澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2011-03-30

 A car crash on the Mornington Peninsula south of Melbourne has killed two young men and critically injured three others. The car hit a power pole just before midnight and the Defence Department has confirmed the men are Navy personnel.

 

Now former Prime Minister Paul Keating isn’t holding back on what he thinks about New South Wales Labor¹ and the people who’ve been running it. The former Prime Minister says the party’s becoming infected by what he calls “sicko populism”. He’s pointed² the finger at a string of past secretaries, including Mark Arbib and Karl Bitar. But it’s the man who’s tipped to be the new leader in New South Wales John Robertson who’s copped the biggest blast from him.

 

Just a week after Brisbane’s Lord Mayor Campbell Newman made his audacious bid to lead Queensland’s Liberal National Party, the LNP is now in the middle of a bribery³ scandal. The state’s corruption⁴ watchdog is investigating claims that the party’s president offered a sitting MP a plum job if he vacated his seat for Mr Campbell. Now both men denied that any inducements were made.

 

Syria’s government has resigned in the latest bid to try and curb⁵ pro-democracy protests, in which dozens of people have been killed. President Bashar al-Assad will address the nation soon to announce that he’s lifting the emergency law and apparently⁶ also lifting restrictions⁷ on civil liberties. Tens of thousands of people have flooded the streets of the capital Damascus to show their support for the embattled leader.

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 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

3 bribery   

n.贿络行为，行贿，受贿

参考例句：

• FBI found out that the senator committed bribery.美国联邦调查局查明这个参议员有受贿行为。
• He was charged with bribery.他被指控受贿。

4 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

5 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

6 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

7 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制