英国新闻听力 60

BBC News with Mary Small

The U.S. President-elect Barack Obama has welcomed the multi-billion-dollar funding package for the struggling U.S. car industry. The Bush administration announced an emergency funding of around 17 billion dollars. But the money is expected to go to General Motors and Chrysler, those of which have been struggling in the global credit crisis. The aid is conditional¹ on the companies’ restructuring themselves.

However, Mr. Obama also had this warning “The auto² companies must not squander³ this chance to reform bad management practices and begin the long-term restructuring that is absolutely necessary to save this critical industry and the millions of American jobs that depend on it while also creating the fuel-efficient cars of tomorrow”.

The Governor of the American State of Illinois Rod Blagojevich has said he won’t resign over allegations that he’s tried to trade the vacant Senate seat of the President-elect Barack Obama for cash or a plum job. In his first official statement since being arrested on corruption⁴ charges last week, the governor told reporters that he would stay on the job he’d been elected to do and would answer every allegation in court.

“I know there are some powerful forces arrayed against me. It's kinda lonely right now, but I have on my side the most powerful ally there is and it’s the truth, and besides, I have the personal knowledge that I have not done anything wrong”.

The Judiciary in Argentina has reversed the controversial court decision, ordering the release from prison of more than a dozen men charged with the murder or torture of political opponents during the country’s last military government. The court changed its decision after prosecutors⁵ argued that the men could flee if released on bail⁶. Daniel Schweimler reports from Buenos Aires.

Most in Argentina was surprised and outraged⁷ by the court’s decision on Thursday to allow the men to go free. These were not just any prisoners. These were some of the most notorious men accused of committing human rights abuses in Argentina under military rule between 1976 and 1983. Among them were Alfredo Astiz, and Jorge Acosta, officers who worked at the Naval⁸ Mechanics School, the largest detention⁹ center operated by the military in Buenos Aires and it was here that new-born babies were taken from their mothers and given for adoption¹⁰ to childless military couples. The mothers were then killed.

New research on Switzerland’s glaciers¹¹ has found that they are melting at an accelerating rate and that many would disappear completely by the end of the century. Two studies by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology looked at 30 glaciers in the country and concluded that they are losing about a meter of thickness every year. The researchers blame climate change for the melting. They say that only the largest glaciers will still exist at the end of the century and even those will be much smaller than they are now.

You are listening to the World News from the BBC.

An independent study published in Turkey says there’s growing evidence that those who do not observe Islamic customs are being discriminated¹² against despite the country’s secular¹³ constitution. Researchers from Bogazi?i University in Istanbul and the Open Society Institute link the issue to the government of the religious-conservative ARK party which it says had appointed people to public bodies on the basis of their political and religious beliefs.

Construction has begun on a memorial to hundreds of thousands of Roma or Gypsies murdered by the Nazis¹⁴ during the Second World War. The memorial takes the form of a square well brimming with dark water and bearing an inscription¹⁵ of a poem about the holocaust¹⁶. The head of the Alliance of Sinti and Roma, in Germany Natascha Winter said the memorial would improve relations between the Roma and the German government.

“I think this has a really positive effect because the German government is coming clean over this evil event and recognizing us not only as part of the population, but also instilling¹⁷ in us a sense of trust that we belong to the population over the last several hundred years because we define ourselves as German Gypsies. Now we feel that we really belong.

The United States has filed a legal challenge with the World Trade Organization over what it says the protectionist policies by China in its marketing¹⁸ of home-produced goods. The U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab said China’s use of export subsidies¹⁹ to promote Chinese products was a violation²⁰ of global trade rules.

The Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme has decided²¹ to offer his government resignation to King Albert the Second in a growing row over the troubled bank Fortis. The move came shortly after a senior judge said that there were strong indications the government had tried to stop the Judiciary, blocking the proposed breakup and sale of Fortis to the French bank BNP Paribas.

And that’s the latest, BBC News.

1 conditional   

adj.条件的，带有条件的

参考例句：

• My agreement is conditional on your help.你肯帮助我才同意。
• There are two forms of most-favored-nation treatment:conditional and unconditional.最惠国待遇有两种形式:有条件的和无条件的。

2 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。

3 squander   

v.浪费，挥霍

参考例句：

• Don't squander your time in reading those dime novels.不要把你的时间浪费在读那些胡编乱造的廉价小说上。
• Every chance is precious，so don't squander any chance away!每次机会都很宝贵，所以不要将任何一个白白放走。

4 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

5 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

6 bail   

v.舀（水），保释；n.保证金，保释，保释人

参考例句：

• One of the prisoner's friends offered to bail him out.犯人的一个朋友答应保释他出来。
• She has been granted conditional bail.她被准予有条件保释。

7 outraged   

a.震惊的，义愤填膺的

参考例句：

• Members of Parliament were outraged by the news of the assassination. 议会议员们被这暗杀的消息激怒了。
• He was outraged by their behavior. 他们的行为使他感到愤慨。

8 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。

9 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。

10 adoption   

n.采用，采纳，通过；收养

参考例句：

• An adoption agency had sent the boys to two different families.一个收养机构把他们送给两个不同的家庭。
• The adoption of this policy would relieve them of a tremendous burden.采取这一政策会给他们解除一个巨大的负担。

11 glaciers   

冰河，冰川( glacier的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Glaciers gouged out valleys from the hills. 冰川把丘陵地带冲出一条条山谷。
• It has ice and snow glaciers, rainforests and beautiful mountains. 既有冰川，又有雨林和秀丽的山峰。 来自英语晨读30分（高一）

12 discriminated   

分别，辨别，区分( discriminate的过去式和过去分词 )； 歧视，有差别地对待

参考例句：

• His great size discriminated him from his followers. 他的宽广身材使他不同于他的部下。
• Should be a person that has second liver virus discriminated against? 一个患有乙肝病毒的人是不是就应该被人歧视？

13 secular   

n.牧师，凡人；adj.世俗的，现世的，不朽的

参考例句：

• We live in an increasingly secular society.我们生活在一个日益非宗教的社会。
• Britain is a plural society in which the secular predominates.英国是个世俗主导的多元社会。

14 Nazis   

n.（德国的）纳粹党员( Nazi的名词复数 )；纳粹主义

参考例句：

• The Nazis worked them over with gun butts. 纳粹分子用枪托毒打他们。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Nazis were responsible for the mass murder of Jews during World War Ⅱ. 纳粹必须为第二次世界大战中对犹太人的大屠杀负责。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 inscription   

n.（尤指石块上的）刻印文字，铭文，碑文

参考例句：

• The inscription has worn away and can no longer be read.铭文已磨损，无法辨认了。
• He chiselled an inscription on the marble.他在大理石上刻碑文。

16 holocaust   

n.大破坏；大屠杀

参考例句：

• The Auschwitz concentration camp always remind the world of the holocaust.奥辛威茨集中营总是让世人想起大屠杀。
• Ahmadinejad is denying the holocaust because he's as brutal as Hitler was.内贾德否认大屠杀，因为他像希特勒一样残忍。

17 instilling   

v.逐渐使某人获得（某种可取的品质），逐步灌输( instil的现在分词 )；逐渐使某人获得（某种可取的品质），逐步灌输( instill的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Make sure your subordinates understand your sense of urgency and work toward instilling this in allsubordinates. 确保你的下属同样具备判断紧急事件的意识，在工作中潜移默化地灌输给他们。 来自互联网

18 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

19 subsidies   

n.补贴，津贴，补助金( subsidy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• European agriculture ministers failed to break the deadlock over farm subsidies. 欧洲各国农业部长在农业补贴问题上未能打破僵局。
• Agricultural subsidies absorb about half the EU's income. 农业补贴占去了欧盟收入的大约一半。 来自《简明英汉词典》

20 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

21 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。