英国新闻听力 65

BBC News with John Jason.

The leader of Tuesday’s military coup¹ in the West African state of Guinea has led a parade of hundreds of soldiers through the streets of the capital Conakry. Captain Moussa Dadis Camara told thousands of cheering supporters he saw the reaction to the coup as favorable, but the country’s prime minister who is in hiding was quoted as saying the majority of the army was still loyal to the government. Here is our West Africa correspondent Will Ross.

As each hour passes, the men who swept aside the constitution are becoming more and more entrenched² in power. The coup may have been condemned³ outside the country, but in Guinea there is not much support for the constitution to be respected because that would lead to the head of the National Assembly, Aboubacar Sompare, taking over power. Mr. Sompare is widely unpopular as he is seen as part of the old guard of / ineffectual politicians who failed the population of Guinea.

Palestinian militants⁵ have fired several dozen rockets from Gaza into southern Israel following the killing⁶ of three militants on Tuesday. The Israeli Defense⁷ Minister Ehud Barak blamed the militant⁴ group Hamas for the rocket attacks. In response, Israel launched air raids on the Gaza Strip which Palestinian medical officials say killed a member of Hamas and wounded two more. Here is Keith Adams.

The scores of mortars⁸ and rockets fired by Palestinian militants into Israel and Israel’s air strike in response represent an escalation⁹ in the familiar tit-for-tat violence. Wednesday’s events followed the end last week of a six-month truce¹⁰ between Israel and Hamas, the group that controls Gaza. Both sides accused each other of failing to honor its conditions, so the peace deal which was brokered¹¹ by Egypt was not renewed. The violence should give some urgency to talks on the elapsed truce between Israel’s Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak planned for Thursday.

Amid tight security, thousands of Christian¹² pilgrims have begun celebrating Christmas with a mass in the West Bank town of Bethlehem which they believe is the birth place of Jesus. Among those attending the service were about 200 Christians¹³ from the Gaza Strip whom Israel granted permission to make the journey. Extra Palestinian security personnel have been sent to Bethlehem from the West Bank towns of Ramallah and Jericho to safeguard the 40,000 visitors expected during the week.

A prominent Zimbabwean human rights activist¹⁴ who'd been missing since being abducted¹⁵ from her home three weeks ago has appeared in court in Harare. According to state media, Jestina Mukoko was charged with plotting to overthrow¹⁶ the government. Defense lawyer said the judge ordered that she and eight other activists¹⁷ be sent to hospital for treatment under police supervision¹⁸ so that / allegations of torture could be investigated. The lawyer said the order was ignored by the police. The opposition¹⁹ MDC says more than 40 activists have disappeared in the past two months.

You are listening to World News from the BBC.

President Bush is taking the extremely rare step of halting the process of a pardon he had granted only a day before. On Tuesday, the president pardoned 19 people, including Isaac Robert Toussie from New York who'd been convicted of mail fraud and of making false statements to a government department. The next day, the White House said the President was reviewing the decision in the light of new information. This, it said, included the extent and nature of Mr. Toussie's previous criminal offences.

Russia and Serbia have signed a controversial energy deal that critics say will undermine Europe’s attempts to reduce its dependency on Russian gas. The new pipeline²⁰ calls “South Stream” would give Serbia a key role in taking Russian gas to southern Europe. Mike Sanders reports.

The multi-billion-dollar deal signed in Moscow gives the Russian gas monopoly Gas Gazprom control of Serbia’s state oil monopoly. In return, Russia promises to build its “South Stream” gas pipelines²¹ through Serbia completed with a gas storage depot²². That would give Serbia a key role in the transit²³ of Russian gas to southern Europe. But it's caused rows at cabinet level in Belgrade. Critics say there is no guarantee of whatever get built even though some European Union countries have already signed up to it.

The Russian President Demitry Medvedev has threatened Ukraine with sanctions if it doesn’t pay its bill for this year’s Russian gas supplies as he put it “down to the last ruble”. Speaking to a Russian TV station, Mr. Medvedev suggested this could mean cutting gas supplies next year.

An Australian man is reported to have been arrested at Cairo airport after security staff found ancient mummies of a cat and an ibis in his luggage. An airport official said that the mummies dated back to 300 BC. He said another 19 figurines were found in the man’s bags of the ancient Egyptian Gods Horus and Thoth wrapped up as gifts. The man is being charged with smuggling²⁴ antiquities²⁵ which can carry a penalty of up to 15 years in prison.

BBC News.

1 coup   

n.政变；突然而成功的行动

参考例句：

• The monarch was ousted by a military coup.那君主被军事政变者废黜了。
• That government was overthrown in a military coup three years ago.那个政府在3年前的军事政变中被推翻。

2 entrenched   

adj.确立的，不容易改的(风俗习惯)

参考例句：

• Television seems to be firmly entrenched as the number one medium for national advertising.电视看来要在全国广告媒介中牢固地占据头等位置。
• If the enemy dares to attack us in these entrenched positions,we will make short work of them.如果敌人胆敢进攻我们固守的阵地，我们就消灭他们。

3 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

4 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

5 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。

6 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

7 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。

8 mortars   

n.迫击炮( mortar的名词复数 )；砂浆；房产；研钵

参考例句：

• They could not move their heavy mortars over the swampy ground. 他们无法把重型迫击炮移过那片沼泽地。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Where the hell are his mortars? 他有迫击炮吗？ 来自教父部分

9 escalation   

n.扩大，增加

参考例句：

• The threat of nuclear escalation remains. 核升级的威胁仍旧存在。 来自辞典例句
• Escalation is thus an aspect of deterrence and of crisis management. 因此逐步升级是威慑和危机处理的一个方面。 来自辞典例句

10 truce   

n.休战，(争执，烦恼等的)缓和；v.以停战结束

参考例句：

• The hot weather gave the old man a truce from rheumatism.热天使这位老人暂时免受风湿病之苦。
• She had thought of flying out to breathe the fresh air in an interval of truce.她想跑出去呼吸一下休战期间的新鲜空气。

11 brokered   

adj.由权力经纪人安排（或控制）的v.做掮客（或中人等）( broker的过去式和过去分词 )；作为权力经纪人进行谈判；以中间人等身份安排…

参考例句：

• a peace plan brokered by the UN 由联合国出面协商的和平计划
• Your husband brokered the deal to go in, transfrer the assets and get our man out. 你丈夫后来插了一脚，把生意都抢了过去，我们的人也被挤了出来。 来自电影对白

12 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

13 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

14 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

15 abducted   

劫持，诱拐( abduct的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（肢体等）外展

参考例句：

• Detectives have not ruled out the possibility that she was abducted. 侦探尚未排除她被绑架的可能性。
• The kid was abducted at the gate of kindergarten. 那小孩在幼儿园大门口被绑架走了。

16 overthrow   

v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆

参考例句：

• After the overthrow of the government,the country was in chaos.政府被推翻后，这个国家处于混乱中。
• The overthrow of his plans left him much discouraged.他的计划的失败使得他很气馁。

17 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 supervision   

n.监督，管理

参考例句：

• The work was done under my supervision.这项工作是在我的监督之下完成的。
• The old man's will was executed under the personal supervision of the lawyer.老人的遗嘱是在律师的亲自监督下执行的。

19 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

20 pipeline   

n.管道，管线

参考例句：

• The pipeline supplies Jordan with 15 per cent of its crude oil.该管道供给约旦15%的原油。
• A single pipeline serves all the houses with water.一条单管路给所有的房子供水。

21 pipelines   

管道( pipeline的名词复数 )； 输油管道； 在考虑（或规划、准备） 中； 在酿中

参考例句：

• The oil is carried to the oil refinery by pipelines. 石油通过输油管输送到炼油厂。
• The oil carried in pipelines. 石油用管道输送。

22 depot   

n.仓库，储藏处；公共汽车站；火车站

参考例句：

• The depot is only a few blocks from here.公共汽车站离这儿只有几个街区。
• They leased the building as a depot.他们租用这栋大楼作仓库。

23 transit   

n.经过，运输；vt.穿越，旋转；vi.越过

参考例句：

• His luggage was lost in transit.他的行李在运送中丢失。
• The canal can transit a total of 50 ships daily.这条运河每天能通过50条船。

24 smuggling   

n.走私

参考例句：

• Some claimed that the docker's union fronted for the smuggling ring.某些人声称码头工人工会是走私集团的掩护所。
• The evidence pointed to the existence of an international smuggling network.证据表明很可能有一个国际走私网络存在。

25 antiquities   

n.古老( antiquity的名词复数 )；古迹；古人们；古代的风俗习惯

参考例句：

• There is rest and healing in the contemplation of antiquities. 欣赏古物有休息和疗养之功。 来自辞典例句
• Bertha developed a fine enthusiasm for the antiquities of London. 伯沙对伦敦的古迹产生了很大的热情。 来自辞典例句