英国新闻听力

Britain is reopening all its airports with immediate¹ effect following six days in which flights were largely grounded by the plume² of volcanic³ dust that has blown across much of Europe from Iceland. A spokeswoman for the British aviation regulator Dame⁴ Deirdre Hutton also announced new standards governing flying in hazardous⁵ conditions. She said the rules had been drawn⁶ up in consultation⁷ with the aircraft manufacturers and took account of the results of recent test flights.

"The new guidance allows a phased reintroduction of much of the airspace which is currently closed due to the volcanic ash plume over the UK. There will continue to be some no-fly zones where concentration of ash levels are at unsafe levels for flights to take place. But that will be very much smaller than the present restrictions⁸."

Throughout the day, some flights resumed at the main international airports in Paris, Amsterdam and Frankfurt. But flight bans remained in place over large swathes of the continent. Some news just in, the first flight has landed at Heathrow Airport in London after the lifting of the flight ban. Britain announced it was again opening its airspace to flights late on Tuesday.

The International Monetary⁹ Fund is calling for new taxes to be imposed on financial institutions to pay for any bailouts that might be needed in the future. The proposals are contained in a paper prepared for finance ministers from the group of 20 countries and obtained by the BBC. Our economics correspondent Andrew Walker reports.

The IMF is proposing a levy¹⁰, what it calls a financial stability contribution to cover the cost to taxpayers¹¹ of any future government support for the sector¹². It will apply to all financial institutions. Over time, the IMF suggests it could be refined to reflect the riskiness¹³ of each firm's activities. And if governments want to raise more money, the IMF suggests they put in an additional tax on profits and then employees' pay. The report also says that there should be a legal framework for sorting out troubled firms. Otherwise, there would be an incentive¹⁴ for them to take risks in the expectation that they would not be allowed to fail.

The Iraqi military says it's killed another leading member of al-Qaeda. It comes a day after the government said its troops had killed the two most wanted al-Qaeda leaders in Iraq. Here is Jim Muir.

According to Iraqi military officials, Ahmed al-Obeidi was killed in an early morning attack by US and Iraqi forces somewhere near Mosul in the north of the country. They said he was in charge of al-Qaeda's operations there, and also in Kirkuk and Salahuddin provinces. One report said that the intelligence for the attack came from the same captured al-Qaeda official as the information that led to the raid which killed the two top al-Qaeda leaders in Iraq early on Sunday morning. Iraqi government leaders are convinced that they now have the al-Qaeda leadership on the run.

BBC News

Fresh allegations have surfaced of rigging in Sudan's elections last week. A group of local observers released a video which reportedly shows men dressed in the orange uniform of election officials stuffing voting slips into a ballot¹⁵ box. However, a Sudanese elections commission official denied there'd been any ballot stuffing or other rigging.

The Supreme¹⁶ Court in the United States has ruled that a law that makes it a crime to sell videos of animals being tortured or killed violates the right to free speech. The Supreme Court judges who supported the ruling said the law was too vague and therefore infringed¹⁷ the guarantee of free speech in the US constitution. Mark Mardell is in Washington.

The Supreme Court ruled that the law banning animal cruelty videos was over broad and invalid¹⁸ under the first amendment¹⁹. A man, who had been sentenced to three years in prison producing videos of pit bulls fighting and attacking pigs and other animals, appealed against his sentence. And the court found that although dog fighting is outlawed²⁰ in every American state, the depiction²¹ of cruelty shouldn't itself be illegal. The law had originally been introduced to deal with what are known as "crush videos", fetishistic films of women in high-heels slowly crushing small animals to death.

Some 3,000 workers in southern Egypt are refusing to leave their factory until management agrees to better pay and working conditions. The workers at an aluminium²² factory are also demanding the sacking of the official trade union representative whom they accuse of working for management.

A court in Britain has heard that a dead body lay undiscovered for nearly ten years in a tower block flat in the western city of Bristol despite neighbors repeatedly complaining about the terrible stench. The court heard that the man had been staying with a friend when he suddenly died. Council workers had visited the flat put the smell down to an overflowing²³ drain. Bristol City Council has apologized for failing to act earlier.

 

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 plume   

n.羽毛；v.整理羽毛，骚首弄姿，用羽毛装饰

参考例句：

• Her hat was adorned with a plume.她帽子上饰着羽毛。
• He does not plume himself on these achievements.他并不因这些成就而自夸。

3 volcanic   

adj.火山的；象火山的；由火山引起的

参考例句：

• There have been several volcanic eruptions this year.今年火山爆发了好几次。
• Volcanic activity has created thermal springs and boiling mud pools.火山活动产生了温泉和沸腾的泥浆池。

4 dame   

n.女士

参考例句：

• The dame tell of her experience as a wife and mother.这位年长妇女讲了她作妻子和母亲的经验。
• If you stick around,you'll have to marry that dame.如果再逗留多一会，你就要跟那个夫人结婚。

5 hazardous   

adj.(有)危险的，冒险的；碰运气的

参考例句：

• These conditions are very hazardous for shipping.这些情况对航海非常不利。
• Everybody said that it was a hazardous investment.大家都说那是一次危险的投资。

6 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

7 consultation   

n.咨询；商量；商议；会议

参考例句：

• The company has promised wide consultation on its expansion plans.该公司允诺就其扩展计划广泛征求意见。
• The scheme was developed in close consultation with the local community.该计划是在同当地社区密切磋商中逐渐形成的。

8 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

9 monetary   

adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的

参考例句：

• The monetary system of some countries used to be based on gold.过去有些国家的货币制度是金本位制的。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

10 levy   

n.征收税或其他款项，征收额

参考例句：

• They levy a tax on him.他们向他征税。
• A direct food levy was imposed by the local government.地方政府征收了食品税。

11 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

12 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

13 riskiness   

n.风险性

参考例句：

• As they do, the riskiness of the system steadily increases. 因此他们乐于更多地借贷。
• Small town banks have to assess the relative riskiness of threir loans. 小城市的银行必须预估他们贷款相当的冒险。

14 incentive   

n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机

参考例句：

• Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中，钱仍是主要的鼓励因素。
• He hasn't much incentive to work hard.他没有努力工作的动机。

15 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。

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 infringed   

v.违反（规章等）( infringe的过去式和过去分词 )；侵犯（某人的权利）；侵害（某人的自由、权益等）

参考例句：

• Wherever the troops went, they never infringed on the people's interests. 大军过处，秋毫无犯。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He was arrested on a charge of having infringed the Election Law. 他因被指控触犯选举法而被拘捕。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

18 invalid   

n.病人，伤残人；adj.有病的，伤残的；无效的

参考例句：

• He will visit an invalid.他将要去看望一个病人。
• A passport that is out of date is invalid.护照过期是无效的。

19 amendment   

n.改正，修正，改善，修正案

参考例句：

• The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
• The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。

20 outlawed   

宣布…为不合法（outlaw的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Most states have outlawed the use of marijuana. 大多数州都宣布使用大麻为非法行为。
• I hope the sale of tobacco will be outlawed someday. 我希望有朝一日烟草制品会禁止销售。

21 depiction   

n.描述

参考例句：

• Double rhythms, resounding through the lyric depiction and connecting with each other, indicate the thespian place of mankind and the cognition of the writer to this thespian place. 这双重旋律互为表里，表明了人类的某种悲剧性处境以及作家对这种悲剧性处境的感受和认识。
• A realistic depiction of scenes from everyday domestic life. 日常家居生活的写实画。

22 aluminium   

n.铝 (=aluminum)

参考例句：

• Aluminium looks heavy but actually it is very light.铝看起来很重，实际上却很轻。
• If necessary, we can use aluminium instead of steel.如果必要，我们可用铝代钢。

23 overflowing   

n. 溢出物,溢流 adj. 充沛的，充满的 动词overflow的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The stands were overflowing with farm and sideline products. 集市上农副产品非常丰富。
• The milk is overflowing. 牛奶溢出来了。