澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2011-01-20

 The small Victorian western town of Dimboola is the latest community threatened by the surging floodwaters. Several homes have already been flooded and residents have been told to evacuate¹. The large volume of water is putting immense pressure on the town's weir². 

 

Police are urging people to stay out of the floodwaters again. Four teenage boys were found swimming in the swollen³ Wimmera River at Dimboola. Police and SES crews pulled the boys from the water and gave them a stern warning. 

 

Storms have battered⁴ southeast Queensland for a second night. Strong winds and heavy rain again lashed⁵ the region, raising fears of flash flooding. And in central Queensland, flash floods are hampering⁶ the clean-up in Rockhampton. Twenty-five millimetres of rain fell in less than an hour. Homes, businesses and several cars were flooded, and roads were cut. 

 

The floods have claimed another life -- this time in New South Wales. A three-year-old boy has been found dead in floodwaters at Marthaguy in the state's central west. His body was found near his home late yesterday after an extensive air and ground search. 

 

The prickly issue of human rights has dominated the first round of talks between the US president and his Chinese counterpart in Washington. At a joint⁷ news conference, President Obama says he's been candid⁸ in his discussions with Hu Jintao. The Chinese president says while disagreements exist, there's more to be done on human rights in his country.

1 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。

2 weir   

n.堰堤，拦河坝

参考例句：

• The discharge from the weir opening should be free.从堰开口处的泻水应畅通。
• Big Weir River,restraining tears,has departed!大堰河，含泪地去了！

3 swollen   

adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀

参考例句：

• Her legs had got swollen from standing up all day.因为整天站着，她的双腿已经肿了。
• A mosquito had bitten her and her arm had swollen up.蚊子叮了她，她的手臂肿起来了。

4 battered   

adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损

参考例句：

• He drove up in a battered old car.他开着一辆又老又破的旧车。
• The world was brutally battered but it survived.这个世界遭受了惨重的创伤,但它还是生存下来了。

5 lashed   

adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥

参考例句：

• The rain lashed at the windows. 雨点猛烈地打在窗户上。
• The cleverly designed speech lashed the audience into a frenzy. 这篇精心设计的演说煽动听众使他们发狂。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 hampering   

妨碍，束缚，限制( hamper的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• So fraud on cows and development aid is seriously hampering growth. 因此在牛问题上和发展补助上的诈骗严重阻碍了发展。
• Short-termism, carbon-trading, disputing the science-are hampering the implementation of direct economically-led objectives. 短效主义，出售二氧化碳，进行科学辩论，这些都不利于实现以经济为主导的直接目标。

7 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。

8 candid   

adj.公正的，正直的；坦率的

参考例句：

• I cannot but hope the candid reader will give some allowance for it.我只有希望公正的读者多少包涵一些。
• He is quite candid with his friends.他对朋友相当坦诚。