澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2013-08-16

 US President Barack Obama has strongly condemned¹ the violence in Egypt and cancelld joint² military exercise scheduled for next month. The official death toll³ from the crackdown has now risen to more than 600. In the latest violence, hundreds of supporters of the Muslim brotherhood⁴ set fire to a government building near Cairo. 

 

Tony Abbott will announce tough new measures against asylum⁵ seekers today. Under the Coalition’s plan, around 30,000 asylum seekers who were yet to be prosessed will be denied permanent residency in Australia. They’ll also be stripped their right to appeal to the courts. 

 

And Kevin Rudd will be campaigning in Perth today. The prime minister will announce an initiative to boost oil and gas production. But in a blow to his re-election chances, a new poll shows Labor⁶ is set to lose two key marginal seats in New South Wales. 

 

A powerful bomb has exploded in a densely⁷ populated area of Beirut. At least 14 people have died and around 200 have been wounded. The area is known as a Hezbollah stronghold. And the attack is thought to be in retaliation⁸ for its support of the Syrian regime. 

 

And author Michelle de Kretser has taken out the country’s richest book prize. Her novel “Questions of Travel” has won the prime minister’s literary award for fiction. Earlier in the year, the book took out the Miles Franklin Award.

1 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

2 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

3 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

4 brotherhood   

n.兄弟般的关系，手中情谊

参考例句：

• They broke up the brotherhood.他们断绝了兄弟关系。
• They live and work together in complete equality and brotherhood.他们完全平等和兄弟般地在一起生活和工作。

5 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。

6 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。

7 densely   

ad.密集地；浓厚地

参考例句：

• A grove of trees shadowed the house densely. 树丛把这幢房子遮蔽得很密实。
• We passed through miles of densely wooded country. 我们穿过好几英里茂密的林地。

8 retaliation   

n.报复，反击

参考例句：

• retaliation against UN workers 对联合国工作人员的报复
• He never said a single word in retaliation. 他从未说过一句反击的话。 来自《简明英汉词典》