英国新闻听力 27

BBC News with Nick Kelly.

The French and British Foreign Ministers Bernard Kouchner and David Miliband are in the Rwandan capital Kigali on the second leg of their diplomatic mission to try to find a way to end the violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Thousands of civilians³ have been displaced by a rebel advance in the eastern town of Goma near the Rwandan border and are living in desperate conditions. Congo accuses Rwanda of backing the rebels. After talks in Kinshasa on Saturday with the Congolese President, Mr. Miliband said there was a pressing need for emergency relief to reach camps for people displaced by the conflict with the establishment of a safe humanitarian⁴ corridor to Goma a priority. He added that the contingent⁵ of 800 UN peacekeepers currently in the city needed to be reinforced. The Under-Secretary-General of the UN responsible for peacekeeping operations Alain Le Roy agreed the UN force in Congo MONUC needs more troops.

“MONUC has 17,000 troops, almost the figure that they need to have in Kosovo and you should know that Congo is 200 times bigger than Kosovo, and our troops are clearly overstretched. We are in a process of reconfiguring the mission, but we still consider we need additional force.

The Bolivian President Evo Morales has announced that he’s suspending the operations in his country of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the DEA. He did not say whether the DEA staff will be ordered to leave the country as coca-growers have asked him to do. Mr. Morales accused the agency of political spying and said they could not be trusted.

“They were DEA agents who worked as political spies. They funded criminal groups to attempt against the life of certain authorities, if not the president himself. And it financed civilians to sabotage⁶ airports in eastern Bolivia. The DEA denies any wrongdoing or involvement in Bolivian politics. ”

The former Prime Minister of Thailand Thaksin Shinawatra has been addressing tens of thousands of his supporters who gathered at a stadium in the capital Bangkok. Speaking by telephone from his self-imposed exile, Mr.Thaksin greeted them as people who love democracy and regretted he could not be there in person. There was tight security in Bangkok for the rally which entered to counter months of demonstrations⁷ by opponents of the government, who say it’s unduly⁸ influenced by Mr. Thaksin. He was sentenced to jail in his absence for abuse of power, but still enjoys significant backing, particularly in rural Thailand.

The Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has been holding talks with the Russian leadership on his first visit to Moscow since the Soviet⁹ era. Both countries are major oil and gas producers.

And Colonel Gaddafi said closer energy cooperation with Russia was particularly important. Correspondents say Russia is keen to persuade Libya to back its plans for a cartel of gas-producing nations similar in concept to the oil organization OPEC. It's also reported that the two countries are negotiating a civilian² nuclear cooperation deal.

World News from the BBC.

As the race to become president of the United States entered its final three days, the two candidates are both campaigning in battlegrounds usually considered to be Republican strongholds. Democratic Party contender Barack Obama is leading the polls. But he told a rally in Nevada that no one should believe for a second that the election was over. Janet Warner reports from Washington.

Barack Obama is campaigning in Colorado today, a state that has voted Democrat¹ only once in the last 40 years. But like many other traditionally Republican strongholds, it’s become a potential prize for Mr. Obama. His Republican rival John McCain has been forced to spend the last critical days of the race seeking support in areas he should have been able to take for granted. He has been in Virginia, for instance, another staunchly Republican state that, the polls show, could be captured by the Democrats¹⁰.

The Swiss marine¹¹ explorer and inventor Jacques Piccard has died at his home on the edge of Lake Geneva, at the age of 86. In 1960, Piccard and his co-pilot took a submersible vessel¹² developed by his father to the bottom of the Mariana Trench¹³ in the western Pacific. Their 11km descent beneath the surface of the sea, remains¹⁴ the deepest ever carried out. Paul Legg reports.

The historic dive attracted worldwide attention and some controversy¹⁵ among marine biologists who disputed Piccard’s claims to have observed flatfish, and a new type of shrimp¹⁶ at the bottom of the ocean. In his later years, Piccard became an outspoken¹⁷ critic of marine pollution and over-fishing. He only retired¹⁸ from deep sea diving four years ago at the age of 82.

And the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has arrived in Saudi Arabia to start a four-day visit to Arab Gulf¹⁹ states. Mr. Brown will be talking to leaders in the oil-rich region about coordinating²⁰ the response to the global financial crisis. Mr. Brown said it was in the region’s best interests to secure stable energy prices.

BBC News.

1 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

2 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

3 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

4 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

5 contingent   

adj.视条件而定的；n.一组，代表团，分遣队

参考例句：

• The contingent marched in the direction of the Western Hills.队伍朝西山的方向前进。
• Whether or not we arrive on time is contingent on the weather.我们是否按时到达要视天气情况而定。

6 sabotage   

n.怠工，破坏活动，破坏；v.从事破坏活动，妨害，破坏

参考例句：

• They tried to sabotage my birthday party.他们企图破坏我的生日晚会。
• The fire at the factory was caused by sabotage.那家工厂的火灾是有人蓄意破坏引起的。

7 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

8 unduly   

adv.过度地，不适当地

参考例句：

• He did not sound unduly worried at the prospect.他的口气听上去对前景并不十分担忧。
• He argued that the law was unduly restrictive.他辩称法律的约束性有些过分了。

9 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。

10 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

12 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。

13 trench   

n./v.(挖)沟，(挖)战壕

参考例句：

• The soldiers recaptured their trench.兵士夺回了战壕。
• The troops received orders to trench the outpost.部队接到命令在前哨周围筑壕加强防卫。

14 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

15 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

16 shrimp   

n.虾，小虾；矮小的人

参考例句：

• When the shrimp farm is built it will block the stream.一旦养虾场建起来，将会截断这条河流。
• When it comes to seafood,I like shrimp the best.说到海鲜，我最喜欢虾。

17 outspoken   

adj.直言无讳的，坦率的，坦白无隐的

参考例句：

• He was outspoken in his criticism.他在批评中直言不讳。
• She is an outspoken critic of the school system in this city.她是这座城市里学校制度的坦率的批评者。

18 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。

19 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

20 coordinating   

v.使协调，使调和( coordinate的现在分词 )；协调；协同；成为同等

参考例句：

• He abolished the Operations Coordinating Board and the Planning Board. 他废除了行动协调委员会和计划委员会。 来自辞典例句
• He's coordinating the wedding, and then we're not going to invite him? 他是来协调婚礼的，难道我们不去请他？ 来自电影对白