澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2011-04-27

 As Michael just mentioned, trade and human rights have dominated Julia Gillard’s talks with China’s Premier¹ Wen Jiabao. The Prime Minister raised the detention² of Australian businessmen Stern Hu and Matthew Ng. She expressed concerns about a recent crackdown on human rights in China. Ms Gillard was also keen to push along negotiations³ for a free trade agreement between the two countries. 

 

A UN report has found that both sides in Sri Lanka’s civil war might be guilty of war crimes. The UN says heavy shelling by the Sri Lankan government may have killed tens of thousands of civilians⁴. It also accuses the Tamil Tigers of using civilians as human shields. 

 

Britain and the US are considering sanctions against Syria in an effort to stop the violence there. France and Italy are also calling for international action. And there’ve been fresh reports of violence in the city of Deraa where the government has sent in the army to quash those protests. 

 

The Federal Government is struggling to regain⁵ control at the nation’s detention centres. Another rooftop protest has now begun--this time at the Christmas Island Detention Centre. And there are similar protests at Villawood and Curtin. It also emerged an asylum⁶ seeker at Villawood has been assaulted by fellow inmates⁷. 

 

And 5,000 uniformed and undercover police have been assigned to the royal wedding in one of Britain’s biggest ever security operations. The country has lifted its threat level to “severe” and that’s the second highest on the five-point scale. Police have also appealed to the public to be their eyes and their ears at the big event.

1 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。

2 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。

3 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

4 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

5 regain   

vt.重新获得，收复，恢复

参考例句：

• He is making a bid to regain his World No.1 ranking.他正为重登世界排名第一位而努力。
• The government is desperate to regain credibility with the public.政府急于重新获取公众的信任。

6 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

7 inmates   

n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• One of the inmates has escaped. 被收容的人中有一个逃跑了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The inmates were moved to an undisclosed location. 监狱里的囚犯被转移到一个秘密处所。 来自《简明英汉词典》