澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2013-07-23

 The Duchess of Cambridge is in the early stages of labour in London's St Mary Hospital. Kensington Palace announced that the Duchess is now in the Lindo Wing where her husband was born 41 years ago. The first sight of the baby's birth is expected to come with the appearance of the messenger bound for Buckingham Palace.

 

Kevin Rudd has held what's likely to be his first and last caucus¹ meeting before the election. Labor² MPs have backed the prime minister's new rules for electing a leader. And they've given him the all-clear on his platform policies for the campaign to come.

 

Protesters opposed to Mr Rudd's plan to send asylum³ seekers to Papua New Guinea targeted the prime minister at today's meeting. The deal with PNG has been attacked by the opposition⁴ which calls it a pre-election fix. The Greens have also critisized it, while one leading development expert warns the plan will prove costly⁵.

 

And the plain packaging of cigarettes appears to be having an impact on smokers⁶. The first major study since they were introduced suggests that plain packs make smokers think about quitting more often. But the tobacco industry says the results are seriously fraud and have not affected⁷ cigarettes sales.

 

Those are the latest headlines from ABC news.

1 caucus   

n.秘密会议；干部会议；v.（参加）干部开会议

参考例句：

• This multi-staged caucus takes several months.这个多级会议常常历时好几个月。
• It kept the Democratic caucus from fragmenting.它也使得民主党的核心小组避免了土崩瓦解的危险。

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 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 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。

5 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。

6 smokers   

吸烟者( smoker的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Many smokers who are chemically addicted to nicotine cannot cut down easily. 许多有尼古丁瘾的抽烟人不容易把烟戒掉。
• Chain smokers don't care about the dangers of smoking. 烟鬼似乎不在乎吸烟带来的种种危害。

7 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。