英国新闻听力 72

BBC News with Nick Kelly.

The UN Security Council is meeting to reconsider an appeal by Arab governments for a resolution to ensure an immediate¹ ceasefire in Gaza. Israel has continued to bomb targets in the Gaza Strip for a fifth day. Palestinian militants² have fired more rockets into southern Israel. President Bush has urged Hamas to end the rocket attacks as a first step towards a truce³. From Washington, Kim Ghattas reports.

Washington continues to put the onus⁴ on Hamas to end the violence in Gaza. When asked whether President George W. Bush was disappointed that Israel had not agreed to a 48 hour truce, the White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said Mr. Bush was disappointed Hamas had not stopped firing rockets. “What was needed”, he said, “was a durable⁵ and sustainable ceasefire”. The difference between that and an immediate ceasefire may be just semantics, but it’s seen as tacit backing for Israel’s military operation and it provokes a lot of anger in the Arab world.

The Russian state gas monopoly Gazprom has confirmed that it will cut off supplies to Ukraine on Thursday morning after last-minute efforts to settle a pricing dispute broke down. But a Gazprom official told the BBC that the two sides needed to reach an agreement and would eventually do so. The head of Gazprom Alexei Miller⁶ said supplies to European countries would not be affected⁷.

Gazprom will continue to fully⁸ export gas to its consumers in Europe. We haven’t acted transit⁹ contract. As for gas supplies to the Ukraine, since there were no new contract, Gazprom has no juridical obligations to continue to supply gas over its custom borders. The Ukraine carries the whole responsibility for this situation.

Police in Thailand say more than 50 people have been killed by a fire at a nightclub in central Bangkok. More than a hundred were injured as they celebrated¹⁰ the New Year at the Santika club in the Thong¹¹ Lor district popular with Thais and foreign tourists. Jonathan Head is in Bangkok.

Eyewitnesses¹² say they saw flames shooting out from the stage in the popular Santika nightclub in Bangkok shortly after midnight as hundreds of revelers were celebrating the New Year. They say the ceiling quickly caught fire and collapsed¹³ onto people as they struggled to escape through the front entrance which appeared to be the only way out. According to the police, the death and injuries were caused by burns, smoke inhalation and being trampled¹⁴ by the panicking crowd.

British forces in Iraq have handed over to the government in Baghdad two Iraqi nationals whom they held for five years for allegedly killing¹⁵ two British soldiers. British government said that despite the ruling this week by the European court of human rights, that the men should not be transferred, Britain had no legal power to go on holding them. The two Iraqis had argued that their human rights would be breached¹⁶ if they were handed over to Iraq for trial over the killings¹⁷.

You are listening to the World News from the BBC World Service in London.

Security forces in Ghana have dispersed¹⁹ supporters of the governing party’s presidential candidate after they gathered outside the electoral commission’s office to dispute results declared so far. Police and troops fired warning shots, tear gas and water canon to disperse¹⁸ a crowd of several hundred protestors. Their candidate Nana Akufo-Addo, is fractionally behind the Ghanaian opposition²⁰ contestant²¹ John Atta-Mills. However, polling still has to take place on Friday in one final constituency which has enough voters to give Nana Akufo-Addo a chance of victory.

The common currency across fifteen European countries the Euro marks its tenth birthday in a few hours time. And on Thursday, Slovakia will become the 16th eurozone member and the first former Soviet²² Bloc²³ country to adopt the Euro. Slovaks will have five years to replace their holdings of the old currency the koruna.

The last day of trading on world markets confirmed the year 2008 as one of the worst for more than 50 years. The Dow Jones Index in the United States closed down more than a third over the year, its worst performance since 1931. The main London Index lost 31% of its value during 2008, and Stoke Markets in France and Germany fell even worse.

Here in Britain, engineers have been adjusting Big Ben to make sure the clock’s movement takes into account an extra second before it strikes midnight. Officials at the Royal Observatory²⁴ at Greenwich are adding the extra second this year, to allow for slight slowing in the Earth rotation²⁵. Eno Westwards is among those entrusted²⁶ with adding the extra second or leap second to Big Ben this evening.

We are going to have do with the leap second, because we have a two second pendulum²⁷ so we can’t just do it quickly, so throughout the evening, what we’ll have to do will remove a little pile of coins we have on the wrong pannings and that will slow the clock down just enough and we’ll check it throughout the evening to make sure we get it absolutely perfect on the first strike mid-night.

And that’s it; we wish you a pleasant [evening].

1 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

2 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。

3 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。

4 onus   

n.负担；责任

参考例句：

• The onus is on government departments to show cause why information cannot bedisclosed.政府部门有责任说明不能把信息公开的理由。
• The onus of proof lies with you.你有责任提供证据。

5 durable   

adj.持久的，耐久的

参考例句：

• This raincoat is made of very durable material.这件雨衣是用非常耐用的料子做的。
• They frequently require more major durable purchases.他们经常需要购买耐用消费品。

6 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

7 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。

8 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

9 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。

10 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

11 thong   

n.皮带；皮鞭；v.装皮带

参考例句：

• He fastened the dog to the post with a thong.他用一根皮带把狗拴到柱子上。
• If I switch with Harry,do I have to wear a thong?如果我和哈里调换，我应该穿皮带吗？

12 eyewitnesses   

目击者( eyewitness的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The examination of all the eyewitnesses took a week. 对所有证人的质询用了一周的时间。
• Several eyewitnesses testified that they saw the officers hit Miller in the face. 几位目击证人证明他们看见那几个警官打了米勒的脸。

13 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

14 trampled   

踩( trample的过去式和过去分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯

参考例句：

• He gripped his brother's arm lest he be trampled by the mob. 他紧抓着他兄弟的胳膊，怕他让暴民踩着。
• People were trampled underfoot in the rush for the exit. 有人在拼命涌向出口时被踩在脚下。

15 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。

16 breached   

攻破( breach的现在分词 )； 破坏，违反

参考例句：

• These commitments have already been breached. 这些承诺已遭背弃。
• Our tanks have breached the enemy defences. 我方坦克车突破了敌人的防线。

17 killings   

谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发

参考例句：

• His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。

18 disperse   

vi.使分散；使消失；vt.分散；驱散

参考例句：

• The cattle were swinging their tails to disperse the flies.那些牛甩动着尾巴驱赶苍蝇。
• The children disperse for the holidays.孩子们放假了。

19 dispersed   

adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的

参考例句：

• The clouds dispersed themselves. 云散了。
• After school the children dispersed to their homes. 放学后，孩子们四散回家了。

20 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。

21 contestant   

n.竞争者，参加竞赛者

参考例句：

• The company will furnish each contestant with a free ticket.公司将为每个参赛者免费提供一张票。
• The personal appearance and interview of the contestant is another count.参加比赛者的个人仪表和谈话也是一项。

22 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。

23 bloc   

n.集团；联盟

参考例句：

• A solid bloc of union members support the decision.工会会员团结起来支持该决定。
• There have been growing tensions within the trading bloc.贸易同盟国的关系越来越紧张。

24 observatory   

n.天文台，气象台，瞭望台，观测台

参考例句：

• Guy's house was close to the observatory.盖伊的房子离天文台很近。
• Officials from Greenwich Observatory have the clock checked twice a day.格林威治天文台的职员们每天对大钟检查两次。

25 rotation   

n.旋转；循环，轮流

参考例句：

• Crop rotation helps prevent soil erosion.农作物轮作有助于防止水土流失。
• The workers in this workshop do day and night shifts in weekly rotation.这个车间的工人上白班和上夜班每周轮换一次。

26 entrusted   

v.委托，托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He entrusted the task to his nephew. 他把这任务托付给了他的侄儿。
• She was entrusted with the direction of the project. 她受委托负责这项计划。 来自《简明英汉词典》

27 pendulum   

n.摆，钟摆

参考例句：

• The pendulum swung slowly to and fro.钟摆在慢慢地来回摆动。
• He accidentally found that the desk clock did not swing its pendulum.他无意中发现座钟不摇摆了。