澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2011-03-22

 US President Barack Obama says Colonel Gaddafi has to go, but forces loyal to the dictator have pushed back against the newly confident rebels. His army has beaten back a rebel attempt to retake the town of Ajdabiya. Coalition¹ forces are now planning to extend the no-fly zone even further.

 

Yemen's president is refusing to give in to demands for him to resign despite even more high-level defections. Three of his top generals have now resigned to join the rebellion. The protests have now spread to the north of the country.

 

More than 50 people are feared dead in a mine explosion in Pakistan. Rescuers have been using shovels² and their bare hands to try to dig the miners out. Methane³ gas caused the explosion in the coal mine on Sunday.

 

Power cables have now been connected to all six reactors⁴ at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant. Workers had to be evacuated⁵ from the plant again when smoke was seen coming from two of those reactors. Engineers are now checking the damaged cooling systems and hope to have them running again over the next few days.

 

And a new row has erupted over asylum⁶ seekers. The Government is taking new arrivals straight to the mainland bypassing Christmas Island because of recent riots there. Two boatloads of asylum seekers are on their way to Darwin and Broome to be processed. Now the Opposition⁷ says that could give them greater legal rights, but the Government is insisting they'll be treated just the same as those on Christmas Island.

1 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。

2 shovels   

n.铲子( shovel的名词复数 )；锹；推土机、挖土机等的)铲；铲形部份v.铲子( shovel的第三人称单数 )；锹；推土机、挖土机等的)铲；铲形部份

参考例句：

• workmen with picks and shovels 手拿镐铲的工人
• In the spring, we plunge shovels into the garden plot, turn under the dark compost. 春天，我们用铁锨翻开园子里黑油油的沃土。 来自辞典例句

3 methane   

n.甲烷，沼气

参考例句：

• The blast was caused by pockets of methane gas that ignited.爆炸是由数袋甲烷气体着火引起的。
• Methane may have extraterrestrial significance.甲烷具有星际意义。

4 reactors   

起反应的人( reactor的名词复数 )； 反应装置； 原子炉； 核反应堆

参考例句：

• The TMI nuclear facility has two reactors. 三哩岛核设施有两个反应堆。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• The earliest production reactors necessarily used normal uranium as fuel. 最早为生产用的反应堆，必须使用普通铀作为燃料。

5 evacuated   

撤退者的

参考例句：

• Police evacuated nearby buildings. 警方已将附近大楼的居民疏散。
• The fireman evacuated the guests from the burning hotel. 消防队员把客人们从燃烧着的旅馆中撤出来。

6 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

7 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。