英国新闻听力 33

BBC News with Roy Lamar.

The head of the American Central Intelligence Agency, the CIA, Michael Hayden says Al-Qaeda remains¹ the single greatest threat to the US. Mr. Hayden said the war against Al Qaeda was far from over, the hunt for its leader Osama bin² Laden³ remained the top priority of the CIA.

“It is no overstatement to say that Al Qaeda’s base in Pakistan is the single most important factor today in the group’s resilience and its ability to threaten the West. So, it may surprise some of you to hear me say that it also represents a key vulnerability. Truth is, it’s not all that easy to build a worldwide terrorist network and manage a global fight from an isolated⁴ outpost in northwestern Pakistan.”

The President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai has called on the international community to use the opportunity of improved relations with Pakistan for making further progress. In a BBC interview, Mr. Karzai said the fight against the Taliban would be won by strategy rather than just by increasing the number of foreign troops. But Afghans, he said, needed help.

“Afghanistan needs to be supported, and needs to be given the means, the resources, to have a running government, a better administration, and to fight together with the rest of the world, the terrorists that are killing⁵ us all. There are resources needed for that, there are expertise⁶ needed for that. The Afghan people have given all that they had in this regard, all that was required of us by the international community since the Bonn Agreement has been delivered. ”

The US authorities are holding products from China that contain milk at entry points until they are tested for toxic⁷ chemical melamine. The US Food and Drug Administration has warned people against consuming several products from China after finding melamine and another toxic chemical cyanuric acid. Two American health officials are to travel to China next week to discuss food safety and to open food inspection⁸ offices in Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai.

As world leaders gather in Washington for an economic summit, President Bush has given his strongest defense⁹ of free market capitalism¹⁰ since the collapse¹¹ of confidence in the economic system. Mr. Bush who’s hosting the meeting of 20 developed and emerging economies over the weekend said that the current crisis was not a failure of the free market. From New York, Greg Wood.

This speech presented the outgoing president with a difficult balancing act. On the one hand, he had to concede that problems with the free market system had contributed to the financial and economic crisis, but on the other, he extolled¹² capitalism as the best way of restoring growth and prosperity. “I’m a market-oriented guy,” he said, “except when faced with the prospect¹³ of a global financial meltdown.”

World News from the BBC

About five million people in southern California have been taking part in the biggest earthquake drill in the history of the US. The exercise aims to prepare the emergency services and public officials to cope with a catastrophic quake of magnitude 7.8. Scientists and engineers devised a scenario¹⁴ in which 1,800 people are killed and a quarter of a million made homeless. Geologists¹⁵ say there’s a 99% chance of such a disaster in the next 30 years.

An organization which campaigns for the rights of indigenous¹⁶ people has said that one of the last known un-contacted tribes in South America is under threat of extinction¹⁷ due to illegal forest development. Survival International said the tribe in Paraguay, known as the Ayoreo-Totobiegosode has been detected apparently¹⁸ fleeing large scale deforestation by bulldozers. The group has called the Paraguayan president to intervene to stop the illegal logging.

A court in Italy has cleared most of the 29 police officers charged with beating protesters during a G8 summit in Genoa seven years ago. The court had been told that Italian police beat defenseless people and left the school in which they stayed looking like a butcher’s shop. David Willey reports from Rome.

The G8 summit in Genoa in July, 2001 was one of the most violent in the history of meetings of leaders of the world’s rich nations. One protester was killed, and evidence of undue¹⁹ police brutality²¹ against unarmed demonstrators was given at the last of three major trials arising out of the rioting. The court acquitted²² the top three police chiefs, charged with instigating²³ brutal²⁰ behaviour and handed down only minor²⁴ prison sentences to fewer than half of the remainder of the accused. Many of the police officers on trial are still in service. Some have even been promoted.

BBC News

1 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

2 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

3 laden   

adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的

参考例句：

• He is laden with heavy responsibility.他肩负重任。
• Dragging the fully laden boat across the sand dunes was no mean feat.将满载货物的船拖过沙丘是一件了不起的事。

4 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

5 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

6 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。

7 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

8 inspection   

n.检查，审查，检阅

参考例句：

• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。
• The soldiers lined up for their daily inspection by their officers.士兵们列队接受军官的日常检阅。

9 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

10 capitalism   

n.资本主义

参考例句：

• The essence of his argument is that capitalism cannot succeed.他的论点的核心是资本主义不能成功。
• Capitalism began to develop in Russia in the 19th century.十九世纪资本主义在俄国开始发展。

11 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

12 extolled   

v.赞颂，赞扬，赞美( extol的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school. 他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Tessenow decried the metropolis and extolled the peasant virtues. 特森诺夫痛诋大都市，颂扬农民的美德。 来自辞典例句

13 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

14 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。

15 geologists   

地质学家，地质学者( geologist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Geologists uncovered the hidden riches. 地质学家发现了地下的宝藏。
• Geologists study the structure of the rocks. 地质学家研究岩石结构。

16 indigenous   

adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的

参考例句：

• Each country has its own indigenous cultural tradition.每个国家都有自己本土的文化传统。
• Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America.印第安人是美洲的土著居民。

17 extinction   

n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种

参考例句：

• The plant is now in danger of extinction.这种植物现在有绝种的危险。
• The island's way of life is doomed to extinction.这个岛上的生活方式注定要消失。

18 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

19 undue   

adj.过分的；不适当的；未到期的

参考例句：

• Don't treat the matter with undue haste.不要过急地处理此事。
• It would be wise not to give undue importance to his criticisms.最好不要过分看重他的批评。

20 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

21 brutality   

n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮

参考例句：

• The brutality of the crime has appalled the public. 罪行之残暴使公众大为震惊。
• a general who was infamous for his brutality 因残忍而恶名昭彰的将军

22 acquitted   

宣判…无罪( acquit的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（自己）作出某种表现

参考例句：

• The jury acquitted him of murder. 陪审团裁决他谋杀罪不成立。
• Five months ago she was acquitted on a shoplifting charge. 五个月前她被宣判未犯入店行窃罪。

23 instigating   

v.使（某事物）开始或发生，鼓动( instigate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Distant but clear Longyin instigating the eardrums of every person. 遥远却清晰的龙吟鼓动着每一个人的耳膜。 来自互联网
• The leader was charged with instigating the workers to put down tools. 那位领导人被指控煽动工人罢工。 来自互联网

24 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。