英国新闻听力 伊朗释放被关押抗议者

Troops in Nigeria have been shelling the headquarters of a radical¹ Islamist group, which is accused of being behind three days of violence across five northern states, which has left at least 100 people dead. The army is concentrating its attacks on the town of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State. The Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua said the unrest would be brought under control.

"We are going to continue the security surveillance all over the northern states, to fish out any remnants of these elements and deal with them squarely and promptly², and I want to assure this nation that this type of things, this administration, and I am sure consequent administrations to come will not tolerate any armed insurrection."

The Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad is reported to have ordered the release of all remaining detainees arrested during protests against the result of last month's presidential election. Earlier on Tuesday, officials announced the release of more than 140 protesters from Evin prison, after a visit by a committee of MPs. Our correspondent Jon Leyne has the details.

The issue of political detainees has become a focus of criticism of the Iranian government. Even MPs who normally support the president have strongly attacked the conditions on which they're held. For the first time since the disputed election, the Iranian government is giving some ground. The supreme³ leader has ordered the closure of the Kahrizak Detention⁴ Centre. Now President Ahmedinejad is reported to have ordered the swift release of all detainees. The opposition⁵ will be skeptical⁶ of the change of heart. Though there are many relatives of prisoners desperately⁷ anxious to be reunited with their loved ones.

President Obama's choice to fill the vacancy⁸ in the U.S. Supreme Court now seems certain to be confirmed after the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to approve Judge Sonia Sotomayor's nomination⁹. Ms. Sotomayor would become the Supreme Court's first Hispanic justice, and only the third woman to serve in the role. Senator Lindsey Graham was the only Republican on the committee to support Sonia Sotomayor's nomination.

"This is the first Latino woman in the history of the United States to be selected for the Supreme Court. Now that is a big deal, I would not have chosen her but I understand why President Obama did."

Bank of America has agreed to pay nearly one hundred million dollars to the Italian food firm Parmalat to end a five-year legal dispute related to the company's collapse¹⁰ in 2003. The settlement still needs to be approved by a U.S. court. Parmalat's failure was one of Europe's biggest financial scandals. Bank of America is accused of having contributed to Parmalat's bankruptcy¹¹ by helping¹² the company conceal¹³ some of its debt.

Police in South Africa have fired rubber bullets at demonstrators in an unofficial settlement outside Johannesburg amid another day of unrest in the country. The residents of the settlement Thokoza had barricaded¹⁴ a road with burning tyres during a protest against poor living conditions. Municipal workers have been on a second day of a strike that's brought out 150,000 union members in support of a pay claim.

Armed men have killed eight security guards during a bank robbery in central Baghdad. The robbers got away with several million dollars and police believe they were militants¹⁵ getting funds for their operations. Later, in a Shiite area of Baghdad, a bomb hidden on a motorbike killed at least eight people.

Justice officials in Italy have ordered the evacuation of a newly-built hospital in Sicily, after tests showed it could collapse in an earthquake. More than 20 local officials and managers of the company that built the complex in Agrigento, are being investigated for allegedly supplying substandard construction materials. David Willey reports.

The public hospital in Agrigento in Sicily took 20 years to build at a cost to the Italian taxpayer¹⁶ of over fifty million dollars. When it finally opened five years ago, rats had eaten through electric cables and there was a blackout including in operating theatres involving costly¹⁷ repairs. The stability of the structure is suspect, because concrete supplied by local contractors¹⁸ was mixed with too much sand and not enough cement in order to increase builders’ profits.

U.S. investigators¹⁹ have raided the home and office of Michael Jackson's personal doctor in Las Vegas. Police and drug enforcement officials searched the premises²⁰ of Doctor Conrad Murray as part of a manslaughter investigation²¹ into the singer's death. Doctor Murray who was with Michael Jackson when he died, has not been named as a suspect by the authorities and police say he's cooperating with their inquiries²².

尼日利亚军队炮击激进伊斯兰组织总部。该组织被控在北部五个州发动了连续三天的暴力活动，造成至少100人死亡。军队将进攻集中在Borno州首府Maiduguri镇。尼日利亚总统亚拉杜瓦称动荡局面将被控制。

“我们将继续对北部各州进行安全监督，搜索任何暴乱分子残余势力，与他们速战速决。我向国家保证，我们现在及以后的政府绝对不允许这种事情发生，绝对不能容忍这类武装叛乱的出现。”

据报道，伊朗总统艾哈迈迪－内贾德已下令释放上月总统选举之后的抗议活动中逮捕的所有人员。周二早些时候，在议会委员会探访之后，官员宣布从Evin监狱释放140多名抗议者。我们的记者Jon Leyne报道了详细信息。

政治拘留者的问题成为伊朗政府受批评的焦点。甚至一向支持内贾德的议员也强烈攻击目前的形势。自有争议的总统选举以来，伊朗政府首次作出一些让步。伊朗最高领袖哈梅内伊下令关闭Kahrizak拘押中心。据报道，总统艾哈迈迪－内贾德下令迅速释放所有被拘留者。反对派对他们的态度转变持怀疑态度。然而，许多被关押着的亲属急切的等待与亲人团聚。

参议院司法委员会投票通过索托马约的提名之后，奥巴马总统用来填补美国最高法院空缺的人选似乎已经确认。索托马约将成为最高法院第一位西班牙法官，是担任此职位的第三名女性。Lindsey Graham参议员是司法委员会支持索托马约的提名的唯一一名共和党人。

“这是美国历史上第一位被选为最高法院法官的拉美女性。这是一件大事，如果是我，可能不会选择她。但是我理解奥巴马总统的选择。”

美国银行已经同意向意大利奶制品公司帕玛拉特支付接近1亿美元的赔偿金，以了结2003年帕玛拉特倒闭案相关的欺诈指控。该解决方案需交由美国法院通过。帕玛拉特的倒闭是欧洲最大的金融丑闻。美国银行因为帮助该公司隐藏一些债务而被指导致帕玛拉特的破产。

南非约翰内斯堡城外一所非官方住宅区内再次发生动乱，警察向示威者发射橡胶子弹。Thokoza住宅区的居民抗议恶劣的生活环境，用燃烧的轮胎阻塞了道路。该市工人进行了第二天的罢工，大约150,000名工会人员支持一份工资要求。

巴格达中部发生银行抢劫案，武装犯罪贩子杀害了八名安保人员。抢劫者携数百万美元巨款潜逃，警方称应该是好战分子为其活动筹集资金。随后，巴格达什叶派社区一枚藏在摩托车上的炸弹爆炸，造成至少8人死亡。

意大利司法官员下令西西里岛一所新建医院所有人员撤离，因为此前的测试表明这栋大楼可能在地震中倒塌。20多名当地官员，以及负责建筑Agrigento这所医院的公司经理被指控提供未达标准的建筑材料，目前正在接受调查。David Willey报道。

西西里岛Agrigento这所公立医院花费了20年的时间，耗费了意大利纳税人5000多万美元资金。当终于在五年前开始运营的时候，老鼠已经吃掉了电线，必须进行灯火管制，并进行了成本高昂的维修。该建筑的稳定性受到质疑，因为为了增加建筑商的利润，当地承包商提供的混凝土混合了太多沙子，而没有足够的水泥。

美国调查人员在拉斯维加斯搜捕了迈克尔·杰克逊私人医生的家和办公室。警察和药物执行官员将对Conrad Murray对调查作为对杰克逊之死误杀调查的一部分。迈克尔·杰克逊去世的时候，Murray医生就在旁边，没有被当局和警察列为嫌疑人。他们说，Murray医生对他们的审讯非常配合。

1 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

2 promptly   

adv.及时地，敏捷地

参考例句：

• He paid the money back promptly.他立即还了钱。
• She promptly seized the opportunity his absence gave her.她立即抓住了因他不在场给她创造的机会。

3 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。

4 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。

5 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。

6 skeptical   

adj.怀疑的，多疑的

参考例句：

• Others here are more skeptical about the chances for justice being done.这里的其他人更为怀疑正义能否得到伸张。
• Her look was skeptical and resigned.她的表情是将信将疑而又无可奈何。

7 desperately   

adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地

参考例句：

• He was desperately seeking a way to see her again.他正拼命想办法再见她一面。
• He longed desperately to be back at home.他非常渴望回家。

8 vacancy   

n.（旅馆的）空位，空房，（职务的）空缺

参考例句：

• Her going on maternity leave will create a temporary vacancy.她休产假时将会有一个临时空缺。
• The vacancy of her expression made me doubt if she was listening.她茫然的神情让我怀疑她是否在听。

9 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

10 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

11 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。

12 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

13 conceal   

v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽

参考例句：

• He had to conceal his identity to escape the police.为了躲避警方，他只好隐瞒身份。
• He could hardly conceal his joy at his departure.他几乎掩饰不住临行时的喜悦。

14 barricaded   

设路障于，以障碍物阻塞( barricade的过去式和过去分词 )； 设路障[防御工事]保卫或固守

参考例句：

• The police barricaded the entrance. 警方在入口处设置了路障。
• The doors had been barricaded. 门都被堵住了。

15 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。

16 taxpayer   

n.纳税人

参考例句：

• The new scheme will run off with a lot of the taxpayer's money.这项新计划将用去纳税人许多钱。
• The taxpayer are unfavourably disposed towards the recent tax increase.纳税者对最近的增加税收十分反感。

17 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

18 contractors   

n.（建筑、监造中的）承包人( contractor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Contractors winning construction jobs had to kick back 2 per cent of the contract price to the mafia. 赢得建筑工作的承包商得抽出合同价格的百分之二的回扣给黑手党。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

20 premises   

n.建筑物，房屋

参考例句：

• According to the rules,no alcohol can be consumed on the premises.按照规定，场内不准饮酒。
• All repairs are done on the premises and not put out.全部修缮都在家里进行，不用送到外面去做。

21 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

22 inquiries   

n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending further inquiries. 他获得保释，等候进一步调查。
• I have failed to reach them by postal inquiries. 我未能通过邮政查询与他们取得联系。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》