not to fire on its own people. The announcement is a bad sign for President Hosni Mubarak as he may have lost the support of the powerful military. Thousands of protesters are vowing² to stay on the streets until the president resigns.

The Federal Government has chartered a plane to evacuate³ Australians from Egypt as violence there threatens to increase. Prime Minister Julia Gillard says a Qantas 747 aircraft will leave Cairo on Wednesday. DFAT says the volume of calls to the Australian embassy in Cairo has crashed the switchboard. The Department is encouraging those concerned about family to call Canberra's Consular⁴ Emergency Centre.

Syria looks set to join the growing list of Middle East regimes facing anti-government demonstrations⁵. Leaflet and Internet campaigns are demanding human rights and economic reforms and calling for rallies outside the Syrian parliament in Damascus.

Queenslanders are again battening down for what could turn out to be the biggest cyclone⁶ the state has ever seen. Category 3 Tropical Cyclone Yasi is expected to intensify⁷ before hitting the coast between Innisfail and Proserpine early on Thursday morning. Winds may reach 260 km/h and they could bring yet more rain to the state. 

And in Japan, a volcano is spewing rocks and lava⁸ kilometres into the sky, and has forced more than 600 people to leave their homes.

1 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。

2 vowing   

起誓，发誓（vow的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• President Bush is vowing to help Minneapolis rebuild its collapsed bridge. 布什总统承诺将帮助明尼阿波利斯重建坍塌的大桥。
• President Bush is vowing to help Minneapolis rebuild this collapse bridge. 布什总统发誓要帮助明尼阿波利斯重建起这座坍塌的桥梁。

3 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。

4 consular   

a.领事的

参考例句：

• He has rounded out twenty years in the consular service. 他在领事馆工作已整整20年了。
• Consular invoices are declarations made at the consulate of the importing country. 领事发票是进口国领事馆签发的一种申报书。

5 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

6 cyclone   

n.旋风，龙卷风

参考例句：

• An exceptionally violent cyclone hit the town last night.昨晚异常猛烈的旋风吹袭了那个小镇。
• The cyclone brought misery to thousands of people.旋风给成千上万的人带来苦难。

7 intensify   

vt.加强；变强；加剧

参考例句：

• We must intensify our educational work among our own troops.我们必须加强自己部队的教育工作。
• They were ordered to intensify their patrols to protect our air space.他们奉命加强巡逻，保卫我国的领空。

8 lava   

n.熔岩，火山岩

参考例句：

• The lava flowed down the sides of the volcano.熔岩沿火山坡面涌流而下。
• His anger spilled out like lava.他的愤怒像火山爆发似的迸发出来。