澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2011-11-04

 The Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou says he's prepared to abandon a referendum on the eurozone's bailout deal. He's begun talks with the opposition¹ to try to get agreement on the package. Mr Papandreou is trying to head off the collapse² of his government. Four ministers are opposed to the referendum and there have been calls for him to resign. 

 

Indonesian police have arrested the crew of an asylum³ seeker boat that sank off Java, killing⁴ at least eight people. Investigators⁵ are preparing a case against the three men. They could be jailed for five years for breaching⁶ immigration and maritime⁷ laws. 

 

The Gillard Government is under pressure to change its poker⁸ machine policy. Labor's deal with Independent MP Andrew Wilkie is to introduce a mandatory⁹ pre-commitment scheme. But the clubs industry, as you know, is campaigning against it. And the country independents also have concerns. Independent MP Tony Windsor wants the Government to consider a maximum one-dollar-bet policy instead. Senator Xenophon says this could be simpler and less costly¹⁰ for the industry. 

 

Qantas boss Alan Joyce will be grilled¹¹ by senators at a hearing in Canberra today about his controversial decision to ground Qantas' planes. The committee's chairman Glenn Sterle has called on Mr Joyce to resign. The committee is looking into proposed changes to the Qantas Sale Act. 

 

Hundreds of passengers have been evacuated¹² from a ferry that caught fire in the Red Sea. One man has died and several people have been injured.

1 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。

2 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。

3 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。

4 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

5 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》

6 breaching   

攻破( breach的过去式 )； 破坏，违反

参考例句：

• The company was prosecuted for breaching the Health and Safety Act. 这家公司被控违反《卫生安全条例》。
• Third, an agency can abuse its discretion by breaching certain principles of judge-made law. 第三，行政机关会因违反某些法官制定的法律原则而构成滥用自由裁量权。

7 maritime   

adj.海的，海事的，航海的，近海的，沿海的

参考例句：

• Many maritime people are fishermen.许多居于海滨的人是渔夫。
• The temperature change in winter is less in maritime areas.冬季沿海的温差较小。

8 poker   

n.扑克；vt.烙制

参考例句：

• He was cleared out in the poker game.他打扑克牌，把钱都输光了。
• I'm old enough to play poker and do something with it.我打扑克是老手了，可以玩些花样。

9 mandatory   

adj.命令的；强制的；义务的；n.受托者

参考例句：

• It's mandatory to pay taxes.缴税是义务性的。
• There is no mandatory paid annual leave in the U.S.美国没有强制带薪年假。

10 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。

11 grilled   

adj. 烤的, 炙过的, 有格子的 动词grill的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• He was grilled for two hours before the police let him go. 他被严厉盘查了两个小时后，警察才放他走。
• He was grilled until he confessed. 他被严加拷问，直到他承认为止。

12 evacuated   

撤退者的

参考例句：

• Police evacuated nearby buildings. 警方已将附近大楼的居民疏散。
• The fireman evacuated the guests from the burning hotel. 消防队员把客人们从燃烧着的旅馆中撤出来。