高级英语听力 lesson 23

Soviet¹ officials have confirmed that a crippled nuclear submarine sank in the Atlantic early today. US officials believe the sub carried at least sixteen nuclear missiles. Explosion and fire on the vessel² last Friday killed three crewmen. The rest of the crew was successfully evacuated³ before the vessel sank. Soviet officials say no radiation leaked in the air or the ocean. It's unclear what may have caused the explosion that led to the sinking.


A news agency in Beirut released a videotape today with pleas from three Frenchmen held for more than a year by the Islamic Jihad. Each hostage called on the French government to change its policy in the Middle East. Melody Walker reports from Paris. "During the twenty-eight-minute recording⁴, the three hostages criticized the French government for failing to gain their release, and said they had the impression they were being forgotten. Taking turns reading prepared texts, the two diplomats⁵ and one journalist looked physically⁶ exhausted⁷ and emaciated⁸. Declaring that he was at the end of his rope, one of the hostages said that the government forgot about the remaining hostages after the release of two Frenchmen in June. A total of seven French citizens are currently held hostage in Lebanon. A communiqué from the Islamic Jihad which accompanied the video cassette calls on France to negotiate the release of seventeen Shi'ite prisoners jailed in Kuwait. The French Minister for Foreign Affairs did not comment on the content of the video cassette or the demands, but said tonight that the government was doing everything possible to free the hostages. For National Public Radio, this is Melody Walker in Paris."


Skies are clearing over Oklahoma where heavy rains have produced what's being called "the worst flooding in the history of that state." Thousands of people began returning to their homes and officials began the task of assessing the damage. Floods have caused millions of dollars in damage, but specific estimates may not come until tomorrow when clean-up operations are expected to start.


Tonight, a Soviet nuclear submarine is on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, damaged three days ago by a fire on board. Officials in Washington and Moscow confirmed this morning's sinking. Officials in both countries also said the loss of the vessel presents no atomic threat despite the presence of both nuclear missiles and a nuclear power reactor⁹ on the submarine. NPR's Daivd Malthus has a report:
Pentagon officials say the crippled Soviet submarine, which normally carries sixteen nuclear missiles, each with two warheads, went down just before dawn six hundred and eighty miles northeast of Bermuda. The Soviets¹⁰ put the precise time of sinking at 4:03 am eastern time, and Moscow says there was no further loss of life aside from the three crewmen killed when a fire broke out Friday.
American surveillance planes observed that towing efforts were halted shortly after midnight. About three hours later, the remaining crew members were observed abandoning ship in an orderly and planned fashion, according to American officials. The crew was rescued from life rafts by five Soviet surface ships in the area.
Pentagon officials say a US ocean-going tugboat was nearby and ready to assist, but the Soviets refused any help. Pentagon sources do not rule out the possibility that the Soviets scuttled¹¹ their sub once it became clear that leaks could not be controlled.
The Soviets have not explained the cause of the damage to the ship, but Pentagon officials say there was an explosion in one of the missile tubes that blew a big hole in the deck. Vice¹² Admiral Powell Carter describes the damage this way:
"You're talking about a structure that's enormously strong up there. It's like, each of those missile tube doors that shuts is just like a safe vault¹³. And then it shuts and locks with a big rotating ring, and that's been torn completely loose and bent¹⁴ like a pretzel back. So the force of the explosion was enormous."
While Pentagon officials say they don't know what caused the missile tube explosion, they point out that Soviet missiles use highly volatile¹⁵ liquid fuel, and a fuel leak could have caused the eruption¹⁶. Again, Admiral Carter:
"These liquid fuel systems are very, very dangerous; they're very unstable¹⁷. That's why, very early in our missile program as pushing a leading edge of technology, we moved to solid fuel missiles, early on just for that fact, because liquid fuel is extremely dangerous."
Admiral Carter said it was possible the nuclear warheads on top of the missile burned in the fire, or were thrown out into the water and sunk to the bottom 18,000 feet below. He said the other missiles and warheads might have been damaged by pressure as the sub sank, but there was no chance of a nuclear detonation¹⁸ or serious radiation leakage¹⁹.
The submarine's nuclear reactors²⁰, officials say, are self-contained in what amounts to rust-proof metal vaults²¹, and the Soviet say the reactors were shut down prior to sinking.
US officials say preliminary tests of the air and sea in the area have produced no signs of radioactive release. Pentagon officials say the US will not make any attempt to recover the Soviet sub. "It's Soviet property," says the Navy. Retired²² submarine Captain James Bush of the Center for Defense²³ Information says a salvage²⁴ effort just isn't warranted in this case with the submarine that was designed in the 1960s.
"It's an old submarine with old missiles. I don't know that we would consider it worthwhile to have them to look at for the amount of money involved. Now, it would probably be worthwhile if we could, get their communications equipment and their coding equipment, their key lists, and things like that to decode²⁵ messages. But I'm sure that the Soviets, with the time that they had prior to the submarine sinking, should have gotten all of that material off."
Pentagon officials say the sub loss should not be a serious setback²⁶ for the Soviets, but some analysts²⁷ disagree. Pentagon consultant²⁸ Norman Freedman says the Soviets have to be worried about liquid fueled missiles on other subs. "These things are time bombs," Freeman says. "They should all be called in and checked out." I'm David Malthus in Washington.


"We think that we have solved this most venerable and grand of geographic²⁹ mysteries." With those words, Joseph Judge of National Geographic magazine announced a major discovery in American history—the true spot where Christopher Columbus first landed in the new world. And the Geographic 's declaration upsets the orthodox assertions of nearly every American history textbook. NPR's Frank Browning has this story.
The orthodox explanation of where Columbus first landed was carved in textbook stone more than forty years ago by the dean of Columbus historians, Samuel Elliot Morrison. Morrison declared incontrovertible the evidence that Columbus first set foot on Watling Island in the eastern Bahamas. But if the question were closed for Professor Morrison, now dead, it was not for numerous other students on nautical³⁰ history.
For the last five years, the National Geographic 's Joseph Judge, has dispatched teams of historians, oceanographers, archaeologists and translators to find the true location and thereby³¹ to set straight the first footsteps of the American saga³².
"The famous fleet of Columbus—the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria—made its first landfall and its landing in the new world in 1492 at a small island in the eastern Bahamas, named today, Samana Cay."
The basic problem in identifying Columbus' landing point, which he named San Salvador in 1492, is that he left no clear markings. Moreover, the log of Columbus' voyage now exists only in a transcription made by the Spaniard Bartolomay de las Casas, and many of the descriptions are either vague or use archaic³³ terminology³⁴.
Professor Morrison had based has conclusions on a straightforward³⁵ reading of the log. But he took no account of how Columbus' route would have been affected³⁶ by constant ocean currents and winds. When the Geographic team took the same data and then adjusted them for the effect of wind and current, they arrived at Samana Cay, to the southeast of Watling Island. Then to collaborate³⁷ their findings, they went to points further down on Columbus' voyage, then backtracked according to the log notations³⁸, and again found that they landed not on Professor Morrison's Watling Island, but on Samana Cay. Once on Samana, the team then returned to Columbus' log, to compare what they saw to Columbus' own visual description, recounted here by writer Judge in a film clip:
"You need sediments³⁹ on a ridge⁴⁰ behind the beach. Here is the beach, right here. You need a lagoon⁴¹ with a very narrow entrance and that you have there. You need a piece of land shaped like an island that is not, and that you have there. In other words, every piece of geography that you're seeing before your eyes in this island is described in the Columbus' log."
Moreover, Judge's team found archaeological traces of a settlement Columbus had mentioned finding on the actual island. So far, it is too early to know how the Geographic 's discoveries will affect the literature of professional history. But for those who worry about what may become of the site in an age of overnight historical theme parks, Bahamian Minister of Education, Paul Adderly, who attended the press conference, assured questioners that the island will be safe. In Washington, I'm Frank Browning reporting.
 

1 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

2 vessel   

n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管

参考例句：

• The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
• You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。

3 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。

4 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

5 diplomats   

n.外交官( diplomat的名词复数 )；有手腕的人，善于交际的人

参考例句：

• These events led to the expulsion of senior diplomats from the country. 这些事件导致一些高级外交官被驱逐出境。
• The court has no jurisdiction over foreign diplomats living in this country. 法院对驻本国的外交官无裁判权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 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。

7 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

8 emaciated   

adj.衰弱的，消瘦的

参考例句：

• A long time illness made him sallow and emaciated.长期患病使他面黄肌瘦。
• In the light of a single candle,she can see his emaciated face.借着烛光，她能看到他的被憔悴的面孔。

9 reactor   

n.反应器；反应堆

参考例句：

• The atomic reactor generates enormous amounts of thermal energy.原子反应堆发出大量的热能。
• Inside the reactor the large molecules are cracked into smaller molecules.在反应堆里，大分子裂变为小分子。

10 soviets   

苏维埃（Soviet的复数形式）

参考例句：

• A public challenge could provoke the Soviets to dig in. 公开挑战会促使苏联人一意孤行。
• The Soviets proposed the withdrawal of American ballistic-missile submarines from forward bases. 苏联人建议把美国的弹道导弹潜艇从前沿基地撤走。

11 scuttled   

v.使船沉没( scuttle的过去式和过去分词 )；快跑，急走

参考例句：

• She scuttled off when she heard the sound of his voice. 听到他的说话声，她赶紧跑开了。
• The thief scuttled off when he saw the policeman. 小偷看见警察来了便急忙跑掉。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

13 vault   

n.拱形圆顶，地窖，地下室

参考例句：

• The vault of this cathedral is very high.这座天主教堂的拱顶非常高。
• The old patrician was buried in the family vault.这位老贵族埋在家族的墓地里。

14 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

15 volatile   

adj.反复无常的，挥发性的，稍纵即逝的，脾气火爆的；n.挥发性物质

参考例句：

• With the markets being so volatile,investments are at great risk.由于市场那么变化不定，投资冒着很大的风险。
• His character was weak and volatile.他这个人意志薄弱，喜怒无常。

16 eruption   

n.火山爆发；（战争等）爆发；（疾病等）发作

参考例句：

• The temple was destroyed in the violent eruption of 1470 BC.庙宇在公元前1470年猛烈的火山爆发中摧毁了。
• The eruption of a volcano is spontaneous.火山的爆发是自发的。

17 unstable   

adj.不稳定的，易变的

参考例句：

• This bookcase is too unstable to hold so many books.这书橱很不结实，装不了这么多书。
• The patient's condition was unstable.那患者的病情不稳定。

18 detonation   

n.爆炸；巨响

参考例句：

• A fearful detonation burst forth on the barricade.街垒传来一阵骇人的爆炸声。
• Within a few hundreds of microseconds,detonation is complete.在几百微秒之内，爆炸便完成了。

19 leakage   

n.漏，泄漏；泄漏物；漏出量

参考例句：

• Large areas of land have been contaminated by the leakage from the nuclear reactor.大片地区都被核反应堆的泄漏物污染了。
• The continuing leakage is the result of the long crack in the pipe.这根管子上的那一条裂缝致使渗漏不断。

20 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。

21 vaults   

n.拱顶( vault的名词复数 )；地下室；撑物跳高；墓穴

参考例句：

• It was deposited in the vaults of a bank. 它存在一家银行的保险库里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They think of viruses that infect an organization from the outside.They envision hackers breaking into their information vaults. 他们考虑来自外部的感染公司的病毒，他们设想黑客侵入到信息宝库中。 来自《简明英汉词典》

22 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

23 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

24 salvage   

v.救助，营救，援救；n.救助，营救

参考例句：

• All attempts to salvage the wrecked ship failed.抢救失事船只的一切努力都失败了。
• The salvage was piled upon the pier.抢救出的财产被堆放在码头上。

25 decode   

vt.译（码），解（码）

参考例句：

• All he had to do was decode it and pass it over.他需要做的就是将它破译然后转给他人。
• The secret documents were intercepted and decoded.机密文件遭截获并被破译。

26 setback   

n.退步，挫折，挫败

参考例句：

• Since that time there has never been any setback in his career.从那时起他在事业上一直没有遇到周折。
• She views every minor setback as a disaster.她把每个较小的挫折都看成重大灾难。

27 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

28 consultant   

n.顾问；会诊医师，专科医生

参考例句：

• He is a consultant on law affairs to the mayor.他是市长的一个法律顾问。
• Originally,Gar had agreed to come up as a consultant.原来，加尔只答应来充当我们的顾问。

29 geographic   

adj.地理学的，地理的

参考例句：

• The city's success owes much to its geographic position. 这座城市的成功很大程度上归功于它的地理位置。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Environmental problems pay no heed to these geographic lines. 环境问题并不理会这些地理界限。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

30 nautical   

adj.海上的，航海的，船员的

参考例句：

• A nautical mile is 1,852 meters.一海里等于1852米。
• It is 206 nautical miles from our present location.距离我们现在的位置有206海里。

31 thereby   

adv.因此，从而

参考例句：

• I have never been to that city,,ereby I don't know much about it.我从未去过那座城市，因此对它不怎么熟悉。
• He became a British citizen,thereby gaining the right to vote.他成了英国公民，因而得到了投票权。

32 saga   

n.(尤指中世纪北欧海盗的)故事，英雄传奇

参考例句：

• The saga of Flight 19 is probably the most repeated story about the Bermuda Triangle.飞行19中队的传说或许是有关百慕大三角最重复的故事。
• The novel depicts the saga of a family.小说描绘了一个家族的传奇故事。

33 archaic   

adj.(语言、词汇等)古代的，已不通用的

参考例句：

• The company does some things in archaic ways,such as not using computers for bookkeeping.这个公司有些做法陈旧，如记账不使用电脑。
• Shaanxi is one of the Chinese archaic civilized origins which has a long history.陕西省是中国古代文明发祥之一，有悠久的历史。

34 terminology   

n.术语；专有名词

参考例句：

• He particularly criticized the terminology in the document.他特别批评了文件中使用的术语。
• The article uses rather specialized musical terminology.这篇文章用了相当专业的音乐术语。

35 straightforward   

adj.正直的，坦率的；易懂的，简单的

参考例句：

• A straightforward talk is better than a flowery speech.巧言不如直说。
• I must insist on your giving me a straightforward answer.我一定要你给我一个直截了当的回答。

36 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

37 collaborate   

vi.协作，合作；协调

参考例句：

• The work gets done more quickly when we collaborate.我们一旦合作，工作做起来就更快了。
• I would ask you to collaborate with us in this work.我们愿意请你们在这项工作中和我们合作。

38 notations   

记号，标记法( notation的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was frowning and wishing he could decode the notations on the slips. 他皱着眉，挖空心思地想认出赌签上的记号。 来自教父部分
• In section 2, we give some notations and some lemmas. 在本文第二部分，我们给出一些符号及引理。

39 sediments   

沉淀物( sediment的名词复数 )； 沉积物

参考例句：

• When deposited, 70-80% of the volume of muddy sediments may be water. 泥质沉积物沉积后，体积的70-80％是水。
• Oligocene erosion had truncated the sediments draped over the dome. 覆盖于穹丘上的沉积岩为渐新世侵蚀所截削。

40 ridge   

n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭

参考例句：

• We clambered up the hillside to the ridge above.我们沿着山坡费力地爬上了山脊。
• The infantry were advancing to attack the ridge.步兵部队正在向前挺进攻打山脊。

41 lagoon   

n.泻湖，咸水湖

参考例句：

• The lagoon was pullulated with tropical fish.那个咸水湖聚满了热带鱼。
• This area isolates a restricted lagoon environment.将这一地区隔离起来使形成一个封闭的泻湖环境。