澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2010-11-29

The Coalition¹'s preparing to form government in Victoria for the first time in 11 years. Counting of more than half a million pre-poll votes starts today. The Liberals look set to win the crucial seat of Bentleigh. That’ll give the Coalition the 45 seats that it needs to form government. 

 

Federal MPs are also back in Canberra today for what they hope will actually be the last sitting day for the year. There'll be voting on a bill to split Telstra, which was finally passed by the Senate on Friday. 

 

New South Wales Labor² is now turning on its own that Premier³ Kristina Keneally is demanding the party's state president resign. Bernie Riordan is desperately⁴ backtracking now on comments that he made that the union he heads will support non-Labor candidates in the March state election.

 

And Wikileaks has thumbed its nose at Washington and released truckloads of documents showing how the United States conducts its foreign relations. Among the revelations, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates believes a military strike on Iran would only set back its nuclear programme by one to three years and Saudi donors⁵ remain the chief financial backers of al-Qaeda. 

 

Heavily armed security forces have taken control of one of Rio de Janeiro's most violent slums. More than 2,500 soldiers, I think, backed by helicopters and tanks, stormed the drug gang's stronghold. It's part of a concerted government campaign to rid the shantytowns of criminals before the 2014 World Cup. 

1 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

2 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

3 premier   

adj.首要的；n.总理，首相

参考例句：

• The Irish Premier is paying an official visit to Britain.爱尔兰总理正在对英国进行正式访问。
• He requested that the premier grant him an internview.他要求那位总理接见他一次。

4 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。

5 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》