News Spotlight (3)（在线收听）

News Spotlight (3)

NEWS 1 政治

¹⁾NATO Ambassadors are ²⁾due to resume talks later today to try to resolve a damaging dispute over its preparations in the event of a war with Bagdad. On Tuesday, meeting in Brussells ended without agreement after France, Germany, and Belgium refused to drop their ³⁾veto against moves to ⁴⁾bolster Turkey’s defenses.

NATO Ambassadors are meeting again but there’s no guarantee whatsoever that they’ll find a way to break the ⁵⁾deadlock. This is a crisis at NATO rooted in many issues, profound differences about how to manage the ⁶⁾confrontation, disputes about the future of trans-Atlantic relations, and a competition for influence in an expanding Europe. The French point out that European public opinion is strongly behind them when they say the focus should still be on diplomacy, not military planning. But 16 members of NATO say binding treaty obligations to protect Turkey in the event of war, mean they must start planning now.

NEWS 2 经济

Four hundred leading economists in the United States, including ten Nobel Prize Winners, have ⁷⁾condemned President Bush’s plan for large tax cuts. In an advert in the New York Times, the economists say, Mr. Bush’s measures will be of little economic benefit in the short term.

The economists, at the top of their profession, say Mr. Bush’s plan does little to stimulate the economy in the near future, and that his tax cuts will largely benefit the very rich. Some of Mr. Bush’s defenders accept that the short-term ⁸⁾stimulus is small, but say that reducing taxes increases the ⁹⁾incentive to invest, so prompting long-term growth. What is undeniable is that a rare budget surplus under Clinton, has become a record budget deficit; Mr. Bush says because of the recession and because of an ¹⁰⁾unsought war. Mr. Bush’s critics say that since tax rises are ¹¹⁾taboo, spending cuts are on their way, largely in programs for the poor. 

NEWS 3 科技

Officials at ¹²⁾NASA say they found one of the most significant items of ¹³⁾debris so far from the ¹⁴⁾space shuttle, Columbia. The part is a piece from the left wing. The problems were first noticed just before the craft ¹⁵⁾broke up. It’s thought it could be extremely important to the investigation into the cause of the disaster. 

This is the most important piece of debris so far recovered. Investigators say, the 46 centimeter-long ¹⁶⁾fragment of Columbia’s left wing, was found last week east of the city of Fort Worth, near the town of Lufkin, Texas, has only now been identified. Attached to it was an even larger piece of carbon composite ¹⁷⁾panel, a dense material that formed the heat ¹⁸⁾shield on the leading edge of the wing. A NASA spokesman confirmed that this latest find was significant, as the left wing of Columbia is still the main focus of their investigation as they try and find out why the shuttle ¹⁹⁾disintegrated upon reentry. NASA have also now found the cover of one of the two ²⁰⁾landing gear ²¹⁾compartments, another potentially critical piece because of a temperature surge near the left wheel, was ²²⁾mission controller’s first sign of trouble. So far, NASA has recovered around a thousand pieces of debris across the states of Texas and Louisiana, and are now extending their search further ²³⁾afield into New Mexico, Arizona and California. 

NEWS 4 体育

Wednesday’s football program is dominated by friendly internationals. Perhaps the most significant has the world champions, Brazil, away to China in Guangzhou. 

The Brazilians arrived in China to a samba-star reception, including dancing girls, ²⁴⁾bongo-beating boys and trumpeting elephants. But despite the fun of the friendly, the Brazil coach, Carlos Alberto Parreira, has indicated how seriously he’s taking this fixture by turning out a strong ²⁵⁾lineup. He says it’s basically the same team which played against South Korea in December, and includes most of the players who took part in the World Cup last June. It was there that the Chinese were beaten four-nil by Brazil, and, although hoping for a marked improvement, it’s only just clear that the new coach, Arie Haan, will be looking to impose some Dutch ²⁶⁾flare on his side. The former Netherlands International is wanting to combine the Chinese hardworking football ethic with some imagination and creativity. In a country where the population numbers some 1.3 billion, there’ll be a large audience hoping to see if China can at last learn how to position the ball and use their space wisely. And what better test than against the world champions?

NEWS 5 灾害

The authorities in Congo Brazzaville say that they suspect that the Ebola virus may have caused the death of at least 38 people in the north of the country. The Congolese authorities said they are concerned that the virus which has already been ²⁷⁾detected in gorillas in the region could spread. Little is known about Ebola, which causes its victims to die from internal bleeding.

The Congolese authorities have not yet been able to confirm that the almost daily death in the villages of Kelle and Mbomo 800 km from the capital Brazzaville are the result of Ebola. However the Minister of Health and World Health Organization are treating the death as Ebola ²⁸⁾outbreak. This is because local and habitants are refusing to cooperate with the emergency teams from the Ministry and the WHO who’ve been sent to study and contain the disease. The local population have become hostile to the health workers, refusing to give blood samples needed to test Ebola and accusing them of bringing the virus to the area themselves. However, it would not be the first time that Ebola has struck the region, known as the Cuvette Ouest. And the bodies of dead gorillas found in the area since December have already tested positive for the virus. The Ministry of Health believes the dead people may have ²⁹⁾contracted the virus from eating gorillas and ³⁰⁾chimps which were infected.

新闻聚光灯

1 政治

北约组织成员国代表今天迟些时候将举行新一轮的会谈，以协商解决有关准备对巴格达问题的严重分歧。本周二在布鲁塞尔召开的会议上，法国、德国与比利时在关于采取行动以协助土耳其的问题上行使了否决权，以至本次会议最终未达成任何协议。

北约组织成员国代表将再次展开会谈，但却不能保证会找到新的途径以打破僵局。北约的这种危机来自许多根本性的问题，例如对于未来大西洋各国之间的关系争议颇多，以及在扩展中的欧洲内部还存在着影响力的竞争。法国指出欧洲民众的意愿是他们的强大后盾，坚决要求问题通过外交方式而不是武力解决。然而北约组织中的其他十六个成员国声明，根据《北大西洋公约》第四条款捆绑条约责任，战时保护土耳其，意味着必须从现在开始就制定对策计划。

2 经济

美国四百名高级经济学家，其中包括十名诺贝尔奖得主，对布什的大幅度减税计划进行了指责。在《纽约时报》的一篇评论中经济学家们说，布什总统的措施在短期内不会带来任何经济效益。

这些经济学家们在业界享有盛誉，他们认为布什总统的方案在近期内不会对经济有推进作用，但他的减税计划却对那些富人们大有益处。布什的一些支持者们承认短期内的效益的确很小，但他们认为减税能增强投资意识，从而促进长期的经济增长。不可否认的是克林顿政府时期的非常少见的预算剩余到现在已成为了一项创记录的预算赤字。布什解释说这是因为经济衰退和一场突发的战争引起的。布什的评论家认为既然增加税收是不可行的，那么减税计划势在必行，而且主要是在针对贫穷阶层的各项政策上。

3 科技

美国国家航空与宇宙航行局的官员们说，目前他们从哥伦比亚号航天飞机上发现了一件最有研究意义的碎片。这是航天飞机左翼上的一个碎片。这个问题在航天飞机坠毁前就已经被注意到了。这项发现被认为对调查灾难发生的原因有着极其重要的意义。

这是至今找到的所有残片中最重要的一件。调查员说，这块四十六厘米长的碎片是哥伦比亚号航天飞机的左翼碎片，是上周在得克萨斯州路芙根镇附近的福特沃斯市以东发现的，目前已通过确认。它还带有一块更大的碳化合成板，即由高密集型材料形成的一个隔热瓦，位于机翼的前端。NASA的一位发言人证实了这次最新发现的重要意义，哥伦比亚号的左翼仍是调查工作的重点，调查人员要努力查出为什么航天飞机在返航重新进入大气层时会解体。NASA至今还发现了两个起落装置间隔间其中一个的外壳，这也是另一个将起重要作用的碎片，因为左轮附近的温度大幅度升高，是航天地面指挥中心的第一个危机信号。目前，NASA人员已经在得克萨斯州与路易丝安那州各处发现了近一千块飞机残片，并将扩大搜索区域至新墨西哥州、亚利桑那州和加利福尼亚州。

4 体育

星期三的足球活动全方位聚焦于几场国际友谊足球赛上。也许最有意义的一项比赛就是世界杯冠军--巴西队来到中国广州的一场比赛。

巴西队一行抵达中国后受到了桑巴舞星般的热情接待，其中有翩翩起舞的女郎、敲邦戈鼓的小伙和吹喇叭的大象。在友好而愉快的气氛中，巴西队教练--卡洛斯·阿尔贝托·佩雷拉仍表现出他对此次比赛的严肃态度，出动了一支阵容强大的球队。他说这支球队几乎就是去年十二月与韩国队交锋过的同一支球队，其中大部分人都参加过去年六月的世界杯。也就是在去年的世界杯上，中国队以零比四输给了巴西队。虽然中国队期待着一个里程碑式的突破，但唯一明确的就是中国足球队的新教练--阿里·汉将用他的一些荷兰式训练方法来训练他的球队。这位前荷兰国际足球队教练想将中国的刻苦足球理念与某些想象性和创造性结合在一起。在一个有着十三亿人口的大国，会有千千万万个球迷希望看到中国足球队是否最终能学会怎样运球，以及怎样聪明地利用空间。那还有什么能比与世界杯冠军演练一番更好呢？

5 灾害

刚果布拉柴维尔政府称埃博拉病毒已经致使至少北部地区三十八人死亡。刚果政府说，他们担心已经在这个地区大猩猩身上发现的病毒会传播。埃博拉病毒将导致病人内部出血以致死亡，但原因却一直没有查清。

刚果政府不能确认距离首都布拉柴维尔八百公里的凯乐和姆博穆村的几乎每天都有发生的死亡病例是否是埃博拉病毒所致。但卫生部长和世界卫生组织已经把它作为埃博拉病毒蔓延来对待。这是因为当地居民拒绝与卫生部和世界卫生组织派去研究并遏制病毒的紧急援救小组进行合作。他们对卫生部门的工作人员充满敌意，拒绝交出需要化验的血样，并指责是工作人员自己将病毒带到了这个地区。但是，埃博拉病毒已不是第一次袭击这个地区了，以前就在西盆地爆发过一次。自从十二月以来发现的大猩猩尸体病毒测试呈阳性。卫生部认为，人们食用感染病毒的大猩猩和黑猩猩致使病毒传播并导致死亡。

注释:

1) NATO: North Atlantic Treaty Organization, 北大西洋公约组织

2) due to: 由于，归因于

3) veto [5vi:tEu] n. 投票否决

4) bolster [5bEulstE] v. 支持

5) deadlock [5dedlCk] n. 僵局，僵持

6) confrontation [7kCnfrQn5teiFEn] n. 对抗，对质

7) condemn [kEn5dem] v. 声讨，谴责

8) stimulus [5stimjulEs] n. 刺激；促进因素

9) incentive [in5sentiv] n. 动机

10) unsought [5Qn5sC:t] a. 不经寻求而得到的；没有被要求到的

11) taboo [tE5bu:] n. 禁忌

12) NASA: National Aeronautics and Space Administration，（美国）国家航空和宇宙航行局

13) debris [deibri:] n. 碎片，残骸

14) space shuttle: 航天飞机

15) break up: 分解；分裂；破碎

16) fragment [5frA^mEnt] n. 碎片，片断

17) panel [5pAnl] n. 面板，仪表板

18) shield [Fi:ld] n. 防护物，防罩； the heat shield: 隔热层

19) disintegrate [dis5inti^reit] v. （使）分解，（使）碎裂

20) landing gear: 起落装置

21) compartment [kEm5pB:tmEnt] n. 间隔间

22) Mission Controller: 航天地面指挥中心

23) afield [E5fi:ld] ad. 离开（家乡），本文指在得克萨斯州和路易斯安那州以外的地方。

24) bongo [5bCN^Eu] n. 邦戈鼓（一种用手指敲打的谐音小鼓，两只成对使用）

25) lineup [5lainQp] n. 一行人，队伍，这里指巴西队一行人。

26) flare [flZE] n. 闪光，闪耀；这里指先进的训练方法。

27) detect [di5tekt] v. 发现

28) outbreak [5autbreik] n. （瘟疫、虫害等的）突然蔓延

29) contract [5kCntrAkt] v. 感染

30) chimp [tFimp] n. chimpanzee的缩写，黑猩猩