澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2012-02-23

 Prime Minister is set to call a leadership ballot¹ for Monday.Kevin Rudd lit the fuels yesterday when he resigned as foreign minister.Several ministers have publicly backed to Mr.Rudd and thrown their support behind the prime minister.Treasurer² Wayne Swan has accused him of continually undermining the government.

 

A train crash in the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires,has killed 49 people and injured at least 6,000 others.Eyewitness³ say the train was traveling fast when it's slammed into a barrier at the end of the platform.Dozens of people are still trapped in the wreckage⁴.

 

Respected war correspondent,Marie Colvin and French photo journalist have been killed in the Syrian city of Homs.They died when the house they were staying in was shelled by government troops.More than 40 people died in the assault on the city.

 

Indonesia's police and military have opened fire at Bali's Kerobokan  prison after a second-night of riot.It's not clear if they were shooting into the air or at prisoners.The prison holds a thousand inmates⁵ including Schapelle Corby and 11 other Australian convicted of drug smuggling⁶.

 

Victoria's department of Human Services is planing to ax 500 jobs as part of the major restructure. The department says the cuts will come from voluntary redundancies and not renewing short-term contracts.More than three and half thousand public service jobs will go over the next two years.

1 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。

2 treasurer   

n.司库，财务主管

参考例句：

• Mr. Smith was succeeded by Mrs.Jones as treasurer.琼斯夫人继史密斯先生任会计。
• The treasurer was arrested for trying to manipulate the company's financial records.财务主管由于试图窜改公司财政帐目而被拘留。

3 eyewitness   

n.目击者，见证人

参考例句：

• The police questioned several eyewitness to the murder.警察询问了谋杀案的几位目击者。
• He was the only eyewitness of the robbery.他是那起抢劫案的唯一目击者。

4 wreckage   

n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏

参考例句：

• They hauled him clear of the wreckage.他们把他从形骸中拖出来。
• New states were born out of the wreckage of old colonial empires.新生国家从老殖民帝国的废墟中诞生。

5 inmates   

n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• One of the inmates has escaped. 被收容的人中有一个逃跑了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The inmates were moved to an undisclosed location. 监狱里的囚犯被转移到一个秘密处所。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 smuggling   

n.走私

参考例句：

• Some claimed that the docker's union fronted for the smuggling ring.某些人声称码头工人工会是走私集团的掩护所。
• The evidence pointed to the existence of an international smuggling network.证据表明很可能有一个国际走私网络存在。