英国新闻听力 36

BBC News with Ian Purdon.

The United Nations Security Council has voted unanimously to send a further 3,000 peacekeepers to the Democratic Republic of Congo. The mission will have around 20,000 personnel once the reinforcements are deployed². However, diplomats³ have acknowledged that they don’t know where the extra troops will come from. The former head of UN peacekeeping operations, Jean-Marie Guéhenno, called for European countries to make troop commitments.

I think it’s great that the Security Council adopted this resolution today, but Security Council should not think its work ends with the resolution. To deploy¹ quickly forces, I don’t think it can happen if there is not a commitment of the Europeans to provide a bridging force, so it’s going to be a test of whether the Europeans see Africa as a strategic issue for Europe as important as Afghanistan which for me it is or whether they think it isn’t.

US congressional leaders have asked car manufacturers to submit a new viable⁴ recovery plan before their request for a multi-billion-dollar bailout for the industry can be approved. The Senate Majority Leader Harry⁵ Reid said the auto⁶ giants had failed to convince the American people or Congress that the proposed bailout would be their last. He said they needed to provide more detail of how they would spend the money. The Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi said there was a clear requirement for auto industry heads to submit new plans to Congress next month.

Until we can see a plan where the auto industry is held accountable and a plan for viability⁷ on how they go into the future, until they show us the plan, we cannot show them the money. And that is really where we are with this.

Meanwhile, the US stock market has plunged⁸ again with the Dow Jones Index ending the day more than 5% lower. Analysts⁹ said investors¹⁰ panicked over weak economic data and the failure by lawmakers to agree a bailout for car markers. The drop in America follows sharp falls on European markets.

One of the world’s biggest shipping¹¹ companies has announced that it’s re-routing some of its fleet away from the Gulf¹² of Aden because of the growing threat from piracy¹³ off the Somalia coast. The company, A.P. Moller-Maersk, says it will send ships around Africa instead of through the Suez Canal, adding thousands of kilometers to their journeys. The firm’s vice-president, Soren Skou, said they could no longer ignore the growing threat posed by pirates.

The key for us here is not the impact of daily operating costs here now, the key for us is really to get the message across, one that, you know, we really want to make sure that our crews, our ships and the cargos on board are safe and are not subjected to piracy, and two, that this is not a problem that we as one company or our industry of sorts alone can handle. This is a problem that is escalated¹⁴ to a level where a concerted effort at the international level is needed.

World News from the BBC.

A federal judge in Washington has ordered the release of five Algerians held at the Guantanamo Bay detention¹⁵ centre. The ruling was the first since the US Supreme¹⁶ Court gave Guantanamo detainees the right to challenge their imprisonment¹⁷. In his verdict, the judge said the government had failed to show that the Algerians had plans to travel to Afghanistan to fight US forces.

The American ambassador in Zimbabwe, James McGee, has said that nearly 300 people have died of cholera¹⁸ in the country. This figure is much higher than that admitted by the authorities. A document obtained by the BBC confirms this and says that there are another 6,000 suspected cases, half of them in Harare.

Researchers in Poland say that after centuries of mystery they've identified the remains¹⁹ of Nicolaus Copernicus, the astronomer²⁰ who first suggested that the Earth revolved²¹ around the Sun. Adam Easton reports from Warsaw.

The man, who made the key scientific discovery that the Earth orbits the Sun, had lived and worked in Frombork Cathedral on the Baltic Sea coast during the 16th century. For many years, he was a canon, and only carried out his astronomical²² studies in his spare time. Three years ago, archaeologists dug up a skull²³ and partial remains of a man aged²⁴ about 70, Copernicus’ age when he died, near an altar at the cathedral. Scientists then matched the DNA²⁵ from one of the skull’s teeth and a femur bone with two strands²⁶ of Copernicus’ hair, found in a book once owned by the astronomer now kept in Sweden’s Uppsala University.

Politicians in Chile have voted overwhelmingly against the government pay offer to more than 400,000 public workers who have been on strike since Monday demanding higher wages. The strikers caused major disruption to hospitals, businesses and travel services. The government offered a nine and a half percent pay increase, below Chile’s inflation rate. The Lower House of Parliament rejected the offer.

1 deploy   

v.（军）散开成战斗队形，布置，展开

参考例句：

• The infantry began to deploy at dawn.步兵黎明时开始进入战斗位置。
• The president said he had no intention of deploying ground troops.总统称并不打算部署地面部队。

2 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

3 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》

4 viable   

adj.可行的，切实可行的，能活下去的

参考例句：

• The scheme is economically viable.这个计划从经济效益来看是可行的。
• The economy of the country is not viable.这个国家经济是难以维持的。

5 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

6 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

7 viability   

n.存活(能力)

参考例句：

• What is required to achieve or maintain such viability? 要达到或维持这种生存能力需要什么？
• Scientists are experimenting to find ways to ensure the viability of seeds for even longer periods of time. 正如我们所说，科学家正在试验努力寻找让种子的生命力更加延长的方法。

8 plunged   

v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• The train derailed and plunged into the river. 火车脱轨栽进了河里。
• She lost her balance and plunged 100 feet to her death. 她没有站稳，从100英尺的高处跌下摔死了。

9 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。

10 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

11 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

12 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。

13 piracy   

n.海盗行为，剽窃，著作权侵害

参考例句：

• The government has already adopted effective measures against piracy.政府已采取有效措施惩治盗版行为。
• They made the place a notorious centre of piracy.他们把这地方变成了臭名昭著的海盗中心。

14 escalated   

v.（使）逐步升级( escalate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）逐步扩大；（使）更高；（使）更大

参考例句：

• The fighting escalated into a full-scale war. 这场交战逐步扩大为全面战争。
• The demonstration escalated into a pitched battle with the police. 示威逐步升级，演变成了一场同警察的混战。

15 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。

16 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

17 imprisonment   

n.关押，监禁，坐牢

参考例句：

• His sentence was commuted from death to life imprisonment.他的判决由死刑减为无期徒刑。
• He was sentenced to one year's imprisonment for committing bigamy.他因为犯重婚罪被判入狱一年。

18 cholera   

n.霍乱

参考例句：

• The cholera outbreak has been contained.霍乱的发生已被控制住了。
• Cholera spread like wildfire through the camps.霍乱在营地里迅速传播。

19 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。

20 astronomer   

n.天文学家

参考例句：

• A new star attracted the notice of the astronomer.新发现的一颗星引起了那位天文学家的注意。
• He is reputed to have been a good astronomer.他以一个优秀的天文学者闻名于世。

21 revolved   

v.（使）旋转( revolve的过去式和过去分词 )；细想

参考例句：

• The fan revolved slowly. 电扇缓慢地转动着。
• The wheel revolved on its centre. 轮子绕中心转动。 来自《简明英汉词典》

22 astronomical   

adj.天文学的，（数字）极大的

参考例句：

• He was an expert on ancient Chinese astronomical literature.他是研究中国古代天文学文献的专家。
• Houses in the village are selling for astronomical prices.乡村的房价正在飙升。

23 skull   

n.头骨；颅骨

参考例句：

• The skull bones fuse between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five.头骨在15至25岁之间长合。
• He fell out of the window and cracked his skull.他从窗子摔了出去，跌裂了颅骨。

24 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

25 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

26 strands   

n.（线、绳、金属线、毛发等的）股( strand的名词复数 )；缕；海洋、湖或河的)岸；（观点、计划、故事等的）部份v.使滞留，使搁浅( strand的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Twist a length of rope from strands of hemp. 用几股麻搓成了一段绳子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She laced strands into a braid. 她把几股线编织成一根穗带。 来自《简明英汉词典》