澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2012-07-05

 Australia and other anti-whaling nations have condemned¹ South Korea's proposal to start whaling. South Korea says it plans to follow Japan's lead and start killing² whales for scientific research. It says it wants to hunt minke whales along its coastline. The opposition's environment spokesman Greg Hunt says the decision is surprising and disappointing.

A group of asylum³ seekers whose boat got into difficulty off the Indonesian coast are on their way to Christmas Island. One hundred and sixty-two people were on board boat who sent out the distress⁴ signal early yesterday. They have been transferred to two Australian naval⁵ ships. They're being taken to Christmas Island for health, security and identity checks. It's believed three asylum seekers require medical treatment.

The former head of Britain's Barclays Bank has apologized for the rate rigging scandal that cost him his job. Bob Diamond has been questioned by British MPs for three hours. He described the behavior of those responsible as reprehensible⁶. Mr Diamond says he only learned the full extent of the scandal this month and felt physically⁷ ill when he read emails from traders accused of rate fixing.

The widow of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has agreed to have his body exhumed⁸ to find out if he was poisoned. The Palestinian authority had been considering the move but only if his family agreed. It's been revealed Swiss scientists have found evidence of the radioactive material polonium on his clothes he was wearing when he died in 2004.

1 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

2 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。

3 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。

4 distress   

n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛

参考例句：

• Nothing could alleviate his distress.什么都不能减轻他的痛苦。
• Please don't distress yourself.请你不要忧愁了。

5 naval   

adj.海军的，军舰的，船的

参考例句：

• He took part in a great naval battle.他参加了一次大海战。
• The harbour is an important naval base.该港是一个重要的海军基地。

6 reprehensible   

adj.该受责备的

参考例句：

• Lying is not seen as being morally reprehensible in any strong way.人们并不把撒谎当作一件应该大加谴责的事儿。
• It was reprehensible of him to be so disloyal.他如此不忠，应受谴责。

7 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

8 exhumed   

v.挖出，发掘出( exhume的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Marie Curie's remains were exhumed and interred in the Pantheon. 玛丽·居里的遗体被移出葬在先贤祠中。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His remains have been exhumed from a cemetery in Queens, New York City. 他的遗体被从纽约市皇后区的墓地里挖了出来。 来自辞典例句