News Spotlight

News Spotlight¹

Politics

News 1

Atop official in the Bush Administration has called for the immediate² release of three Americans held hostage in Columbia. John Walters heads the Administration's Office of National Drug Control Policy. Mr. Waters says the United States will not negotiate with the kidnappers³. The rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia seized the Americans in February after the airplane they were in crashed in Southern Columbia. The Americans were observing crops used to make the illegal drug cocaine⁴.

 

News 2

Three international groups are working together to stop the spread of small weapons. ¹⁾Amnesty International, the aid group Oxfam and the International Action Network on Small Arms have started a worldwide campaign. They say small weapons kill one person every minute around the world. The groups say small weapons mostly affect the poor. The three human rights and aid groups have published a report on small weapons, it proposes a treaty to greatly reduce the exports of small weapons by 2006. The groups propose a set of common rules based on international law.

 

Technology

News 3

An international group has ²⁾approved $623 million in aid to fight three deadly diseases. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, ³⁾Tuberculosis⁵ and ⁴⁾Malaria⁶, says 60 percent of the money will go to fighting AIDS, much of that aid will go to Africa. So far the group has approved over 2,000 million dollars for programmes to fight disease in the last two years. The Global Fund was started two years ago with the support of United Nations secretary general Kofi Anan.

 

Celebrity⁷

News 4

The leader of the Roman Catholic Church has held a special ceremony in honor of the former religious worker known as Mother Theresa. More than 300,000 people attended the outdoor service in Rome. Pope John Paul said Mother Theresa traveled everywhere to help the poor, he said even war could not stop her. Pope John Paul plans to declare Mother Theresa a Roman ⁵⁾Catholic saint, the ceremony is the second to last step in that process. Mother Theresa was born in Albania, she won the Nobel Peace prize in 1979, she died five years ago at the age of 87.

 

Sport

News 5

In sports news the New York Yankees have won the second game of the World Series, the Yankees defeated the Florida Marlins six to one in a game played Sunday in New York. Each team has now won one game in the series, the next three games will be played in Miami, Florida. The first team to win four games will become the champions of North American Baseball.

 

Society

News 6

Finally a man reported to be the world's oldest person has died. Sek Yi of Cambodia was believed to be 122 years old. Family members say he died peacefully in his sleep Sunday. Sek Yi survived the killings⁸ of hundreds of thousands of people under Cambodia's Khmer Rouge⁹ government. Recently he and his 108 year-old wife said they had lived long because of tobacco use and prayer.

 

注释:

1) amnesty [5Amnesti] n. 赦免，大赦

2) approve [E5pru:v] v. 赞成，同意

3) tuberculosis [tju7bE:kju5lEusis] n. 结核病

4) malaria [mE5lZEriE] n. 疟疾

5) catholic [5kAWElik] a. 天主教的

 

 

新闻聚光灯

政治

新闻1

布什政府的一名高级官员要求有关方面立即释放早前在哥伦比亚被绑架的三名美国人质。约翰·沃尔特斯是全国毒品管理政策办公室的领导人，他表示美国政府不会和绑匪妥协。三名美国人质二月份时在南哥伦比亚地区飞机失事后遭哥伦比亚反革命武装力量绑架。这三名美国人当时在调查用于制作毒品可卡因的作物。

 

新闻2

三个国际组织联合采取行动，制止小型武器扩散。国际特赦组织、慈善组小型武器防治网络已发起一场全球性运动。三个组织表示，全球每分钟就有一人死于小型武器，而穷人所受的威胁最大。这三个人权及援助组织发表了一份关于小型武器的报告，报告中提出一条在2006年以前大规模削减小型武器的条约。此外，三个组织还提出一套建立在国际法基础上的通则。

 

科技

新闻3

一个国际组织同意拨款六亿两千三百万美元用于对抗三种致命疾病。全球抗艾滋病、结核和疟疾基金表示，该项拨款的百分之六十将用于艾滋病的防治，主要的援助地区是非洲。到目前为止，该组织在过去两年里已拨款总计超过20亿美元，用于各个疾病防治项目。全球基金于两年前在联合国秘书长科菲·安南的倡议下成立。

 

名人

新闻4

为纪念已故宗教工作者德兰修女，罗马天主教教廷领导人举行了一个特殊仪式。超过30万人参加了在罗马举行的户外仪式。教皇约翰·保罗二世讲话说，德兰修女周游世界去帮助穷人，即便是战火也无法阻止她。教皇计划把德兰修女封为罗马天主教圣女，此次仪式即为整个封圣过程的倒数第二步。德兰修女生于阿尔巴尼亚，1979年曾获诺贝尔和平奖。她于五年前去世，享年87岁。

 

体育

新闻5

体育方面，周日纽约洋基队在纽约进行的一场赛事中以六比一击败了佛罗里达马林鱼队，赢得其在世界系列赛的第二场胜利。现阶段这两队都已赢得一场比赛，余下的三场将在佛罗里达的迈阿密举行。首先取得四场胜利的球队将成为北美职业棒球赛冠军。

 

社会

新闻6

最后一则消息，据称是世界上最长寿的人去世了。柬普寨人希克·叶有122岁，他的家人说希克·叶于周日在睡梦中安详地过世。希克·叶当年在柬普寨红色高棉政府的大屠杀中幸存下来。前段时间他和108岁的妻子曾表示，他们长寿的原因是抽烟和祷告。

1 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

2 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

3 kidnappers   

n.拐子，绑匪( kidnapper的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They were freed yesterday by their kidnappers unharmed. 他们昨天被绑架者释放了，没有受到伤害。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The kidnappers had threatened to behead all four unless their jailed comrades were released. 帮匪们曾经威胁说如果印度方面不释放他们的同伙，他们就要将这四名人质全部斩首。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 cocaine   

n.可卡因，古柯碱（用作局部麻醉剂）

参考例句：

• That young man is a cocaine addict.那个年轻人吸食可卡因成瘾。
• Don't have cocaine abusively.不可滥服古柯碱。

5 tuberculosis   

n.结核病，肺结核

参考例句：

• People used to go to special health spring to recover from tuberculosis.人们常去温泉疗养胜地治疗肺结核。
• Tuberculosis is a curable disease.肺结核是一种可治愈的病。

6 malaria   

n.疟疾

参考例句：

• He had frequent attacks of malaria.他常患疟疾。
• Malaria is a kind of serious malady.疟疾是一种严重的疾病。

7 celebrity   

n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望

参考例句：

• Tom found himself something of a celebrity. 汤姆意识到自己已小有名气了。
• He haunted famous men, hoping to get celebrity for himself. 他常和名人在一起, 希望借此使自己获得名气。

8 killings   

谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发

参考例句：

• His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。

9 rouge   

n.胭脂，口红唇膏；v.(在…上)擦口红

参考例句：

• Women put rouge on their cheeks to make their faces pretty.女人往面颊上涂胭脂，使脸更漂亮。
• She didn't need any powder or lip rouge to make her pretty.她天生漂亮，不需要任何脂粉唇膏打扮自己。