英国新闻听力 35

BBC News with Michael Poles.

The United States Navy says the hijacking¹ of a giant Saudi oil tanker² on the high seas by Somali pirates is unprecedented³, and marks a fundamental shift in their capabilities⁴. The vessel⁵ is carrying up to two million barrels of crude oil, and it's the largest yet captured. Our correspondent Robert Walker has more:

Somali pirates have seized more than 30 ships this year. What makes this incident different though is that it's reported to have taken place so far south off the Somali coast. The US Navy says it's three times the size of an aircraft-carrier. Pirates in the region have typically mounted their attacks in high-powered speed boats, sometimes launch from mother ships which can travel larger distances. A NATO task force is patrolling the region’s busy shipping⁶ lanes, but as this latest attack shows, they face a challenge of operating across a huge area.

The American banking⁷ giant Citigroup has announced massive job cuts in its workforce⁸ as a result of the international financial turmoil⁹. It says it will make a further 52,000 workers redundant¹⁰, bringing the total to more than 70,000 or a fifth of its workforce. Our correspondent Mathew Price is in New York.

Citigroup hasn’t said where the cuts will fall, but most expect its major centers in New York and London will both be hit. That will have a knock-on effect for the wider economy in those places, which are already suffering as a result of the global economic downturn. Citigroup is one of the beneficiaries of the US government's bailout plan for the banking sector¹¹. It's received 65 billion dollars in total from the government. The fact that it is still in deep water is another sign of how bad things are.

The United Nations has warned of dangerous consequences for the world’s climate unless industrialized nations work much harder to control greenhouse gas emissions¹². In a report, the UN Climate Change Agency said countries were failing to meet targets for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. The agency said emissions from the 40 most industrialized nations increased by more than two percent over the first six years of this decade.

The Chinese President Hu Jintao arrives in Cuba shortly for talks with President Raul Castro. Trade between the two countries has quadrupled in the last four years. There's speculation¹³ that in the wake of Raul Castro taking over the leadership from his brother Fidel, Cuba might be looking at Chinese-style economic reforms while keeping the Communist Party firmly in control. From Havana, Michael Voss reports.

Raul Castro’s priorities so far have been to try and improve the economy by making the state-run system work more efficiently¹⁴. There was an initial flurry of reforms including offering unproductive state-owned land to small scale private farmers and cooperatives. But in recent months, the reform process appears to have slowed. China remains¹⁵ one of Cuba's principal allies. President Hu Jintao's two-day visit is expected to result in closer economic and political ties.

World News from the BBC.

An appeal court in France has ruled that a lower court was wrong to annul¹⁶ the marriage of a Muslim couple over the issue of the wife's virginity. Judges had previously¹⁸ accepted the husband’s argument that he had been tricked into the marriage because his wife had lied when telling him she was a virgin¹⁷. Both spouses¹⁹ had accepted the earlier ruling but it provoked an outcry in France, forcing the government to order the case to be reviewed. The appeal court found that the absence of virginity had no bearing on marriage.

The head of a notorious Israeli crime family was killed when his car exploded in the center of Tel Aviv. Yaakov Alperon, known informally as Don Alperon, had been attending court with his son, who's facing blackmail²⁰ and extortion charges. Our Middle East correspondent Paul Wood reports:

Yaakov Alperon was driving his modest white saloon car through a northern suburb of Tel Aviv just before midday, when the vehicle was torn apart by a huge blast. Little was left of the car after the explosion, which was apparently²¹ set off by remote control. Don Alperon's body was seen slumped²² over the steering²³ wheel. This was the latest and the most serious attack in an Israeli mob war, which, some fear, may once again be coming to the boil.

An American scientist of Chinese origin has pleaded guilty to selling rocket technology to China in breach²⁴ of US arms control laws. The scientist, Quan-Sheng Shu, who heads a technology firm in Virginia, also admitted bribing²⁵ Chinese officials to win contracts. He now faces up to 25 years in prison and millions of dollars in fines.

The Football Association in Uruguay has indefinitely suspended all matches in the country's premier²⁶ division following clashes between fans of the top two teams in the league on Sunday. Supporters invaded the pitch beating each other with everything from iron rods to the corner flags. It took more than 100 police to quell²⁷ the violence, although there were no arrests or injuries reported.

And with that story, we come to the end of this BBC News.

Glossary²⁸：

quadruple: to increase and become four times as big or as high, or to make something increase in this way

flurry: a time when there is suddenly a lot of activity 

virginity: the condition of never having had sex

outcry: an angry protest by a lot of ordinary people

have no bearing on sth.：与...无关；对...无影响

extortion: the act of securing money, favours, etc by intimidation²⁹ or violence; blackmail

pitch: sport field.

1 hijacking   

n. 劫持, 抢劫 动词hijack的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• I have been told about the hijacking . 我已听说了那次劫机事件。 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 口语
• They are taking measures to guarantee against the occurrence of hijacking. 他们正采取措施防止劫机事件的发生。

2 tanker   

n.油轮

参考例句：

• The tanker took on 200,000 barrels of crude oil.油轮装载了二十万桶原油。
• Heavy seas had pounded the tanker into three parts.汹涌的巨浪把油轮撞成三载。

3 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

4 capabilities   

n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力

参考例句：

• He was somewhat pompous and had a high opinion of his own capabilities. 他有点自大，自视甚高。 来自辞典例句
• Some programmers use tabs to break complex product capabilities into smaller chunks. 一些程序员认为，标签可以将复杂的功能分为每个窗格一组简单的功能。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

5 vessel   

n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管

参考例句：

• The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
• You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。

6 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

7 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

8 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

9 turmoil   

n.骚乱，混乱，动乱

参考例句：

• His mind was in such a turmoil that he couldn't get to sleep.内心的纷扰使他无法入睡。
• The robbery put the village in a turmoil.抢劫使全村陷入混乱。

10 redundant   

adj.多余的，过剩的；(食物)丰富的；被解雇的

参考例句：

• There are too many redundant words in this book.这本书里多余的词太多。
• Nearly all the redundant worker have been absorbed into other departments.几乎所有冗员，都已调往其他部门任职。

11 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

12 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

13 speculation   

n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机

参考例句：

• Her mind is occupied with speculation.她的头脑忙于思考。
• There is widespread speculation that he is going to resign.人们普遍推测他要辞职。

14 efficiently   

adv.高效率地，有能力地

参考例句：

• The worker oils the machine to operate it more efficiently.工人给机器上油以使机器运转更有效。
• Local authorities have to learn to allocate resources efficiently.地方政府必须学会有效地分配资源。

15 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。

16 annul   

v.宣告…无效，取消，废止

参考例句：

• They have the power to alter or annul inappropriate decisions of their own standing committees.他们有权改变或者撤销本级人民代表大会常务委员会不适当的决定。
• The courts later found grounds to annul the results,after the king urged them to sort out the "mess".在国王敦促法庭收拾烂摊子后，法庭随后宣布废除选举结果。

17 virgin   

n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的

参考例句：

• Have you ever been to a virgin forest?你去过原始森林吗？
• There are vast expanses of virgin land in the remote regions.在边远地区有大片大片未开垦的土地。

18 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

19 spouses   

n.配偶，夫或妻( spouse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Jobs are available for spouses on campus and in the community. 校园里和社区里有配偶可做的工作。 来自辞典例句
• An astonishing number of spouses-most particularly in the upper-income brackets-have no close notion of their husbands'paychecks. 相当大一部分妇女——特别在高收入阶层——并不很了解他们丈夫的薪金。 来自辞典例句

20 blackmail   

n.讹诈，敲诈，勒索，胁迫，恫吓

参考例句：

• She demanded ＄1000 blackmail from him.她向他敲诈了1000美元。
• The journalist used blackmail to make the lawyer give him the documents.记者讹诈那名律师交给他文件。

21 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。

22 slumped   

大幅度下降，暴跌( slump的过去式和过去分词 )； 沉重或突然地落下[倒下]

参考例句：

• Sales have slumped this year. 今年销售量锐减。
• The driver was slumped exhausted over the wheel. 司机伏在方向盘上，疲惫得睡着了。

23 steering   

n.操舵装置

参考例句：

• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration. 他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。
• Steering according to the wind, he also framed his words more amicably. 他真会看风使舵，口吻也马上变得温和了。

24 breach   

n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破

参考例句：

• We won't have any breach of discipline.我们不允许任何破坏纪律的现象。
• He was sued for breach of contract.他因不履行合同而被起诉。

25 bribing   

贿赂

参考例句：

• He tried to escape by bribing the guard. 他企图贿赂警卫而逃走。
• Always a new way of bribing unknown and maybe nonexistent forces. 总是用诸如此类的新方法来讨好那不知名的、甚或根本不存在的魔力。 来自英汉非文学 - 科幻

26 premier   

adj.首要的；n.总理，首相

参考例句：

• The Irish Premier is paying an official visit to Britain.爱尔兰总理正在对英国进行正式访问。
• He requested that the premier grant him an internview.他要求那位总理接见他一次。

27 quell   

v.压制，平息，减轻

参考例句：

• Soldiers were sent in to quell the riots.士兵们被派去平息骚乱。
• The armed force had to be called out to quell violence.不得不出动军队来镇压暴力行动。

28 glossary   

n.注释词表；术语汇编

参考例句：

• The text is supplemented by an adequate glossary.正文附有一个详细的词汇表。
• For convenience,we have also provided a glossary in an appendix.为了方便，我们在附录中也提供了术语表。

29 intimidation   

n.恐吓，威胁

参考例句：

• The Opposition alleged voter intimidation by the army.反对党声称投票者受到军方的恐吓。
• The gang silenced witnesses by intimidation.恶帮用恐吓的手段使得证人不敢说话。