澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2013-02-04

 The Prime Minister's new frontbencher will be sworn in this morning. The reshuffle was triggered by the resignations of two senior ministers and this parliament prepares to resume for the year. Labor's primary vote has slumped¹ by six points in the latest Newspoll.

 

A new report says indigenous² people convicted of non-violence crime should be sent to treatment programs rather than prison. The report by the National Indigenous Drug and Alcohol Committee says diversion programmes could save as much as 111,000 dollars each year for each indigenous prisoner. It says it could also save lives.

 

An attack on the police headquarters in Iraq has killed at least 30 people and injured up to 70 others. Two suicide car bombs detonated outside the compound in the northern city of Kirkuk. Militants³ armed with suicide vests, guns and grenades. Then tried to seize the building, but were unsuccessful.

 

The United Nations Refugee Agency has released a scathing⁴ report on the Manus Island detention⁵ centre in Papua New Guinea. The report accuses the Australian and PNG governments of breaching⁶ the international human rights obligations.

 

A search will resume this morning for the pilot of an untralight plane missing in southeast Queensland. The plane left Caboolture Airporton the Sunshine Coast yesterday morning, but failed to return. And air and ground search has failed to find any trace of the plane.

1 slumped   

大幅度下降，暴跌( slump的过去式和过去分词 )； 沉重或突然地落下[倒下]

参考例句：

• Sales have slumped this year. 今年销售量锐减。
• The driver was slumped exhausted over the wheel. 司机伏在方向盘上，疲惫得睡着了。

2 indigenous   

adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的

参考例句：

• Each country has its own indigenous cultural tradition.每个国家都有自己本土的文化传统。
• Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America.印第安人是美洲的土著居民。

3 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

4 scathing   

adj.（言词、文章）严厉的，尖刻的；不留情的adv.严厉地，尖刻地v.伤害，损害（尤指使之枯萎）( scathe的现在分词)

参考例句：

• a scathing attack on the new management 针对新的管理层的猛烈抨击
• Her speech was a scathing indictment of the government's record on crime. 她的演讲强烈指责了政府在犯罪问题上的表现。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

6 breaching   

攻破( breach的过去式 )； 破坏，违反

参考例句：

• The company was prosecuted for breaching the Health and Safety Act. 这家公司被控违反《卫生安全条例》。
• Third, an agency can abuse its discretion by breaching certain principles of judge-made law. 第三，行政机关会因违反某些法官制定的法律原则而构成滥用自由裁量权。