澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2010-06-30

The victims and their families say last night's guilty verdicts in the trial of Jayant Patel have bought closure. The 60-year-old former Bundaberg surgeon has been convicted of three counts of manslaughter and one of grievous bodily harm. Patel will be sentenced tomorrow and his lawyers are expected to appeal against the manslaughter convictions.

The popularity of New South Wales Government has plummeted¹ in the latest Newspoll. The opinion poll in today's Australian newspaper indicates primary support for Labor² has dropped six points to just 25 percent. The Coalition³ is on 46 percent. That's the worst performance at any state government ever recorded by Newspoll.

Mildura in northwest Victoria will today become the first place in Australia to have its analogue⁴ TV signal switched off. Free-to-air channels will only be available on digital TV sets or through set top boxes. The analogue signal across Australia will gradually be switched off over the next 2.5 years.

America's new top commander in Afghanistan has indicated the security situation in Afghanistan is tenuous⁵. General David Petraeus is appearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee after President Barack Obama nominated him to lead the war. General Petraeus says he supports the president's plan to begin withdrawing troops in July next year.

And in Greece, riot police have clashed with protesters outside the national parliament in Athens over proposed austerity measures.

1 plummeted   

v.垂直落下，骤然跌落( plummet的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Share prices plummeted to an all-time low. 股票价格暴跌到历史最低点。
• A plane plummeted to earth. 一架飞机一头栽向地面。 来自《简明英汉词典》

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 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。

4 analogue   

n.类似物；同源语

参考例句：

• The gill of a fish is the analogue of the lung of a cat.鱼的鳃和猫的肺是类似物。
• But aside from that analogue standby,the phone, videoconferencing is their favorite means of communication.除了备用的相似物电话，可视对话是他们最喜欢的沟通手段。

5 tenuous   

adj.细薄的，稀薄的，空洞的

参考例句：

• He has a rather tenuous grasp of reality.他对现实认识很肤浅。
• The air ten miles above the earth is very tenuous.距离地面十公里的空气十分稀薄。